Governance
Meet the Board of Directors of LATICRETE International, Inc.
David A. Rothberg, Chairman of the Board
David A. Rothberg, Chairman of LATICRETE International, Inc., holds a M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School in Boston, Massachusetts.
Rothberg obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in geology from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. He has also completed courses at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Law School, and an advanced management program at the International Institute for Management Development (I.M.D.) in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Rothberg has been employed in the flooring industry full time since 1978, when he started in the laboratories of LATICRETE. Over the years, his responsibilities have included Scientist, Technical Service Representative, VP of Finance and Administration, and CEO.
His areas of focus as Chairman are guiding the Board of outside directors to maintain LATICRETE as a family owned and operated business and upholding the values of it’s founders to help make the world a better place.
Rothberg travels extensively, reinforcing Company values in over 100 countries. When not working, he is an avid cyclist, sea kayaker, and white-water canoeist. His expedition travels have taken him to the highest points on five continents, and by ski to the South Pole.
Rothberg is married to Attorney Nan M. Birdwhistell, former Mayor of Woodbridge, Connecticut. They have two sons; Daniel, a geologist, working at LATICRETE headquarters as a Product Manager, and Jason, a film script writer in Los Angeles.
Rothberg is a 25 year member of YPO, a global business organization.
He served on board of The Connecticut Business & Industry Association and on the Advisory Council of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), of Lander, WY., USA. NOLS is the leader in wilderness education.
Doris Zelinsky
Doris Zelinsky has a 35-year career within US-based manufacturing and sales companies. She has worked with family owners, private equity and public companies. Ms. Zelinsky's "origins" are in manufacturing. During the last two decades, she has expanded her skills to full P&L responsibility, including general management, strategy, sales and marketing.
After completing her BA in economics at Yale and an MPA at Princeton, she joined the Lender’s Bagel Bakery and designed new technologies and plants to support their growth. At Lender's, she worked side-by-side with family leadership for six years, where she directed all operations, manufacturing, R&D, Q A, engineering, construction, supply chain and customer management. Lender’s grew revenues tenfold during her tenure. From there, she spent nine years with Kraft Foods, also in leadership positions.
During the last eight years, she has been an active board member of several manufacturing companies, as well as a management consultant. She currently serves on the Board of YUM Restaurants of Puerto Rico, and is an adviser to a 1,700 store chain in the US and Canada.
In addition, Ms. Zelinsky serves as both board member and as consultant to a portfolio of US companies in consumer products and food manufacturing equipment.
As a passionate volunteer, Ms. Zelinsky has served as the founder and president of Greater New Haven Holocaust Memory, responsible for maintaining the first Holocaust Memorial built in the United States on public land. She is the executive producer of "People Forget...New Haven Remembers", an award winning documentary that reinforces this "first in our country”, memorial’s timely and compelling message of tolerance.
Ms. Zelinsky resides in New Haven and Branford Connecticut with her spouse, Law Professor Edward Zelinsky. They have raised four children in Connecticut, where as a family, they actively enjoy New England's summer sailing and winter skiing sports.
Albert Canosa
Albert A. Canosa served as President, CEO and Director of Raytech Corporation from 1998 to 2004 and brings a diverse array of experience, skills and qualities to the corporate decision-making process. Raytech Corporation, a New York Stock Exchange corporation, is an international leader within the vehicular power transmission applications for the automotive, heavy duty OEM and aftermarket market segments.
As CEO of Raytech, Mr. Canosa piloted the company through a 12-year asbestos-related bankruptcy process and led the company to emerge as a financially healthy, viable, respected, and market-leading competitor worldwide. He generated the highest performance of Raytech with equity increase of 72% and the highest pretax performance level to date. Under Mr. Canosa’s leadership, all Raytech manufacturing plants received their QS or ISO 9000 certification and the company received Q1 status from Ford and Partnership status with Deere.
Mr. Canosa’s experience includes 12 years as a Chief Financial Officer, as well as more than 30 years of excellent performance in diverse disciplines, such as tax, SEC reporting, shareholder relations, treasury, short- and long-range planning, financial analysis, acquisitions/divestitures, auditing, corporate structure, turnaround programs, asset management, debt reduction and employee relations.
Raytech operated in a mature industry with no opportunity for price increases and yet it generated a compound annual growth rate in pretax earnings of 17% for 11 years straight with Mr. Canosa’s direction. He has demonstrated leadership, integrity and management qualities that are respected by peers, competitors, customers and associates.
Mr. Canosa previously served as Chairman of the Private School Board and Chairman of St. Mary Church Council. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Marlin Firearms Company, the United Way of Branford and is a Trustee of Quinnipiac University. He is currently Director & Chairman of the Audit Committee of Tasker Products. Mr. Canosa received his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT. Mr. Canosa resides in Branford with his wife Sharon and his son Adam.
Volker Weidmann
Volker Weidmann joins LATICRETE with 28 years of experience, including being the Managing Director of Hermann Otto GmbH in Fridolfing, Germany for the last 20 years. Having worked extensively in sales, R & D, application support, marketing and branding, Volker brings a comprehensive knowledge of construction industry practices and materials. He has been elected chairman of the German Industry Association of Sealant Manufacturers (IVD).
Volker was granted a master’s degree in organic chemistry and a doctoral in technical sciences from the Technical University in Graz, Austria. In his free time, Volker enjoys music (listening, composing and playing), hunting, reading and collecting books.
Mark Levy
Mark S. Levy has dedicated his career to the fire alarm and early detection industry, overseeing the growth of both Fire-Lite Alarms Inc. (which was founded by his father Herbert in the 1940's) and NOTIFIER.
Mark received his BS in Business Administration from the University of Denver in 1970. Upon graduation, he took over Fire-Lite Alarms Inc., where he already had 10 years’ experience working with his grandfather and his father in various roles within the company. Mark set goals, objectives and marketing strategies that guided the company on a path of modernization and future growth. In addition, he recruited the industry's best engineers to develop and expand the company's product line. In 1984, Mark recognized another great opportunity to grow the business when he sold Fire-Lite to the Pittway Corporation of Chicago, Illinois. He remained as president of Fire-Lite Alarms Inc., and in 1987 was named president of NOTIFIER as well, another company acquired by Pittway. Today, both companies are part of Honeywell International's Fire Solutions Group and among the world's leading manufacturers of commercial fire detection systems.
Promoted to President of Honeywell International’s Fire Solutions Group in 2000, Mark oversaw five global systems brands - Fire-Lite, NOTIFIER, FCI, Gamewell and Silent Knight, as well as the detector and device businesses – System Sensor and KAC, which are the world leaders in their markets. The Fire Solutions Group employs over 3,000 people globally.
Among his achievements throughout his career, Mark was recognized by the Connecticut District Export Council in 1998 with the "Connecticut Exporter of the Year Award". He received the Honeywell Hero Award for outstanding achievement in September 2001. He is also active on the Board of the University of New Haven, currently as the Chairman of the Finance Committee; and former Board Chairman of the Easter Seal Goodwill Rehabilitation Center in New Haven.
Stephan Liozu
Stephan Liozu comes to LATICRETE with more than 23 years of experience with several multinational building product companies. He has expertise in the manufacturing and distribution practices of our industry, his forte is customer value management, and recent accomplishments include coaching, consulting and training for large global industrial companies. Stephan has published six books, 4 e-books, a combination of 40 academic and practitioner papers, and has presented at over 45 conferences.
Stephan received a master's degree in business administration from Cleveland State University and a doctoral degree in management from Case Western Reserve University. He is a native of France.
Dr. Liozu resides in Phoenix, Arizona with his son, Lorenzo. He loves working out and watching rugby.
Stephen Merkel
Steve has been a Director or Non- Executive Chairman for 14 years with private and public companies involved in turnarounds, operational reviews, strategic planning, acquisitions, people development, succession planning, shareholder operating agreements, exit strategies and key customer and distributor interface.
He was one of four Directors that led the turnaround of NYSE Sturm Ruger where market cap increased fivefold in six years.Prior to Director and Non-Executive Chairman work, he had 18 years of global and domestic P&L responsibility as Managing Director, President or Operating Executive mostly with Loctite Corporation.
His experience has included multi-national companies selling Direct and/or thru Distribution across specialty chemicals, industrial, construction, fire arms, electronics, specialty water, paper, hospitality, HVAC, food service, specialty metal, automotive aftermarket, jan san, aerospace, restaurant and hardware.
Steve has led / directed the acquisition of 24 companies and divested two businesses with shared services as either a Managing Director, President, Operating Executive or Board Member.
He has managed thru natural disaster, wild inflation, catastrophic loss of facilities, major integrations, divestitures, a hostile takeover, turnarounds, fraud and financial uncertainty.
He is adept at consistently improving the value offering and gross margins throughout his career by testing price elasticity, reengineering products, outsourcing, improving productivity, new product introduction and pricing to value not cost.
Steve has served on NYSE, private and not for profit Boards, and currently works with three privately held companies.
Steve has attended Executive Programs at IMD in Switzerland and AMOS Tuck School at Dartmouth. He also holds a Master’s degree in Marketing and Finance from Clarkson School of Management and a BS in Management from Clarkson University.
Thomas Tullo
Thomas Tullo, the Founder and Managing Director of Range Light Capital, Inc., joins LATICRETE with 38 years of experience in finance. Mr. Tullo is a specialist in public and private capital transactions, mergers and acquisitions and restructurings for Industrial manufacturing companies.
Prior to founding Range Light Capital, Mr. Tullo was a Partner in Rossoff & Co where he headed the firm’s Industrials practice. Previously Mr. Tullo headed the Industrial and Diversified Services Group at RBC Capital Markets. Prior to RBC his career included working at Goldman Sachs, S. G. Warburg and McKinsey & Company where he advised clients on mergers, acquisitions, financings and recapitalizations both in the U.S. and overseas. Mr. Tullo is a member of the Board of Directors of Taco Comfort Solutions.
Mr. Tullo holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School ’82, and an Economics degree, Summa Cum Laude, from Dartmouth College ’79.
In his free time, Tom enjoys sailing, woodworking, and reading.
Dahra Granovsky
Dahra Granovsky is currently the CEO of BA Folding Cartons, a folding carton packaging company in Toronto, Canada. She formerly held the role of President of Atlantic Packaging Products, a 2000+ employee manufacturer of corrugated packaging, with integrated paper mills and recycling services. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of public companies Intertape Polymer Group Inc.,
Hammond Power Solutions, Velan Inc., and family-owned Atlantic Packaging Products Limited.
She holds a MBA from the University of Hartford in International Finance, and a BSc. from the University of Toronto. As a member of the LATICRETE Board of Directors, Dahra will enhance the lives of LATICRETE customers and employees by using her extensive experiences in sustainability, family owned business, and general management.
She lives in Toronto with her husband Richard Allen, their three sons and dog Baxter.
Jerry Perkins
Jerry comes to LATICRETE with a wealth of strategic experience growing premium value, branded products businesses, and driving operational efficiency in global scale businesses using differentiated channels of distribution and digital platforms. Perkins has successfully led the acquisition and integration of businesses in the Americas, Europe and Asia.
Prior to joining Henkel’s leadership team Perkins was a senior marketing executive for Loctite Corporation, based in Hartford, CT. Perkins earned an M.B.A. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a B.S. in Finance, Summa Cum Laude from Central Connecticut State University.
Perkins is an avid outdoor enthusiast spending his free time skiing, cycling, and hiking. Perkins resides with his wife Barbara in Princeton, NJ.