Cornerstone Building Brands named Gunner Smith as its new CEO, effective Aug. 11. Smith has worked for Owens Corning almost 17 years, and had been president of its roofing division since 2018.
In March, 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.
Lee had been president and CEO since September 2021, after working at DuPont in leadership roles. She cited her need “to focus on a personal family matter’’ in announcing she was leaving the company. John Krenicki had been serving as interim CEO, and he will remain board chair of the company.
Cornerstone 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.
Smith, a graduate from Mississippi State University, was a national sales manager at Ply Gem from 2007 to 2008.
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.
Smith will earn a base salary of $1,050,000, plus a target bonus opportunity of 125% of his base salary. He also received a signing bonus of $1.45 million to make up for compensation he forfeited when accepting the new position.