LSB Industries Inc., bowing to pressure from activist shareholder Starboard Value LP, said March 16, that it has retained Spencer Stuart, a prominent global executive search and consulting firm, to launch a search for a president of its LSB Chemical business. This newly created position will be responsible
for maximizing the operational performance of the company’s Chemical business by driving process, maintenance, safety and marketing best-practices throughout the organization.
Barry Golsen, president and CEO of LSB, stated, “Over the past several years, we’ve made significant enhancements to our chemical operations by adding new management in key corporate and plant-level positions, augmenting our engineering support and investing in technological and mechanical upgrades
to our facilities. Additionally, we currently have major capital projects underway that will reduce our production costs, expand our capacity and improve our product mix. Hiring an experienced senior level executive to lead our Chemical business is an important next step in taking the progress we’ve made to the next level in order to drive world class levels of on-stream time, production volume and safety across all of our chemical facilities. The individual we plan to hire will have a track record of success in managing multi-plant chemical operations, as well as a strong background in managing effective sales and marketing programs. We are pleased to be working with Spencer Stuart, one of the world’s leading executive search firms, to find the ideal candidate.”
The president of the Chemical business will be a member of the company’s senior management team.
Starboard is seeking to name five members to LSB’s ten person board. It has been very critical of LSB management and argued for new management.