Global painting and coatings manufacturer Sherwin-Williams Co. will have a new CEO on January 1, 2024.
Sherwin-Williams Chairman and CEO John Morikis announced yesterday that he is retiring as CEO at the end of 2023. The company’s board of directors elected Heidi Petz, currently Sherwin-Williams’ president and chief operating officer, to the CEO role.Petz, who will retain her role as president, will take the CEO reins on January 1, 2024. Her annual compensation will be $1.3 million, with bonuses up to 320% of her salary and 44,100 stock options vested over three years. Sherwin-Williams stock was valued as of this writing at $252 per share.
Petz has served as Sherwin-Williams’ COO for the past two years. She has also been president of its Americas and Consumer Brands groups, “successfully leading both of these global businesses through some of the most most challenging in the company’s history,” according to a company press release. She was previously at competitor Valspar, which Sherwin-Williams acquired in 2017. Prior to that, she held leadership roles at Target Corp. Newell Rubbermaid and PwC.
Petz also serves on the board of directors of cosmetics retailor Ulta Beauty, Inc. and University Hospitals Health System in Cleveland. She is a member of the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies Policy Advisory Board.
Sherwin-Williams, a 157 year-old manufacturing company, is headquartered in Cleveland and has 64,000 employees. Petz is the 10th CEO in its history.
The company was No. 58 on the 2023 IndustryWeek U.S. 500, showing 11.1% in revenue growth year-over-year and a 9.1% profit margin.