Bill Gray, president of Uponor Inc., has resigned after 10 years at the helm of the Apple Valley, Minn.-based extruder of pipes for drinking water and radiant heating and cooling systems.
Gray said in a LinkedIn post that his team has succeeded by almost every metric in the face of a global pandemic and he may rejoin the industry, but for now he is "taking a few moments to catch my breath."
"After 14 years at the greatest company in the building products industry — the last 10 in the 'hot-seat' — I have decided to take some time out to see what else there is out there for the 'fourth quarter' of my career," Gray said.
He started in 2008 as general manager of the North American subsidiary of Vantaa, Finland-based Uponor Oyj in then was named vice president of sales in 2011 and president the following year.
Uponor Inc. produces pipes made from high density polyethylene, cross-linked PE and polypropylene random copolymer with modified crystallinity and temperature resistance. Its pipe is used in residential, commercial, municipal and utility applications.
The last two years have been difficult to navigate, Gray said.
"The global pandemic has challenged every facet of society and every company to our very core," he said. "I am particularly proud of our response in forming our COVID-19 task force that allowed us to keep our employees healthy and safe while still managing a reliable (all things considered!) supply of products to our customer partners."
Gray's oversight boosted sales and market reach, according to Michael Rauterkus, president and CEO of Uponor Corp.
"Under Bill's leadership, our North American business has quadrupled its profits and built a solid market position in the residential segment, while also gaining market share in the commercial segment," Rauterkus said in a news release.
Uponor Inc. ranks 13th among North American pipe, profile and tubing extruders based on relevant estimated sales of $397 million, according to Plastics News' latest survey.
Gray left his positions as president and a member of Uponor's executive committee effective Jan. 10, but will be available to support management until mid-March 2022.
John Reutter, vice president of finance in North America, was appointed interim president and interim committee member.
The recruitment process for a new president of North America operations is underway.