Joe Blasko BSFS, JD
General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer
Age 49
Joe Blasko joined James Hardie as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer
in June 2011.
Before joining James Hardie, Mr Blasko was Assistant General Counsel, and later,
the General Counsel at Liebert Corporation, an Emerson Network Power Systems
company and wholly-owned subsidiary of Emerson Electric Co. In his four years
with Liebert/Emerson, Mr Blasko was responsible for establishing the legal department
in Columbus, Ohio, managing and overseeing all legal matters and working closely
with the executive management team. In this role, Mr Blasko also had global
responsibilities which required expertise across multiple jurisdictions.
From 2004 to 2006, Mr Blasko was Associate General Counsel at The Scotts Miracle-Gro
Company, serving as the effective “general counsel” to numerous
corporate divisions within the organization. From 1997 to 2004, Mr Blasko gained
considerable regulatory and litigation expertise working at Vorys, Sater, Seymour
and Pease LLP in Ohio.
Mr Blasko has a Juris Doctor from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland,
Ohio, USA and a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University,
USA, with a specialty in International Relations, Law and Organizations.
Mark Fisher BSc, MBA
Executive Vice President – International
Age 45
Mark Fisher joined James Hardie in 1993 as a Production Engineer. Since then,
he has worked for the Company as Finishing Manager, Production Manager and Product
Manager at various locations; Sales and Marketing Manager; and as General Manager
of our Europe Fiber Cement business. Mr Fisher was appointed Vice President
— Specialty Products in November 2004, then Vice President — Research
& Development in December 2005. In February 2008, his role was expanded
to cover Engineering & Process Development.
In January 2010, he was appointed Executive General Manager – International,
responsible for the Company’s non-US businesses in Australia, New Zealand,
Philippines and Europe and the Company’s windows business. Effective 16
October 2015, Mr Fisher’s title became Executive Vice President –
International. Mr Fisher continues to be responsible for international fiber
cement operations, as well as, the Company’s non-fiber cement business
development activities. He continues to report to the Company’s Chief
Executive Officer (“CEO”), Mr Louis Gries.
Mr Fisher has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from
University of Southern California, USA.
Louis Gries BSc, MBA
Chief Executive Officer
Age 62
Louis Gries joined James Hardie as Manager of the Fontana fiber cement plant
in California in February 1991 and was appointed President of James Hardie Building
Products, Inc. in December 1993. Mr Gries became Executive Vice President —
Operations in January 2003, responsible for operations, sales and marketing
in our businesses in the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe.
He was appointed Interim CEO in October 2004 and became CEO in February 2005.
James Hardie Industries Plc currently has 3800 employees.
