Georgia-Pacific Gypsum has named Atlanta-area executive David Neal its new president, having served in various roles with the company since 1997.

Neal will succeed Brent Paugh in this role, which oversees over 2,200 employees and 13 gypsum mills that manufacture about 5 billion square feet of gypsum panels, annually. GP Gypsum is the fourth largest domestic gypsum manufacturer with mills in 11 states across the U.S. 

Georgia-Pacific recently featured Neal speaking about how his personal journey and his diverse knowledge and experience led him to the career he has today. He began his path to leadership as a quality manager in a gypsum facility in Texas.

“My progression within Georgia-Pacific has taken me to a lot of different locations throughout the United States and provided many opportunities for me to understand my true comparative advantage,” Neal said on Georgia-Pacific's website.

Neal's education at Vanderbilt University led to an opportunity to become a human resources manager at a gypsum plant in coastal Georgia after his stint in Acme, Texas. According to Georgia-Pacific's website, he then moved into sales to gain the insight he'd need to obtain a leadership role in the company. He returned to operations as a regional leader, and from 2019 to 2022, led operations for the gypsum business.

Since 2020, Georgia-Pacific Gypsum has invested about $78 million into technological upgrades and capital improvements and, later this year, will open a $300 million state-of-the-art gypsum manufacturing facility in East Texas.