TOLEDO, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 18, 2025--
Owens Corning (NYSE: OC), a building products leader, today announced that José Méndez-Andino, Ph.D., has been promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer. This elevated role reflects Owens Corning’s commitment to driving organic growth through innovation, a priority outlined at the company’s 2025 Investor Day and reinforced by its enterprise strategy to leverage unique commercial, operational, and innovation capabilities to create value for customers and shareholders.
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As Chief Innovation Officer, Méndez-Andino will expand his scope to lead a center of excellence in innovation, which is accountable for advancing product stewardship, accelerating core process and product innovation, delivering key enterprise capital projects, and creating new applications that expand the company’s reach in attractive building products markets. These efforts will strengthen Owens Corning’s ability to grow its market-leading positions, deliver differentiated solutions for customers, and extend the company’s leadership in branded building products across North America and Europe.
“Owens Corning has a long and rich history of being an innovation and technology leader, and José has played a critical role in advancing our capabilities and building high-performing teams that bring impactful technologies to life across our enterprise,” said Brian Chambers, Chair and Chief Executive Officer. “This expanded role reflects our enhanced focus on innovation and product leadership, building on the tremendous work already in place to deliver differentiated solutions that create value for our customers and drive growth for Owens Corning.”
Méndez-Andino has served as Owens Corning’s Executive Vice President and Chief Research & Development Officer since 2021. Under his leadership, Owens Corning has launched more than 220 new or improved products over the past five years, contributing to the company’s ability to maintain competitive advantage and capture market opportunities. Méndez-Andino joined Owens Corning in 2012 and has held a variety of R&D leadership roles across the company’s market-leading businesses. Prior to joining Owens Corning, he spent 10 years at Procter & Gamble, where he held leadership roles spanning science, product development, and new business creation.
He will continue reporting directly to Chair and Chief Executive Officer Brian Chambers and continue to serve as a member of the company’s Executive Committee.
About Owens Corning
Owens Corning is a building products leader committed to building a sustainable future through material innovation. Our products provide durable, sustainable, energy-efficient solutions that leverage our unique capabilities and market-leading positions to help our customers win and grow. We are global in scope, human in scale with more than 25,000 employees in 31 countries dedicated to generating value for our customers and shareholders and making a difference in the communities where we work and live. Founded in 1938 and based in Toledo, Ohio, USA, Owens Corning posted 2024 sales of $11.0 billion. For more information, visit www.owenscorning.com.
Owens Corning Company News / Owens Corning Investor Relations News
José Méndez-Andino, Ph.D., has been promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer at Owens Corning. In this role, Méndez-Andino will expand his scope to lead a center of excellence in innovation, which is accountable for advancing product stewardship, accelerating core process and product innovation, delivering key enterprise capital projects, and creating new applications that expand the company’s reach in attractive building products markets.
NEW DELHI (AP) — India signed a comprehensive economic partnership agreement with Oman on Thursday as part of its broader strategy to offset the impact of steep U.S. import tariffs and widen export destinations during growing global trade uncertainties.
This is the second free trade agreement signed by New Delhi in the past six months, the first one being inked with the United Kingdom in May.
The India-Oman agreement was signed in Muscat in the presence of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Oman’s head of state, Sultan Haitham bin Tarik.
The deal aims to boost bilateral trade and push India’s exports of engineering goods, textiles, leather, pharmaceuticals and agricultural products. It will provide Indian goods zero-duty market access on 98.08% of Oman’s tariff lines, India's Trade Ministry said in a statement.
India has offered Oman tariff liberalization on 77.79% of its tariff lines, which will cover nearly 95% of New Delhi’s imports from Muscat, the ministry said.
In recent months, India has accelerated a push to finalize several free trade agreements, or FTAs. The country is in advanced talks with the European Union, New Zealand and Chile, among other countries.
FTAs are a central pillar of India’s economic strategy as it seeks deeper integration into global supply chains, stronger export growth and sustained job creation. By lowering tariffs and setting predictable trade rules, the pacts would help Indian businesses remain competitive and expand access to newer markets.
With global trade increasingly shaped by tariff disputes and geopolitical tensions, India is betting that a wider network of trade agreements will help cushion external shocks and anchor its export ambitions.
The stepped-up negotiations come as Indian exporters face pressure from higher U.S. import tariffs of 50%, which went into effect in August. While the two countries have been negotiating a bilateral trade agreement, the tariffs have weighed on sectors such as textiles, auto components, metals and labor-intensive manufacturing.
“India is clearly using FTAs as a strategic tool to diversify export markets and soften the impact of steep and uncertain U.S. tariffs,” trade analyst Ajay Srivastava said.
In all, India has 15 free trade agreements covering 26 countries and six preferential trade agreements, with another 26 nations while negotiating with more than 50 other partners, Srivastava said.
Once the ongoing talks conclude, India will have trade agreements with virtually all major global economies except China, he said.
India signed comprehensive economic cooperation and trade agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Australia in recent years, lifting bilateral trade with both countries. In May, Britain and India announced that they had agreed on a hard-wrought FTA that will slash tariffs on products including Scotch whisky and English gin shipped to India, and Indian food and spices sent to the U.K.
The recent agreements have reinforced the case for faster negotiations and clearer frameworks for business, officials said.
“India is negotiating several FTAs” at a time of challenges in global trade, Trade Secretary Rajesh Agarwal told reporters this week. “I see positive progress on several of these, next year.”
But challenges remain as Indian negotiators face pressure to protect small farmers and domestic industries, even as trading partners push for greater market access.
India and the U.S. hoped to have the first tranche of a bilateral trade agreement by the fall, but it hasn't come through, because ties have been strained following India’s unabated purchase of discounted Russian crude oil. Washington says the purchases help fund Moscow’s war machine in the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
In recent weeks, there have been signs of tempers cooling. Modi applauded Trump’s peace plan to try to end the Russia-Ukraine war, and the two leaders recently spoke over the phone to discuss mutual interests, including trade.
A team of U.S. negotiators led by Deputy Trade Representative Rick Switzer visited New Delhi last week and held talks with Indian officials. Switzer discussed a India-U.S. economic and technological partnership as well as opportunities to boost two-way trade, India’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
New Zealand’s trade and investment minister, Todd McClay, met with Indian counterpart Piyush Goyal last week. They discussed key aspects of an FTA and explored ways to advance the negotiations for mutual benefits, Goyal said on X.
EU Trade and Economic Security Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič also met Goyal last week to review progress on the India-EU free trade agreement and explore ways to resolve issues and advance negotiations.
FILE - Laborers carry narrow planks of wood to be used for building a pavilion for the Make In India summit in Mumbai, India, Feb. 9, 2016. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)
FILE - High ankle boots for women for export are kept for packing at Dawar leather footwear manufacturing unit in Agra, India, Aug. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)
FILE - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida sign agreements in New Delhi, March 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)
