innovation projects among high school
and college students.
“Axalta Coating Systems is focused on
delivering sustainable solutions and innovation is a key requirement for our success. We are very proud to partner with
the government of the State of Mexico
and COMECyT to encourage science
and research in Mexico,” stated Zerene
Kahan, Corporate Affairs director for
Axalta in Latin America.
Jorge Iván Lobato García, Víctor Jesús
Hernández Arellanes and Juan Carlos
Zárate Utrilla, with Alejandro Santiago
Miguel serving as an advisor to the students, were the winners for their work
“Adoquines a base de PET reciclado” in
the field of “Natural and Environmental
Sciences.” The winners developed a technique to convert materials composed of
PET, such as water and soft drink bottles,
into bricks that could be used for indoor
or outdoor flooring and pavement.
The winner of the Axalta Mexico
Science Award will earn a 15-day internship at one of Axatla’s research centers in
the U.S. or Mexico.
“We are very excited to be recognized
by a global company such as Axalta for
our work ‘Adoquines a base de PET reciclado,’ as we believe our project can
have an impact on people’s lives by re-ducing/recycling this contributing to a
sustainable environment. Axalta’s Science
Award motivates us to continue studying
and developing projects. We are certain
that the internship at Axalta’s facilities
will help us further develop our education,” stated Jorge Iván Lobato García,
project leader.
Projects submitted to the “Axalta
Mexico Science Award” were evaluated
based on innovation, creativity, social
impact, applicability and teamwork by a
panel of judges that included Axalta experts in the fields of research and development, human resources, law, corporate
affairs and operations.
Masco Announces Strategic
Initiatives to Drive
Shareholder Value, Spins
Off Installation Division
Masco Corporation’s Board of Directors
has approved the strategic initiatives
recommended by management under the
leadership of Keith Allman, its president
and chief executive officer.
The strategic initiatives, which are de-
signed to drive shareholder value over the
mid- to long-term, are comprised of:
•The spin-off of 100 percent of
Masco’s Installation and Other
Services businesses into an inde-
pendent, publicly-traded company
through a tax-free stock distribution
to Masco’s shareholders
• The implementation of a share re-
purchase program for an aggregate
of 50 million shares of Masco’s com-
mon stock
• The reduction of corporate expense
and simplification of Masco’s orga-
nizational structure, resulting in an
estimated charge of approximately
$30 million over the next several
quarters with anticipated compa-
ny-wide annual savings of $35-40
million
“Today’s transformative actions re-
flect our continued commitment to en-
hance shareholder value through the
active management of our portfolio, ef-
fective capital allocation, cost control,
and organizational focus. As separate
companies, both Masco and the Services
Business will have greater flexibility to fo-
cus on and pursue their respective growth
strategies,” Allman said. “In addition,
the actions we are taking at the corpo-
rate office are intended to improve our
cost position and drive value across our
enterprise. Masco remains committed to
creating shareholder value by profitably
growing in branded building products.”
Masco’s Service Business management
team will be comprised of Jerry Volas who
is currently Masco Group president and will
become the chief executive officer; Robert
Buck, who iscurrently Masco Contractor
Services’ president and will become the
president and chief operating officer and
John Peterson, who is currently Masco
Contractor Services’ chief financial officer
and will become the chief financial officer.
Axalta Holds Distinguished
Lecture Series at University
of Pennsylvania
Professor Omar M. Yaghi, the James
and Neeltje Tretter Professor
of Chemistry at University of
California-Berkeley, was the
honored speaker at the Axalta
Distinguished Lectures Series sponsored
by Axalta Coating Systems and hosted
by the Department of Chemistry at the
University of Pennsylvania. Professor
Yaghi’s lecture titled, Reticular Chemistry
and the Design of New Materials, ex-
plained how his group created metal-or-
ganic frameworks (MOFs) with extended
crystalline order, and the subsequent de-
sign of new materials for clean energy
storage and complex separations.
According to Professor Yaghi, the logical synthesis of extended solids has been
a long-standing objective in chemistry.
The fundamental problem has been that
linking molecular building units into extended structures often led to amorphous
or poorly crystalline solids. The research
indicated that the problem is now solved
with the design and development of
MOFs. The major conceptual advance is
the use of metal-oxide clusters as anchors
for joining organic linkers into robust
crystalline open frameworks. This new
approach is being applied to help develop
materials with controlled porosity and
pore-functionality. It has led to the design of less dense crystals, the highest surface area materials, and a large number
of truly porous crystals. This chemistry
has found applications in the storage of
methane, separation of carbon dioxide,
and catalysis.
“This year’s lecture continues a
long-history of collaborations with the
University, a top academic institution, and
is part of Axalta’s commitment to foster
innovation and the advancement of coating sciences, material sciences and chemistry,” explained Panos Kordomenos, Axalta
Coating Systems Senior Vice President and
Chief Technology Officer. “The collaboration between Axalta and the Department
of Chemistry at the University of
Pennsylvania helps to enable world-class
scientists to share their research and perspectives with students, faculty members
and Axalta researchers in an academic setting,” Kordomenos added.
Professor Yaghi has published more
than 200 articles that have received an
