Pitt-Corning names Kane CEO; Martineau retires / By Martha Knight

PITTSBURGH—Pittsburgh Corning Corporation and Pittsburgh Corning Europe (PCC and PCE) have elected James R. Kane chairman and chief executive officer of both entities, effective May 1.

Kane, 55, succeeds Philip M. Martineau, 67, who had held both positions since 2005. Martineau notified the boards last year that he would retire in 2014. Also last year, Kane was identified as Martineau’s successor.

Kane joined PCC in 2007 as vice president and general manager for FOAMGLAS® industrial business worldwide. Previously he had held a series of senior management positions with several leading companies, including Corning Incorporated.

Kane’s most recent assignment had been chief operating officer for the PCC and PCE corporations. He had been in charge of capacity expansion on two continents: a greenfield, modern FOAMGLAS® manufacturing facility being constructed in northern China, and a major expansion of the FOAMGLAS® production facility in the Czech Republic. The combined cost of those projects is said to be nearly $100 million.

Martineau had been at the helm during much of PCC’s operation under Chapter 11 bankruptcy constraints. PCC filed for Chapter 11 protection in 2000, and is now emerging from that status. Its third reorganization plan was accepted by the Western District of Pennsylvania federal bankruptcy court last year. The plan includes creation and funding a $3.5 billion fund to benefit people harmed by asbestos when the company was producing Unibestos insulation products in Port Allegany and Tyler, Texas.

Martineau is credited with spearheading the globalization and diversification of what had been primarily a glass block and FOAMGLAS® producing company based mainly in the United States. It was launched in 1937, in Port Allegany, as a jointly owned undertaking of Corning Glass Corp. (now Corning Incorporated) and Pittsburgh Plate Glass (now PPG), initially making Pyrex dishware and glass blocks.

Later additional facilities were built, and insulation materials became a major emphasis of the company. For years its Port Allegany plant made that community the glass block capital of the world. Until recently that facility was the sole manufacturer of glass blocks in North America. PCC is still the largest domestic manufacturer of premium glass blocks and window systems based on them.

PCC and PCE have their headquarters in Pittsburgh and in Tessenderlo, Belgium.