PITTSBURGH -- PPG Industries Inc. has appointed Michael A. Ludlow, vice president, Industrial Coatings, to the newly created position of senior vice president, OEM Coatings, with responsibility for automotive, industrial, packaging, European, and light industrial coatings, and aerospace products.

Ludlow joined PPG's glass business in 1974 at a Phoenix branch of the former Contract and Supply department, and held a number of sales and management positions in the company's glass business before being named vice president of Automotive OEM Products in 1994. He was named vice president of Corporate Purchasing and Distribution in 1996 and vice president, Industrial Coatings, in 1998.

PPG also named J. Rich Alexander, general manager, General Industrial Coatings, to vice president, Industrial Coatings. Alexander joined PPG in 1978 as a fiber glass market research analyst in Pittsburgh and has held a variety of sales and marketing and management positions in the company's fiber glass and glass businesses. He was named general manager, General Industrial Coatings, in 2000.

In other appointments, PPG named Kevin F. Sullivan, vice president, fiber glass, to vice president, Chemicals; Kathleen A. McGuire, vice president, Silicas, to vice president, Purchasing and Distribution; and Amy F. Molenda, general auditor, to general manager, Silicas.