October 17, 2023
The Sherwin-Williams Company’s board of directors has elected Heidi Petz to serve as its next chief executive officer (CEO), effective January 1, 2024. Petz, who has served as president and chief operating officer of Sherwin-Williams for the last two years, will assume the CEO duties currently held by chairman and CEO John Morikis. Petz will continue to serve as president. After serving as CEO since 2016, Morikis will continue to serve as executive chairman. In addition, the Board increased its size from 10 to 11 members and elected Petz to fill the resulting vacancy, effective October 10, 2023.
"This announcement follows a comprehensive process and multi-year organisational succession plan to identify the best candidate to lead the Company," said Morikis. "Heidi has been an invaluable member of my leadership team, demonstrating a record of driving growth and operational excellence that has generated increased value for our customers, shareholders and employees. With this transition, Heidi becomes only the tenth CEO in the 157-year history of the Company. Supported by a deep and experienced senior leadership team, she is the right leader to accelerate achievement of the Company's growth and profitability goals."
Prior to serving as the Sherwin-Williams’ president and COO, Petz served as president of The Americas Group and previous to that role, as president of the Consumer Brands Group, successfully leading both of these global businesses through some of the most challenging periods. Petz joined the company in June 2017 in connection with the Valspar acquisition. Prior to joining Valspar in 2013, she held various leadership positions with Target Corporation, Newell Rubbermaid and PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
"The selection of Heidi as CEO is the result of a well-developed and thoughtful process to ensure a seamless leadership transition that focuses on strength, momentum and growth," said Jeff Fettig, Sherwin-Williams lead director. "We are pleased John has agreed to remain in his role as executive chairman, continuing an incredible career that began 39 years ago as a member of one of the first Sherwin-Williams management trainee classes, progressing through numerous roles of increasing responsibility, and ultimately ascending to CEO. On behalf of the entire Board, we thank John for his extraordinary leadership, commitment and dedication to Sherwin-Williams, as well as his many accomplishments and business decisions that drove the Company's strong performance and unprecedented growth during his tenure as CEO."
