W.R. Grace & Co. / GRA
W.R. Grace provides specialty chemicals and materials. (Photo: Courtesy of company.)
About W.R. Grace & Co.
7500 Grace Dr., Columbia, Md. 21044
www.grace.com
| 410-531-4000
| Founded: 1832
Industry: Manufacturing | Category: Top 100 Companies
The company has been operating under bankruptcy protection since April 2001, when it filed for Chapter 11 citing an unexpected 81 percent surge in asbestos-related personal-injury claims filed against it that year.
Of the tens of thousands of claims, about 100 were related to a now-defunct mine Grace owned in Libby, Mont., that exposed the town to asbestos. Grace is fighting criminal charges that it broke environmental laws and conspired to cover up the dangers of asbestos at the mine. In June, a federal judge ruled that prosecutors could not allege that Grace "knowingly endangered" town residents because the five-year time frame for pursuing those charges had run out, hurting the conspiracy argument.
In bankruptcy court, Grace also faces property-damage claims by homeowners who have asbestos-laced Zonolite attic insulation once sold by Grace. The homeowners wanted to be treated as a class and to create a fund to compensate them and future claimants. Before ruling, the court wanted to establish whether Zonolite poses an unreasonable risk of harm. In December, it ruled that the risk of exposure to Zonolite "is less than that of dying in a bicycle accident." The court has yet to decide which, if any, of those claims should remain.
In a civil case related to the Libby mine, the Supreme Court declined to hear Grace's argument that it should not be responsible for paying the entire $54.5 million tab for cleaning up the mine, which is now a Superfund site.
The company also faces charges linked to its cleanup efforts at a now-defunct New Jersey plant that processed asbestos ore from the Libby mine.
Despite its legal troubles, Grace continues to expand. In 2006, it increased its presence in the Middle East and established a Moscow office and a laboratory in Shanghai. Last month, it opened a manufacturing plant in India.
President and CEO: Fred Festa
2007 Financial Data
Total employees: 6,500 | Local employees: 1,400Company Leadership
| A.E. Festa | President and CEO |
| R.M. Tarola | CFO |
| G.E. Poling | VP |
| R.C. Brown | VP |
| W. B. McGowan | SVP |
Source: Compensation data provided by Equilar, Inc..
Did You Know
W.R. Grace & Co. makes specialty chemicals, including sealants that keep beer bottles airtight, the silica that helps toothpaste clean teeth and the compounds that remove sulfur from oil in refining. It consists of two divisions: Davison Chemicals and Performance Chemicals.
