John Salvatore the new Carlstar CEO

The Carlstar Group, LLC named John C. Salvatore as chief executive officer on 16 March, with the appointment effective immediately.

Dino Cusumano, Partner of American Industrial Partners, Carlstar’s majority shareholder commented: “We are very excited to have John lead Carlstar as its CEO. John brings with him a long history of leadership and accomplishments in the industrial economy, having held senior roles at companies including BASF, Degussa Corporation and Harris Specialty Chemicals, among others. He was most recently head of BASF Construction Chemicals Americas where he was responsible for a business approaching US$1 billion in annual sales.  John has great familiarity with Carlstar’s business, having served on the board of directors since mid-2014, and we expect his transition to CEO to be seamless.”

“We would like to thank Kevin Forster for his significant contributions to Carlstar’s growth and success over the past four years as its CEO”, said Dino Cusumano. “Carlstar is performing very strongly today and is well positioned for the future. Additionally, Kevin was instrumental in successfully carving the business out of Carlisle Corporation and creating a stand-alone business…Kevin will continue as a member of the board of directors of the company as well as a senior advisor to American Industrial Partners.”

“I’m thrilled to be joining The Carlstar Group as its CEO. The company has been a market leader for over 100 years and continues to grow and innovate in support of its customer’s objectives,” said John Salvatore. “I look forward to working closely with the Company’s employees to continue the outstanding progress.”

Salvatore has been a member of the board of directors of The Carlstar Group since June 2014.  From 2006 – 2013 he was head of the Construction Chemicals Americas business of BASF.  Prior to that, from 2001 – 2006 he was president of the NAFTA region for Degussa Corporation and president and ceo of Degussa Construction Chemicals, Inc. Earlier in his career he held various marketing, business development and leadership roles in Harris Specialty Chemicals, Inc., Tremco Inc. (division of B.F. Goodrich) and W.R. Grace & Co.  Salvatore earned a Bachelor of Technology, Architectural Building Sciences from Ryerson University.

Earlier in March Carlisle Transportation Products BV was renamed The Carlstar group.