Hudson La Force

Hudson La Force III is Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of W. R. Grace & Co. He is responsible for the company’s worldwide financial management activities.

Before joining Grace in April 2008, Hudson served as Chief Operating Officer and Senior Counselor to the Secretary at the U.S. Department of Education. In this role, Hudson was responsible for driving execution of the department’s strategic goals, strengthening its performance accountability systems, and implementing a number of other significant management and operational reforms. He had line responsibility for Education’s finance, human capital, information technology, and risk management activities. He also served as a member of the President’s Management Council.

Prior to entering public service in 2005, Hudson worked at Dell Inc. where he held financial and business leadership positions at its headquarters in Austin, Texas and in China. From 2002 to 2005, Hudson served as a general manager for Dell in China, leading a $500 million business unit, increasing revenue by 53% and growing operating income by 270%.

Before joining Dell in 1997, he served in a series of increasingly responsible financial management positions at AlliedSignal, Inc. (now Honeywell) and Emerson Electric Co. Hudson began his career as a certified public accountant in the audit and business advisory practice of Arthur Andersen & Co.

Hudson holds an MBA in finance from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a Bachelor’s degree in accounting from Baylor University. He is a member of the advisory board of Madison Capital Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm.

Grace is a leading global supplier of catalysts and other products and services to petroleum refiners; catalysts for the manufacture of plastics; silica-based engineered and specialty materials for a wide range of industrial applications; specialty chemicals, additives and materials for commercial and residential construction; and can sealants and coatings for food packaging. With annual sales of more than $3.3 billion, Grace has about 6,300 employees and operations in over 40 countries.

February 2009
Corporate Communications
W. R. Grace & Co.
7500 Grace Drive
Columbia, MD 21044
+1 410.531.4000