PPG Announces Management Assignments

PITTSBURGH--March 14, 2006--J. Rich Alexander, senior vice president, coatings, will assume responsibility for the automotive aftermarket, and William A. Wulfsohn, senior vice president, coatings, will assume responsibility for industrial coatings and Asia, PPG Industries officials announced today in a series of management assignments effective July 1.

With the July 1 retirement of Garry Goudy, senior vice president, automotive aftermarket, Alexander will become responsible for the automotive refinish, automotive replacement glass and insurance and services business units. In addition, Alexander will assume responsibility for Latin America and retain responsibility for PPG's aerospace and architectural coatings businesses.

Alexander's responsibilities for industrial coatings and Asia will move to Wulfsohn, who will retain responsibility for automotive OEM and packaging coatings, and Europe. In addition, Wulfsohn will move to PPG's corporate headquarters in Pittsburgh. Meanwhile, Michael H. McGarry, vice president, chlor-alkali and derivatives, will relocate to PPG's new European headquarters in Switzerland, becoming vice president, coatings, Europe, and managing director, PPG Europe.

In a separate move, Richard C. Elias, vice president, optical products, will report to Charles E. Bunch, PPG's chairman and chief executive officer, and join the company's operating committee.

Alexander joined PPG in 1978 as a sales representative in Detroit and held several sales and marketing positions before being named general manager of fiber glass electronics and specialty materials in 1996, and general manager, fiber glass reinforcements, in 1997. He was appointed global general manager, general industrial coatings, in 2000. Alexander then was elected vice president, industrial coatings, in 2002, and to his current position in April 2005.

Wulfsohn joined PPG as vice president, coatings, and managing director, PPG Europe, in 2003, and was appointed senior vice president, coatings, in 2005. Before PPG, Wulfsohn worked for Morton International in Chicago as vice president and general manager, automotive coatings; for Rohm & Haas in Chicago as vice president, automotive coatings business director; and for Honeywell in Richmond, Va., as vice president and general manager, nylon system.

McGarry joined PPG in 1981 as an engineer at the company's Lake Charles, La., chemicals complex. He then progressed through a series of management assignments, including market development manager, silica products; operations manager, silicas, Thailand; business manager, Teslin sheet; and product manager in the derivatives, chlorine, liquid and dry caustic soda businesses. He was named general manager, fine chemicals, in 2000, and to his current position in 2004.

Elias joined PPG in 1975 as a chemist at the company's Allison Park, Pa., coatings research and development center and advanced through a series of product and commercial development assignments before being appointed program manager for photochromic lenses in 1989. He was named vice president of sales and marketing when majority-owned subsidiary Transitions Optical, Inc., was established in Pinellas Park, Fla., and he became that business' president in 1994. He was named general manager of optical products in PPG's specialty chemicals business in 1998 and elected vice president of optical products in early 2000.