Year-End Message From David Winter and David Millstone
As 2025 comes to a close, we want to thank you for rising to the challenge in a year filled with change. Standard’s 2025 across all of our operating companies was filled with proactive, thoughtful, and disciplined action. We continued to sharpen our focus on our core priorities and further leaned into the critical decisions that, while sometimes difficult, position us well for the future.
Building a Strong Foundation
This year we made structural and organizational changes across the businesses to strengthen the ways we work together, unlock new growth opportunities, and improve the customer experience. BMI simplified its organization to operate more efficiently and better serve customers, SGI joined GAF to form a new Specialty Product & Services business unit that will create new vertical growth opportunities across SGI, Glass Mat, and Standard Logistics, and Grace combined its Refining Technologies and Specialty Catalysts businesses to form a new, integrated Performance Catalyst Solutions business unit. We are already seeing results of these changes—our businesses are holding or gaining share in key markets and winning new customers. The global operating environment is challenging, and these strategic moves were made in concert with our enterprise-wide focus on “controlling the controllables.”
Our People
None of this—the strategic pivots, the disciplined execution, the customer wins—would have been possible without the resilience and dedication of our people. We are grateful to all of you for your commitment to the business and your work navigating this year’s challenges and opportunities.
We are also appreciative of our leadership teams who led with determination, focus, and creativity. As you may know, the end of this year formally marks John Altmeyer’s transition to Vice Chair and John Barkhouse’s transition to CEO at GAF. We are grateful to both John and John for effecting the transition so smoothly.
Looking Ahead
As we communicated in October, after many years of leading Standard Industries together as Co-CEOs, we are also evolving our leadership structure beginning in 2026. David Millstone has decided to take on the role of Vice Chairman, stepping back from day-to-day operations and focusing on our investments and various strategic initiatives. David Winter will continue as CEO of Standard, overseeing the operating businesses and the execution of Standard’s long-term growth initiatives and development efforts. We will both continue to co-manage the fund and all of its investment activities.
As we reflect on this past year and look ahead to 2026, we will succeed by staying focused on what’s within our control: executing with precision and mastering the fundamentals of our businesses. In the face of outside challenges and noise, we should remain laser-focused on two key priorities: first, operating at world-class levels, and second, delivering unparalleled value to our customers.
Over the years, we’ve proven time and time again that we’re more than capable of navigating complexity—Standard excels under pressure. The challenges we face present opportunities to rise, innovate, and lead, and we’re energized by the road before us.
We wish you all the best for a wonderful holiday season with your families and friends. We look forward to entering the new year with as strong and focused an organization as ever, and we are excited to get back to work with you in 2026.
All the best,
David and David
2025 Reflections & 2026 Goals
As we look to the new year, our operating companies’ CEOs share their takeaways from 2025 and priorities for 2026.
John Barkhouse, Incoming CEO of GAF
“Over the past year, I’ve been inspired by the discipline, determination, and grit of the GAF team. In 2025, we grew our Commercial business by executing on the fundamentals with excellence. Even as our Residential business faced market pressures, we focused on what matters most — restoring product availability, delivering reliably, and winning with the contractor.
As we look to 2026, we will succeed by continuing to strengthen our foundation, elevate our leadership position, and deliver a frictionless experience for our customers. I look forward to all we will accomplish together.”
Thomas Casparie, CEO of BMI
“Whilst 2025 was a challenging year, with markets declining beyond our expectations, it was also a year of significant progress. We delivered against our strategic commitments, notably improving our supply network’s competitiveness and gaining market share in our key markets — something I am incredibly proud of.
2026 will be a big year. A steep climb lies ahead as we continue to transform our business with a new organisational structure that truly sets us up to win with customers. With our great brands, products, and dedicated spirit of our people, I’m confident winning is on our horizon.”
Ed Sparks, CEO of Grace
“2025 tested us in ways we didn’t see coming, but the Grace team turned every challenge into an opportunity. Despite shifting demand and macroeconomic headwinds, we proved that circumstances don’t define us — our actions do.
I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished together, and two things stand out: our strong safety performance, because every one of us owns it; and our relentless focus on controlling costs, because controlling what we can today positions us for the long term. At Grace, every employee has the power to make an impact, and, together, we’ll carry that momentum into 2026.”