Industry & Services >> CEO Interviews >> March 11, 2002

Don Defosset – Walter Industries Inc (wlt)

DON DEFOSSET was named President and Chief Executive Officer of Walter Industries, Inc., and appointed to the company's Board of Directors in November 2000. He was named Chairman of the company in March 2002. Mr. DeFosset gained extensive manufacturing and operations management experience during a 29-year career in heavy industry, most recently as Chief Operating Officer of Dura Automotive Systems, Inc., a $2.6 billion Rochester Hills, Michigan-based automotive components manufacturer. Prior to that, Mr. DeFosset spent three years as Corporate Executive Vice President and Truck Group President with Chicago-based Navistar International Corporation. From 1993 to 1996 he served as President of Southfield, Michigan-based AlliedSignal, Inc.'s $1 billion Safety Restraint Systems division. From 1989 to 1992 Mr. DeFosset was Executive Vice President, Operations with the Allentown, Pennsylvania, headquarters of Mack Trucks, Inc. Prior to that, he spent 18 years in a series of progressively more responsible finance, manufacturing and executive positions with the domestic and European automotive operations of Rockwell International. Mr. DeFosset is a graduate of Purdue University, where he earned a Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School in 1974. Currently, Mr. DeFosset serves on the Board of Directors of Terex Corporation and Safelite Auto Glass. He is also very active in community affairs in the Tampa Bay area. Mr. DeFosset is on the Board of Governors of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce and the Florida Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Trustees of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay, the Board of Trustees of the University of Tampa, the Board of Trustees for the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, the Board of Directors of the Florida Council on Economic Education and a member of the Florida Council of 100. Profile
TWST: Would you begin with a brief overview of the history and evolution

of Walter Industries?

Mr. DeFosset: Walter Industries has its roots in the homebuilding

business. An entrepreneur named