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Vulcan Painters Names New President

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

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For the first time in 30 years, Vulcan Painters Inc., of Birmingham, AL, has a new president.

The nationally known industrial and commercial painting contractor has announced the appointment of John Dempsey as company president, succeeding David Boyd, who will continue as chairman of the board of directors. 

Founded in 1952, Vulcan Painters specializes in industrial and commercial painting projects; blasting and coating of structural steel and sewer pipe; electrodeposition and powder coating of parts.  The business has three companies with about 120 employees.

David Boyd (left), president of Vulcan Painters Inc. for 30 years, will be succeeded by John Dempsey (right).  Boyd will continue as chairman of the board of directors.

Boyd, who has led the company for 30 years, is one of 24 coatings industry “thought leaders” being honored this year as a JPCL Top Thinker: The Clive Hare Honors. Those honorees will be profiled in the August issue of JPCL.

A longtime member of NACE, SSPC and the Associated General Contractors of Alabama, Boyd co-chairs the Alabama-Georgia Training Fund, a joint union/management training organization that he helped expand to five states.

He was also a founding member of the committee that established SSPC’s Painting Contractor Certification Program in 1986, and Vulcan Painters now holds more PCCP certifications than any company in the United States.

Boyd also was the 2010 recipient of SSPC’s John D. Keane Award of Merit, which honors outstanding leadership and significant contributions to the development of the protective coatings industry and to SSPC. 

New President

Dempsey has been with Vulcan Painters since 1983, when he began work while a student at Jefferson State Junior College.  He became a journeyman painter, and in 1986 became a supervisor.  In 1989, he went to work at Vulcan Pipe and Steel Coatings, a wholly owned subsidiary of Vulcan Painters.

In 1993, Dempsey became plant manager at Vulcan Electro-Coating, another company division.  In 2002, he returned to Vulcan Pipe, where he was named president in 2009, as well as vice president of Vulcan Painters.