Fred Festa joined Clayton, Dubilier &  Rice in September of 2020. Previously he was employed by Grace as President and COO in 2003, became CEO in 2005, and Chairman in 2008. Festa led the transformation of Grace into a fully-integrated global specialty chemicals and materials company.

During Festa’s tenure, Grace increased substantially revenues, earnings, free cash flow, and the share of emerging region sales, formed several key joint ventures and completed 22 acquisitions. He guided the company successfully through one of the longest and most contested Chapter 11 reorganizations.

Previously, Festa served with distinction in senior leadership positions at Morgenthaler Private Equity Partners, ICG Commerce, AlliedSignal, Inc. (now Honeywell), and GE.

Fred graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. degree in Finance from SUNY Oswego.