One of Minnesota’s most respected corporate board members, Lee Mitau, is ending his second career as a director, retiring in January as H.B. Fuller’s board chair.
Thrivent CEO Terry Rasmussen will be H.B. Fuller’s next board chair
The St. Paul-based adhesives company announced that Rasmussen will succeed longtime Chair Lee Mitau when he retires in January.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
October 21, 2024 at 6:45PM
St. Paul-based H.B. Fuller announced Monday that Thrivent CEO Terry Rasmussen will take over as board chair.
“It has been an honor to serve on the H.B. Fuller board and to witness the company’s evolution and significant growth over the years,” Mitau said. “I’m grateful to have worked alongside so many talented leaders and have great confidence in the company’s leadership team and long-term growth strategy.”
Mitau, a retired attorney, has served as a Fuller board member since 1996 and as its independent chairman since 2006. In April, he retired as chair of Minneapolis-based Graco’s board after more than 16 years.
Mitau had a hand in selecting the current and previous CEOs at both H.B. Fuller and Graco, including Celeste Mastin, who took over the reins of Fuller in December 2022.
Mitau’s first career as an attorney started on Wall Street, before he came back to Minnesota and joined Dorsey & Whitney, where he specialized in mergers and acquisitions work and securities law. He then became general counsel and secretary of First Bank System, which became U.S. Bancorp.
His successor, Rasmussen, has served as a H.B. Fuller board member since 2020.
“We are pleased to appoint a leader of Terry’s caliber,” Mastin said in a news release. “Having worked closely with Terry, I know firsthand that she is a visionary leader who brings global perspective and deep customer and go-to-market expertise to the role.”
Rasmussen joined Thrivent in 2005 and became CEO in 2018. In addition, Rasmussen is a member of the American Council of Life Insurers board of directors and a board member at Walker Art Center.
Fuller has annual revenue of about $3.5 billion. It was 19th on this year’s Star Tribune 50 list of largest Minnesota public companies and 814th on Fortune’s latest ranking of public companies.
Among Fortune 1000 companies, less than 8% of the companies are lead by female CEOs and fewer still have a female CEO and board chair. In January, Fuller’s board will be evenly split between male and female directors.
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