Insulation Company TopBuild Hires New Legal Chief

Insulation and building materials company TopBuild Corp. has hired as its new general counsel and vice president Luis Machado, who officially assumed the role earlier this month after moving over from electronics company CTS Corp.

“I’m very excited about this company. It’s a great opportunity to be in a growing housing industry,” Machado said in an interview with Bloomberg Law. “One of the company’s big focuses is safety, and I’m looking forward to working with the safety team to improve that focus.”

TopBuild is a Fortune 1000 company that installs insulation in both residential and commercial buildings and is headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida. Prior to joining the company Aug. 3, Machado spent five years as vice president and general counsel of Chicago-based CTS Corp.

“We are pleased to welcome Luis to TopBuild. He brings more than 20 years of experience leading legal and compliance functions across a wide range of industries. He is a terrific addition to our senior leadership team,” TopBuild CEO Jerry Volas said in an Aug. 10 statement.

Machado replaces Donald Walther, who left TopBuild in June for RF wave and microwave technology company APITech. Walther had been with TopBuild for about a year, according to company statements.

TopBuild reported strong earnings through the first half of the year despite the Covid-19 pandemic. In an Aug. 4 earnings call, the company reported that net income for the quarter ending June 30 was over $55 million, roughly $3 million more than the same period last year.

“Construction was deemed an essential business in most states,” Machado said. “I’m not the expert in this industry, and I’m still learning, but new home starts are picking up and we believe that the recent pandemic and concerns with some folks in big cities and public transportation and things like that are going to drive a move into single family housing.”

Machado’s addition to TopBuild also boosts the number of Latino general counsel in the Fortune 1000.

Before he was hired, there were approximately 21 Latino or Hispanic general counsel in the Fortune 1000, according to the Minority Corporate Counsel Association. That translates to just 2.1%.

“The legal profession has worked to improve gender diversity, and we’re not done but it’s improved. I think minority diversity is behind, and I’d like to contribute to that growth both in-house and at law firms,” said Machado, who is from Cuba.

“Frankly, I view it as a matter of fundamental fairness,” Machado said, noting that the proportion of Latinos and Hispanics in the U.S. is much higher than 2.1%. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that 18.5% of the population identifies this way.

Machado’s in-house career has included positions at the Wrigley Company, now Mars Wrigley, and Victoria’s Secret owner Limited Brands, now called L Brands. He then joined CTS Corp. in 2015.