Hornsby predicts U.S. housing starts to plummet to 750,000 this year.
Among the panelists was Wolseley CEO Chip Hornsby, who also took the reins as NAW chairman for the 2008-2009 term. Speaking on “leadership culture,” Hornsby reviewed Wolseley’s recent divestment of unrelated businesses to consolidate into a construction distribution specialist. He also cited Wolseley as moving from decentralized management “toward centralization by country.” Hornsby, who formerly headed Ferguson before taking the reins of the parent company, labeled Wolseley’s strategy as “earn, turn and grow,” explaining that “we want to grow the bottom line faster than revenues” and focus on rapid inventory turnover culture, which “varies greatly by country.”