ROBERT C. AYOTTE

Board of Directors

Mr. Robert C. Ayotte retired as of December 31, 2000, as president and chief executive officer of Louisville based Saint-Gobain Ceramics & Plastics, Inc., which employed over 7500 people at more than 70 manufacturing plants in the United States and Canada.

He came to Louisville in 1981 as president and general manager of Corhart Refractories   Company, which was then a Corning subsidiary. In 1985 he led a management team in acquiring Corhart in a leveraged buyout and became its president and chief executive officer. In 1987, he sold this company to the French company, Saint-Gobain, and became president and chief executive officer of what is now named Saint-Gobain Ceramics & Plastics, Inc. Under his leadership the company grew 15 times and became the worldwide leader in industrial ceramics and high-performance plastics. He is past Chairman of the President’s Council of Industrial Advisors, American Ceramic Society and past Chairman of The Refractories Institute. He has also served as a Director of the National Association of Manufacturers, Washington, DC. Mr. Ayotte has also served on other civic, academic, and public company boards.

Mr. Ayotte has been deeply involved in Louisville and other Kentucky civic activities having served as Vice-Chairman of the Louisville Area Chamber of Commerce, Chairman of Junior Achievement Kentuckiana, a senior member of the University of Louisville’s President’s Council, Vice Chairman and Treasurer of the University of Louisville Athletic Association, and a Trustee of the University of Pikeville.

Currently, Mr. Ayotte is an Executive Committee member of the Board of Advisors of the University of Louisville College of Business and a member of the Advisory Council of the University of Rhode Island College of Engineering. Mr. Ayotte also serves as a director of Vogt Ice, LLC. 

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