Hudson La Force III, CPA — President, COO & Director at W. R. Grace & Co.

Mr. Hudson La Force, III, CPA, serves as the President and Chief Operating Officer at W. R. Grace & Co. since February 4, 2016. As Chief Operating Officer, Mr. La Force is responsible for Grace's Catalysts Technologies and Materials Technologies business segments and Grace's global manufacturing and supply chain operations. Mr. La Force served as the Chief Financial Officer of W.R. Grace & Co. from April 1, 2008 to February 11, 2016 and served as its Senior Vice President until February 4, 2016. He focused on improving the company's profitability, cash flow and return on invested capital. During his tenure as Chief Financial Officer, gross margins increased eight percentage points, Adjusted EBITDA margins increased 11 percentage points, free cash flow increased nearly three times and return on invested capital increased 11 percentage points. Mr. La Force was deeply involved in Grace's internal transformation into a fully-integrated global operating company and its external transformation into two industry-leading public companies in February 2016. Mr. La Force served as the Principal Accounting Officer of W.R. Grace & Co. until February 8, 2012. He served as Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of GCP Applied Technologies Inc. until February 3, 2016. He joined Grace from the U.S. Department of Education, where he served as its Chief Operating Officer and Senior Counselor to the Secretary with responsibilities for finance, human capital, information technology, risk management and other management functions. In this role, he was also responsible for driving execution of the department's strategic goals, strengthening its performance accountability systems and implementing a number of other significant management and operational reforms. Mr. La Force also served as a member of the President's Management Council. Prior to entering public service in 2005, he was with Dell Inc. for eight years, where he held general management and financial leadership positions. From 2002 to 2005, Mr. La Force served as a General Manager at Dell, leading a $500 million business unit through a period of double-digit sales growth, triple-digit earnings growth and significant operational change. He joined Dell as the Senior Financial Executive for Dell's $3 billion United States consumer business. Prior to joining Dell in 1997, Mr. La Force served in a variety of increasingly responsible financial positions at Honeywell and Emerson Electric Co. He began his career as a Certified Public Accountant in the audit and business advisory practice of Arthur Andersen & Co. He has been a Director at W. R. Grace & Co. since November 10, 2017. He serves as a Director of Filtration Group Corporation and KIPP DC. Mr. La Force serves as a Member of Board of Directors at Madison Industries and served as its Member of Advisory Board. He served as Director of GCP Applied Technologies Inc. until February 3, 2016. He is a Certified Public Accountant. Mr. La Force holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a Bachelor's Degree from Baylor University graduating summa cum laude.