The chief executive officer and executive director of James Hardie Industries plc is recognized for closing the largest transaction in the company’s history to unite exterior siding with outdoor living, for steering that bet through a shareholder revolt that reshaped his boardroom, and for a retreat from Europe that shows he is as willing to cut as he is to commit.
HG HomeClub has named Aaron Erter, chief executive officer and executive director of James Hardie Industries plc, to its list of the 25 Most Influential Leaders in Home Improvement, Home Services and Outdoor Living.
The list, published by HG HomeClub, recognizes 25 leaders who are shaping these three industries in the right way. It spans manufacturing, distribution, retail, technology, franchising, contracting, media, capital and the associations that convene the trades. It is presented alphabetically and carries no numerical ranking because the leaders on it exercise influence in fundamentally different ways, and comparing a keynote stage to a distribution network or a franchise system to a product platform would flatten what makes each of them consequential.
Erter earns his place on it for a reason distinct from almost everyone else on this list: he is the executive who fused two once-separate categories, fiber cement siding and PVC trim and composite decking, into a single exterior and outdoor living platform, then answered to shareholders for how he did it. James Hardie’s fiscal 2026 net sales reached $4.84 billion, up 25 percent year over year, as the company absorbed its $8.75 billion acquisition of The AZEK Company. The combination pushed James Hardie’s total addressable market in North America to roughly $23 billion, more than double the size of the business before the deal.
Those are the numbers. The story is about how he got there and what he did after the market pushed back.
How Did Aaron Erter Get to the Corner Office at James Hardie?
Aaron Erter did not join James Hardie from within the building products industry. He brings more than 25 years of experience across the consumer, manufacturing, and industrial sectors, with a career built on brand-building, strategic planning, P&L management, and M&A.
He spent 15 years in executive management at Stanley Black & Decker, overseeing sales and marketing for the DEWALT and Black & Decker brands, before moving to Valspar Industries as senior vice president and general manager of North America consumer products. From 2017 to 2020 he served as global president of Sherwin-Williams’ Performance Coatings Group and Consumer Brands Group, and from 2020 to 2022 he was president and chief executive officer of PLZ Corp, North America’s leading specialty aerosol and liquid manufacturer.
James Hardie named Erter chief executive officer in September 2022, following a search led by Heidrick & Struggles. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame.
Why Did Aaron Erter Bet $8.75 Billion on Outdoor Living?
The defining move of Erter’s tenure is the decision to stop thinking of James Hardie as a siding manufacturer and to start building it as a full exterior and outdoor-living platform.
In March 2025, James Hardie entered a definitive agreement to acquire The AZEK Company, a leading manufacturer of low-maintenance, sustainable outdoor living products, in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at $8.75 billion, including AZEK’s net debt of approximately $386 million. Under the terms, AZEK shareholders received $26.45 in cash and 1.0340 James Hardie shares for each AZEK share held. The deal closed on July 1, 2025, at an implied value of approximately $8.4 billion.
“This combination with AZEK is an extraordinary opportunity to accelerate our growth strategy, deliver enhanced and differentiated solutions to our customers and drive shareholder value,” Erter said when the deal was announced. “We are uniting two highly complementary companies with large material conversion opportunities and shared cultures centered around providing winning solutions to our customers and contractors.”
The combined company now carries a portfolio of exterior brands spanning Hardie, TimberTech, AZEK Exteriors, Versatex, StruXure, Ultralox and Intex, giving contractors and homeowners siding, trim, decking, railing and pergolas from a single supplier, and gives James Hardie a foothold in outdoor living to match the dominance it already holds in exterior siding.
What Happened When Investors Said No?
Worth stating plainly, for editorial balance: the AZEK deal did not land well with a significant share of James Hardie’s investor base, and the fallout became one of the defining corporate governance stories in building products in 2025.
The transaction was funded through debt and a major share issuance, diluting existing shareholders by approximately 35 percent of James Hardie’s issued capital, during a period of volatility in the U.S. housing market. Because the Australian Securities Exchange granted James Hardie a waiver from the requirement to hold a shareholder vote on the acquisition, many Australian-based investors felt shut out of the decision entirely, a grievance that prompted the ASX to review its listing rules for major transactions.
The backlash reached the boardroom at James Hardie’s annual meeting in Dublin in October 2025, where shareholders voted to remove Chair Anne Lloyd and directors Rada Rodriguez and Peter-John Davis, with 67.3 percent of votes cast against Lloyd’s re-election. James Hardie’s U.S.-listed shares were down roughly 30 percent for the year at that point. Erter himself retained his post but without a multi-million-dollar incentive payout tied to the deal. Nigel Stein was subsequently appointed as the company’s new independent board chair.
How Is James Hardie Pulling Back to Push Forward?
Erter’s response to that pressure has been to sharpen the company’s focus rather than retreat from the strategy. In August 2026, James Hardie announced an agreement to sell its European Fermacell and Aestuver walling and flooring business to Holcim for €840 million, or approximately $980 million, and disclosed its intent to close its European fiber cement business entirely. The transaction has not yet closed; it is expected to complete in the first half of calendar 2027, subject to antitrust approval and employee consultation.
“The strategic divestiture of our European operations and the intended closure of the European fiber cement business will enable us to focus on our highest growth and return opportunities,” Erter said of the sale. The company intends to direct roughly $600 million of the proceeds toward debt reduction, targeting net leverage below 2.0x by September 30, 2027, and its board separately authorized a $250 million share repurchase program.
Taken together, the AZEK acquisition and the European exit describe the same discipline applied in opposite directions: concentrate capital in North American exterior and outdoor living, where James Hardie already leads, and shed the businesses that do not compound that advantage.
What Does Aaron Erter Build Outside James Hardie?
Erter’s outside commitments track closely with the housing and building products world he leads inside James Hardie. He has served as an independent director of Ball Corporation since June 2024, and is a strategic member of the Joint Center for Housing Studies, the Harvard-affiliated research center that produces some of the industry’s most closely watched housing and remodeling data.
Closer to home, he serves on the board of Chicagoland Habitat for Humanity and is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame National Advisory Board and of First Tee, the youth golf and character-development organization.
How Is James Hardie Investing in Communities and the Trades?
Under Erter, James Hardie has scaled a giving program built around housing resilience. In fiscal year 2025, the company contributed $1.65 billion in economic value to the communities in which it operates, through capital expenditures at its plants and investment in employees, local ecosystems and its supplier base, and provided 29 Habitat Strong grants to build affordable, climate-resilient homes in partnership with Habitat for Humanity International.
James Hardie was also a Dream Maker sponsor of Habitat for Humanity’s 2025 Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project in Austin, Texas, and its annual James Hardie Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational, a PGA TOUR Champions charity event, has helped fund Habitat builds including a home completed in Canton, Ohio, in 2024.
Why Does Aaron Erter Belong Among the 25 Most Influential Leaders in These Industries?
Influence in these industries takes several forms. Some leaders influence through a keynote stage or a book. Some through a franchise system that creates business owners. Some through a distribution network, a software platform, or the price of a pallet.
Aaron Erter influences through capital allocation at a scale few others on this list command, and through the willingness to be held accountable for it in public. He spent roughly $8.75 billion to fuse siding and outdoor living into one platform. When shareholders pushed back hard enough to remove his board chair, he stayed the course on strategy while accepting the consequences to his own pay. And when the numbers said Europe no longer belonged in the portfolio, he moved to exit it rather than defend a legacy position.
That combination, big bets, public accountability, and the discipline to reverse course when the market disagrees, is exactly the kind of influence this list was created to recognize.
About HG HomeClub
HG HomeClub is a national media platform serving the home improvement, home services and outdoor living industries. Created to champion media back to its original purpose of informed transparency, HG HomeClub curates the top stories, headlines, rankings, videos, podcasts, webinars, events and professional recommendations across the industry and presents them in one consolidated, easily consumable destination, helping both homeowners and professionals make better-informed decisions. More information is available at hghomeclub.com.
About James Hardie
James Hardie Industries plc (NYSE/ASX: JHX) is a leading provider of exterior home and outdoor living solutions, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Its portfolio includes the Hardie, TimberTech, AZEK Exteriors, Versatex, StruXure, Ultralox and Intex brands, spanning fiber cement siding, PVC trim, composite decking, railing and pergolas. The company reported fiscal 2026 net sales of $4.84 billion, an increase of 25 percent year over year, and describes a total addressable market of approximately $23 billion in North America. More information is available at jameshardie.com.
The 25 Most Influential Leaders in Home Improvement, Home Services and Outdoor Living
Presented alphabetically. There is no numerical ranking; each leader is recognized for influence exercised in a distinct way.
- Doug Black — Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, SiteOne Landscape Supply (Outdoor living)
- AJ Brown — Co-Chief Executive Officer, Apex Service Partners (Platforms)
- Paul Burleson — Senior Account Executive, Westlake Royal Building Products (Home improvement)
- Jenilee Common — Chief Executive Officer, Leaf Home and Erie Home (Home improvement)
- Greg Cummings — Chief Executive Officer, Power100 (Media)
- Bill Darcy — Global President and Chief Executive Officer, NKBA and KBIS (Associations)
- Mike Davis — Chief Executive Officer, Neighborly (Franchising)
- Ted Decker — Chair, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Home Depot (Retail)
- Marvin R. Ellison — Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Lowe’s (Retail)
- Aaron Erter — Chief Executive Officer, James Hardie (Manufacturing)
- Daniel Gluck — Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Renuity (Home improvement)
- Ken Goodrich — Chairman; Founder, Goettl; The Goodrich Organization (Home services)
- Brian Gottlieb — Best-Selling Author and Speaker, Beyond the Hammer (Speaking and authorship)
- Maggie Hardy — Owner, President and Chief Executive Officer, 84 Lumber (Distribution)
- Brad Jacobs — Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, QXO (Distribution)
- Kurt Kane — President and Chief Executive Officer, TruGreen (Outdoor living)
- Ara Mahdessian — Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, ServiceTitan (Technology)
- Matt Malone — Founder and Executive Chairman, Groundworks (Home services)
- Tommy Mello — Founder and Chief Executive Officer, A1 Garage Door Service (Home services)
- Heidi G. Petz — Chair, President and Chief Executive Officer, Sherwin-Williams (Manufacturing)
- Asher Raphael — Co-Chief Executive Officer, Power Home Remodeling (Home improvement)
- Dave Regnery — Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Trane Technologies (Manufacturing)
- Marcus Sheridan — Founder, Marcus Sheridan International (Speaking and authorship)
- Dan Tinker — President and Chief Executive Officer, SRS Distribution (Distribution)
- James W. Tobin III — President and Chief Executive Officer, National Association of Home Builders (Associations)
Frequently Asked Questions About Aaron Erter, James Hardie and This Recognition
- What is HG HomeClub, and what is this list?
HG HomeClub is a national media platform serving the home improvement, home services, and outdoor living industries. It was created to return media to its original purpose of informed transparency, curating the industry’s top stories, headlines, rankings, videos, podcasts, webinars, events and professional recommendations in one place for both homeowners and professionals. The 25 Most Influential Leaders in Home Improvement, Home Services and Outdoor Living is one of HG HomeClub’s editorial rankings, recognizing the people shaping these industries in the right way across manufacturing, distribution, retail, technology, franchising, contracting, media, capital and the associations that convene the trades.
- Is the list ranked from one to 25?
No. The list is presented alphabetically and carries no numerical order. The leaders recognized exercise influence in genuinely different ways, through enterprise scale, growth, product innovation, franchising, capital, authorship, keynote stages, advocacy and media, and HG HomeClub declined to impose a hierarchy on work that is not comparable. Every leader on the list is recognized equally.
- Who is Aaron Erter?
Aaron Erter is chief executive officer and executive director of James Hardie Industries plc, a leading provider of exterior home and outdoor living solutions. He joined James Hardie as CEO in September 2022 after leading PLZ Corp and holding global leadership roles at Sherwin-Williams, Valspar and Stanley Black & Decker. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame.
- Why was Aaron Erter selected for this list?
Because he orchestrated the largest transaction in James Hardie’s history, the $8.75 billion acquisition of The AZEK Company, to build a combined exterior and outdoor living platform with a North American addressable market of roughly $23 billion. He is also recognized for how he navigated the aftermath: a shareholder revolt that removed his board chair, and a subsequent decision to sell the company’s European Fermacell business and exit European fiber cement entirely to refocus capital on higher-growth markets.
- What did the AZEK acquisition change for James Hardie?
It turned a fiber cement siding manufacturer into a full exterior and outdoor living platform. The deal, valued at $8.75 billion and completed July 1, 2025, brought TimberTech decking, AZEK Exteriors trim, Versatex, StruXure, Ultralox and Intex into the James Hardie portfolio alongside its existing Hardie siding brands, giving contractors and homeowners a single source for siding, trim, decking, railing and pergolas, and expanding the company’s total addressable market in North America to approximately $23 billion.
- Why did shareholders push back on the deal?
The transaction was funded through debt and a major share issuance that diluted existing shareholders by roughly 35 percent, during a period of volatility in the U.S. housing market. Because the Australian Securities Exchange waived the requirement for a shareholder vote, many investors felt excluded from the decision. At James Hardie’s October 2025 annual meeting, shareholders voted to remove Chair Anne Lloyd and two other directors, and James Hardie’s U.S.-listed shares were down roughly 30 percent for the year.
- What is the European Fermacell divestiture, and has it closed?
In August 2026, James Hardie announced an agreement to sell its European Fermacell and Aestuver walling and flooring business to Holcim for €840 million (approximately $980 million), alongside plans to close its European fiber cement business. The transaction had not yet closed as of this writing; it is expected to complete in the first half of calendar 2027, subject to antitrust approval. Proceeds are earmarked primarily for debt reduction and a $250 million share repurchase program.
- What has James Hardie done for communities and the trades under Erter?
In fiscal year 2025, James Hardie contributed $1.65 billion in economic value to the communities where it operates and provided 29 Habitat Strong grants to build affordable, climate-resilient homes with Habitat for Humanity International. The company has also been a sponsor of Habitat’s Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project and hosts the annual James Hardie Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational, a PGA TOUR Champions charity event that has helped fund Habitat home builds.
- What outside boards does Aaron Erter serve on?
Erter has served as an independent director of Ball Corporation since June 2024, and is a strategic member of the Harvard-affiliated Joint Center for Housing Studies. He also serves on the board of Chicagoland Habitat for Humanity and is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame National Advisory Board and of First Tee.
