CalStar Names Mike Lemberg as CFO

CalStar, manufacturer of sustainable masonry products, has appointed Mike Lemberg as its CFO. Lemberg has spent the last 15 years helping grow and scale early-stage companies, including the last six years in the sustainable products industry.

Lemberg brings a broad set of skills to the CFO position, including strategic planning, supply chain management, and corporate development in addition to the more traditional roles of the CFO.

“Mike brings tremendous strategic insight and financial experience along with his passion to help high-growth companies succeed,” says CalStar CEO Joel Rood. “His strong track record overseeing financial strategy and executing growth strategies at many emerging companies makes him a great choice for CalStar as we focus on rapidly expanding our share of the $12 billion U.S. masonry market.”

Lemberg most recently served as CFO for EcoSMART Technologies, a brand of safe and effective pesticides sold through retailers such as The Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Walmart. Previous experience includes serving as VP of financial planning and analysis for UNICA (acquired by IBM), a global provider of enterprise marketing management software, and VP of corporate development and treasurer of Arbinet (2004 IPO), a leader in the electronics trading, routing and settling communications capacity market.

“I am excited to join such a fantastic team and investor group,” says Lemberg. “CalStar’s sustainable products have all the characteristics I seek in green solutions: They work as well as the traditional technology, have added benefits of sustainability and improved aesthetics, and do not carry a green price premium.”

CarbonCure Technologies Signs Deal With Northfield Block

Clean technology innovator CarbonCure Technologies Inc., has signed a licensing agreement with Northfield Block, a division of Oldcastle Inc., a producer of concrete masonry and precast products in North America. Since 1949, Northfield has been a manufacturer of masonry products in the Midwest, and was acquired by Oldcastle, Inc. in 2003.

Oldcastle, Inc. is the North American arm of CRH Plc., one of the world’s leading building products and materials companies based in Dublin, Ireland. Oldcastle Inc. has 35,000 employees across four product groups – CarbonCure has signed the deal with Northfield Block, part of the Oldcastle Architectural Products Group – a North American manufacturer of concrete masonry, precast, lawn, garden and paving products and a regional leader in clay brick. Oldcastle Architectural Products Group has more than 206 operating locations across 38 states and six Canadian provinces, and has more than 7,000 employees. 

CarbonCure will install its retrofit carbon sequestering technology this month in Northfield Block’s concrete products plant in Morris, Illinois, which is 40 miles west of Chicago. By mid-summer, the plant’s three machines will be manufacturing architectural concrete products that contain sequestered CO2 using CarbonCure’s proprietary technology. Northfield supplies product directly to commercial masonry and residential projects, and through retail outlets including Home Depot and Lowe’s.

The CarbonCure technology is compatible with Oldcastle's impressive lineup of standard and green building products. “We are excited about our partnership with CarbonCure and the advanced technologies they bring for greener products in our industry,” says Oldcastle’s regional president Craig Belasco, who has been president at Northfield for 41 years. CarbonCure’s CEO, Robert Niven, shares Belasco’s enthusiasm. “We’re thrilled to announce this agreement - Northfield Block’s mandate of continuously innovating to strengthen their dominant market position aligns perfectly with CarbonCure’s,” says Niven.

CarbonCure’s retrofit technology chemically converts waste CO2 into limestone to make stronger, greener concrete products. The technology is currently available for concrete blocks, pavers and segmental retaining walls, and the Company has plans to expand to the precast and ready mix markets. The Company is currently partnering with the world’s largest industrial gas supplier, Air Liquide, and leading concrete products manufacturers across North America.