Mary Zappone Joins BRACE Industrial Group as Chief Executive Officer

Versatile Leader with Industrial Background will focus on Growth,
Safety and Efficiency

HOUSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–BRACE
Industrial Group, a leading provider of industrial construction
services known for its world-class safety and efficient execution,
announced today the appointment of Mary Zappone as Chief Executive
Officer. Zappone, who has maintenance and industrial services expertise
and a background in engineering, will work with BRACE leadership to
drive profitable organic growth while continuing to enhance the employee
and customer experiences. Her official start date is October 2, 2017.

With her new role, Zappone makes a welcome return to the industrials
sector and to Houston, where she has resided twice before. Prior to
BRACE, Zappone worked at Exxon’s Baytown Refinery, where she led quality
maintenance and reliability efforts, and at General Electric’s plastics
division, where she implemented global reliability and cost metrics,
benchmarking, and best practice sharing across 30 plastics plants in
multiple geographies. Most recently, Zappone was President and CEO of
Service Champ, a large specialty distributor of automotive aftermarket
maintenance parts and accessories.

“BRACE’S reputation for industry-best safety and performance, its
employees’ expertise, and a return to my roots, so to say, makes BRACE
such an exciting place to work,” said Zappone. “I look forward to
working closely with employees, customers, and suppliers to better
understand where we’re excelling, what we can improve through shared
best practices, and how we can grow while preserving BRACE’s core
values.”

With a passion for mentoring, Zappone is active in organizations that
encourage women and girls to pursue careers in math and science and
speaks frequently on the topic at major events, including the Women’s
Global Leadership Conference in Energy and Technology and the National
Math and Science Initiative Young Leaders Program.

Alan Macksey, Managing Partner at Sterling Partners, said, “Mary has an
unsurpassed track record of driving growth while creating an environment
that fosters collaboration and high performance from multi-level teams.
She’s a top-tier strategist with a strong skillset in operational
excellence, and we are eager to follow Mary as she leads BRACE to the
next level.”

BRACE, a Sterling
Partners portfolio company since 2013, provides industrial
construction services that include scaffolding, insulation,
fireproofing, industrial siding and decking, and lead/asbestos abatement
and refractory across a wide variety of industries, such as power
generation, oil and gas, chemical, petrochemical, and manufacturing.
BRACE operates union and open-shop companies.

About BRACE

BRACE Industrial Group (BRACE) is a leading provider of industrial
construction services – including scaffolding, insulation, fireproofing,
heat tracing, industrial siding and decking, painting and coatings,
lead/asbestos abatement and refractory. BRACE owns both BRACE Integrated
Services, the open-shop division of BRACE Industrial Group, and PLATINUM
Scaffolding Services, the union division of BRACE Industrial Group. For
more information, visit: http://www.brace.com/.

About Sterling Partners

Sterling Partners is a private equity firm with a distinct point of view
on how to build great companies. Founded in 1983 and having invested
billions of dollars, Sterling is guided by its stated purpose, INSPIRED
GROWTH®, which describes Sterling’s approach to investing in
differentiated businesses and growing them in inspired ways. Sterling
provides valuable support to the management teams of the companies in
which the firm invests through a deep and dedicated team of
professionals, including a strong network of outside directors and
advisors. The people at Sterling believe in ideas and ideals, in people
and in partnerships that drive long-term success. For more information,
visit: www.sterlingpartners.com.

Contacts

For BRACE, a Sterling Partners company
Taylor Trovillion
[email protected]
(312)-329-3983