President, Chief Executive Officer & Director, Azz
Search every verified Thomas Ferguson interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Thomas Ferguson, president and CEO of AZZ, has discussed the company's strategic pivot toward metal coatings. In a 2025 interview, he described the 2022 spin-off of AZZ's infrastructure segment into a joint venture with Fernweh Group to form Avail, and the subsequent acquisition of Precoat Metals. Ferguson said the company decided to focus on metal coatings because the previous diverse set of business units lacked scale and were difficult to explain to the market. He noted that the joint venture allowed AZZ to participate in the growth of those businesses while generating cash to focus on coatings. Ferguson also stated that the divestiture of the Electrical Protection Group (EPG) to Invent was a milestone that reflected the success of the strategy. In a 2024 interview, Ferguson discussed integrating his Christian faith into his leadership at AZZ. He said he sent an email to employees stating he is a Christian but that they are not required to be one to work at the company. Ferguson said his primary responsibility is to generate returns for shareholders, but also to create a culture where people care about each other. He added that he wants to have an impact for the kingdom and that his heart has changed toward serving people. In a 2010 interview, Ferguson criticized the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in *Citizens United v. FEC*, which allowed unlimited corporate spending in elections. He said the decision was "really scary" and that corporations are "not natural entities" and should not have the same rights as people. Ferguson argued that the ruling would allow corporations to spend large sums in local elections and that the "open corruption of the system" would become a real problem.
“We had this very solid, highly profitable, fairly low growth galvanizing business and then we had this disparate group of business units that we really had a hard time explaining to the market and even forecasting what the outlook would be for those.”
“We decided to focus on metal coatings because we knew there were other metal coatings assets out there that could be attractive, but we needed the cash and leadership time to actually go focus on those and figure out how to add value.”
“The infrastructure solutions side was affected far more dramatically during COVID than galvanizing because essential infrastructure on the galvanizing side still had to repair roads, build transmission towers, and keep power generation going.”
“We chose a joint venture to allow us to participate in the growth of those businesses, get cash, and let somebody else take it private, focus on it, build it, while we still benefit from a portion of the growth.”
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In 2022, AZZ made a bold pivot, spinning off its infrastructure segment into a joint venture with Fernweh Group to form Avail ...
Tom Ferguson built a career at one company for over 25 years and became president of 2 out of 3 divisions with amazing financial ...
Supreme Court OKs unlimited corporate spending on elections ...
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