Grace Elects Julie Fasone Holder to Board of Directors

COLUMBIA, Md., Nov. 03, 2016 -- W. R. Grace & Co. (NYSE:GRA) announced today that Julie Fasone Holder has been elected to its Board of Directors. Her election increases the board from seven to eight members.

Grace Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Fred Festa said, “We are pleased to add such a highly qualified member to our board. Julie brings strong marketing and operational experience and deep chemical industry knowledge, which will help us execute on our growth and productivity programs, and capture significant opportunities ahead.”

Ms. Holder has been the Chief Executive Officer of JFH Insights LLC, a consulting firm primarily dedicated to leadership coaching for high potential women executives, since founding the company in 2009. Previously, Ms. Holder served as Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing, Sales and Reputation Officer, U.S. Area Executive Oversight of The Dow Chemical Company from 2007 until her retirement in 2009. Before that, she was Dow’s Vice President, Human Resources, Public Affairs and Diversity and Inclusion from 2006. Prior to that, Ms. Holder served in various positions with increasing seniority at Dow from 1975 to 2006, including several commercial leadership positions with global responsibilities. She currently serves on the boards of Eastman Chemical Company, The Committee of 200 (C200), and the Women’s Resource Center of Northern Michigan.

About Grace

Built on talent, technology, and trust, Grace is a leading global supplier of catalysts and engineered materials. The company’s two industry-leading business segments—Catalysts Technologies and Materials Technologies—provide innovative products, technologies, and services that enhance the products and processes of our customer partners around the world. Grace employs approximately 3,700 people in over 30 countries. More information about Grace is available at grace.com.

This announcement contains forward-looking statements, that is, information related to future, not past, events. Such statements generally include the words “believes,” “plans,” “intends,” “targets,” “will,” “expects,” “suggests,” “anticipates,” “outlook,” “continues,” or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, expected financial positions; results of operations; cash flows; financing plans; business strategy; operating plans; capital and other expenditures; competitive positions; growth opportunities for existing products; benefits from new technology and cost reduction initiatives, plans and objectives; and markets for securities. For these statements, Grace claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. Like other businesses, Grace is subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause its actual results to differ materially from its projections or that could cause other forward-looking statements to prove incorrect. Factors that could cause actual results to materially differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements include, without limitation: risks related to foreign operations, especially in emerging regions; the cost and availability of raw materials and energy; the effectiveness of its research and development and growth investments; acquisitions and divestitures of assets and gains and losses from dispositions; developments affecting Grace’s outstanding indebtedness; developments affecting Grace's funded and unfunded pension obligations; its legal and environmental proceedings; uncertainties related to Grace's ability to realize the anticipated benefits of the separation transaction; the inability to establish or maintain certain business relationships and relationships with customers and suppliers or the inability to retain key personnel; costs of compliance with environmental regulation; and those additional factors set forth in Grace's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly report on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K, which have been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and are readily available on the Internet at www.sec.gov. Reported results should not be considered as an indication of future performance. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on Grace's projections and forward-looking statements, which speak only as the date thereof. Grace undertakes no obligation to publicly release any revision to the projections and forward-looking statements contained in this announcement, or to update them to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this announcement.

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