O-I s ailing CEO steps down; successor named

11/8/2006

Steven McCracken, the chief executive and chairman of metro Toledo s second largest corporation, will step down at the end of November for personal reasons.

Named today as the new CEO and chairman of Owens-Illinois Inc. is a board member, Albert Stroucken, who had been CEO and chairman of H.B. Fuller Co., a St. Paul, Minn., manufacturing of adhesives, sealants, and other chemical products.

Mr. McCracken, 53, is leaving for personal reasons, after having had stomach cancer surgery in early August and was expected to return to work in about eight weeks.

But a month ago, O-I said he was still undergoing post-operative treatments and would not be returning to work full time for an unspecified extended period.

The company did not name an interim CEO, but designated James Baehren as interim leader. He was senior vice president and general counsel, duties he will return to.

Mr. Stroucken, 58, has been an O-I board member since August, 2005, and will assume the top jobs Dec. 4. He was CEO at H.B. Fuller since 1998. He resigned this morning at that company, which has $1.5 billion in annual sales, to assume his new role.

O-I, which had $7 billion in sales last year, moved in August from downtown Toledo to a new headquarters in the suburb of Perrysburg.

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