Rose Lee resigned as CEO of Cornerstone Building Brands, while chief accounting officer Wayne Irmiter also left the Cary-based manufacturer of windows, siding and other building materials following a $1.19 billion net loss for 2024.
The company is among the state’s largest privately held businesses, having formed through the 2018 merger of Cary’s Ply Gem Building Products and Houston-based NCI Building Systems.
Most of the deficit reflected a goodwill write-down from four acquisitions totaling $866 million. The impairment followed four acquisitions by Cornerstone in 2023 and 2024, including the $475 million purchase of Texas-based Mueller Supply last year. Lee has been president and CEO since September 2021, after working at DuPont in leadership roles. In last week’s filing, she cited her need “to focus on a personal family matter.’’
Cornerstone was a public company until acquired by New York-based private equity giant Clayton Dubilier & Rice for $5.8 billion in 2022. Cornerstone then employed more than 20,000 employees and had $5.5 billion in annual revenue, benefiting from a surge in home improvement projects during the pandemic.
The company makes materials used in both residential and commercial construction, including vinyl windows and siding, stone veneer, metal roofing and metal products. It has about 100 plants and 75 warehouse and retail facilities in North America.
Chairman John Krenicki succeeded Lee on an interim basis until the hiring of a permanent CEO, Cornerstone said in a securities filing. The company named former vice president of finance and investor relations Tina Beskid as chief accounting officer.
Lee and Irmiter departed a week after Cornerstone’s annual securities filing disclosed the company’s financial results. A year earlier, the company lost $75.5 million and reported no impairment loss.
The filing explained how Cornerstone arrived at the impairment charges, which essentially reflect that the price paid for assets no longer reflects their fair value. “If the carrying amount of a reporting unit, including goodwill, exceeds the estimated fair value, then the excess is charged to earnings as an impairment loss,” according to the company’s filing.
The company conducted an assessment last fall that resulted in the impairment charges, stemming from several factors, including “the recessionary impacts on residential and commercial markets.’’
Cornerstone also cited persistently high interest rates as affecting home affordability and the anticipation of declining home equity borrowings and the subsequent “considerable effect on the repair and remodel market.’’
New or modified tariffs on steel and aluminum also pose risks, Cornerstone said. Tariffs and trade restrictions “implemented by the second Trump administration could result in reduced overall economic activity and increased costs in operating our business, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations,’’ the filing said.
