John G. Morikis, 52, who has been president and COO since October 2006, will become its first management trainee to rise to CEO.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Sherwin-Williams Co.'s President and Chief Operating Officer John G. Morikis, a 31-year veteran of the Cleveland paint manufacturer and retailer, has been elected its 9th chief executive officer in nearly 150 years, the company's board of directors announced early Monday morning.
He will assume his new role starting Jan. 1, 2016, when Chairman and Chief Executive Christopher Connor becomes executive chairman of the board for an unspecified term. Connor, who has held both current roles for 16 years, praised "his intelligence, his business acumen, his work ethic and his moral compass."
Incoming Sherwin-Williams' CEO John Morikis Morikis, 52, who joined Sherwin-Williams in 1984 as a management trainee in the company's Paint Stores Group, has been president and COO since October 2006 and is now also a member of Sherwin-Williams' board. He is the company's first management trainee to rise to CEO.
"I think that gives me terrific perspective" and the ability to relate well to employees at all levels, as well as vendors and customers, he said on Monday. "I'm not asking anyone in the company to do anything I haven't done."
Sherwin-Williams, which requires all of its store managers to have college degrees, recently welcomed 1,400 into its newest group of management trainees, an accelerated career path for those interested in business leadership.
"That's the beauty of our company," Morikis said. "I didn't come here expecting to be the CEO," but yet there was a career path for him and other promising candidates to take on greater roles and responsibilities within the company. "I love a challenge," he said.
While some of his predecessors became CEO in the midst of challenging financials, Morikis said he is taking the reins after "four consecutive years of record sales and three years of record earnings." He said the past nine years he has spent working closely with Connor taught him the importance of surrounding yourself with a really solid team. "I have very big shoes to fill, but I've been blessed with the resources to fill them," he said.
With nearly 4,100 stores in North America, including 182 stores, 5,000 employees, and four plants in Ohio, Morikis said his priority is to be the best CEO he can be. "Sherwin-Williams is important to the community, and the community is important to Sherwin-Williams," he said.
Sherwin-Williams' current Chairman and CEO Chris Connor Connor called Monday's announcement "the successful culmination of a multi-year organizational succession plan to identify the absolute best candidate to assume leadership of the company.
"John has been an important member of our senior leadership team for many years and is one of the key architects of the company's current organizational structure and strategy. His success over the years is a direct result of focusing on customer needs, his in-depth knowledge of the coatings market, and his dedication to hiring and developing terrific people," he said.
"John and I have been together a long time and have worked together for more than 30 years," Connor said. "In 1997, I asked him if he would come and work for me as senior vice president of marketing, and he's been president and chief operating officer of the company since 2006."
They, along with Sean Hennessy, senior vice president of finance and chief financial officer, have been the key C-level executives running the company over the last nine years, he said.
"He is the right leader, and he is surrounded by the right team, to take Sherwin-Williams to the next level," Connor added. Connor said he was staying on at the board's request during the transition, but that there is no timetable for when he will retire from the company. He noted that when he became CEO in 1999, his predecessor John Breen stayed only seven months as executive chairman.
During Morikis' nine-year tenure as president and COO, which included the housing recession of 2008-09, the company grew from $7.8 billion in revenues and earnings per share of $4.19 to more than $11 billion in revenues and earnings per share of $8.78 last year.
As president of the Paint Stores segment, he led the group through one of the most aggressive growth phases in company history, Sherwin-Williams said.
Under his leadership, Paint Stores Group grew from approximately $3 billion in sales via 2,400 company-operated paint stores to nearly $5 billion in sales through more than 3,100 stores, bolstering Sherwin-Williams' position as the leading architectural coatings company in North America, the company said.
"Following a very diligent and thorough selection process, the Board of Directors is extremely pleased to appoint John Morikis as our next chief executive officer," said John Stropki, Sherwin-Williams' Lead Director, in a statement.
"John has had a long and distinguished career with the company, rising up through the ranks to achieve this position. We fully expect that John will bring the same energy and passion to this new role. The board is pleased that Chris and John will continue to work together to execute the company's long term strategy to meet and exceed the expectations of our customers, shareholders and employees."
When asked how his administration would differ from Connor's, Morikis said: "There's a lot more similarities than there are differences."
Asked if he planned to be as conversational with analysts and with media as Connor as been, Connor said: "I think it's our culture and our company, to be open, honest and transparent."
Connor said the conversations about who might someday succeed him as CEO began almost the day he got the job in 1999, but have intensified within the past two or three years. Serving as CEO requires having a plan for "what happens if you get hit by a bus?"
Morikis serves on the board of Fortune Brands Home & Security, Inc. His professional and community board engagements include the Joint Center for Housing Studies Policy Advisory Board at Harvard University and the Board of Directors of the University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center.
A native of Lake Station, Indiana, in the northwest part of the state, he holds bachelor degrees in business administration and psychology from Saint Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Indiana, and a master's degree in business from National Louis University in Evanston, Illinois.
Sherwin-Williams Co., founded in Cleveland by Henry A. Sherwin and Edward Williams in 1866, is one of the world's largest manufactures, distributors and retailers of coatings and related products, and operates more than 4,100 stores in North America. Sherwin was the company's first CEO and served in that role for 39 years.
Sherwin-Williams' shares spiked as high as $244.11 per share on Monday morning, nearly $1 per share higher than Friday's $243.17, before closing down 30 cents per share at $242.87.
Sherwin-Williams is scheduled to report its third quarter 2015 earnings on Thursday, Oct. 29.