Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the James Hardie Industries conference call. All participants are in a listen-only mode. There will be a presentation, followed by a question and answer session. If you wish to ask a question, you will need to press the star key followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. Participants will be permitted to ask one question and a follow-up question. I'd now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Michael Hammes, Executive Chairman. Please go ahead. Thank you very much, and thank all of you for your attendance, particularly for joining at such short notice. I'm here today with my fellow Board member, Harold Wiens, who beginning today, is stepping into the role of Interim CEO of James Hardie. Also joining Harry, Harold and myself on the call are two of our top executives, whom I believe most of you know well, and who bring over thirty years of combined James Hardie experience to the table. Chief Financial Officer, Jason Miele, and newly appointed North American President, Sean Gadd. You have likely read our important media release, issued just an hour ago. Before I elaborate on the Board's decision to make such a change in our leadership, I want to take a minute to reflect on the very impressive three-year strategic transformation of our business. This transformation is real and going to continue. In 2016 and 2017, the Board and senior management, key senior management, identified the need, as you know, for a strategic transformation to ensure the future growth and profitability of the company. As we all know, we had a spectacular growth and performance up to that point, and had reached a bit of a stall, especially here in North America. Since 2018 and 2019, the entire team at Hardie, from the floor up through senior management team, including such key leaders as Sean and Jason, have successfully transformed the company into a new and totally revitalized James Hardie, driven by the new strategy and outstanding execution. Our strategy is now embedded deep into the organization. As I said, from the line employees in our plant, all the way up through the very, very deep and strong executive team. We are all incredibly proud of that and very confident in that strategy. The strength of our business transformation was demonstrated again with a profit upgrade, reflecting our team's operational excellence and the continued strong market conditions. In my view, the transformation that has occurred over the past three years, and the base created for continuing this progress and results in the future, is truly remarkable. Really remarkable. And I want to thank all of the James Hardie employees worldwide for that role they played in that transformation. I'd also like to thank Jason and Sean for their critical roles as executive leaders in helping drive the transformation and for their continued leadership moving forward. Now, moving on to the news of today. Today, the Board made a very difficult, from a professional and frankly, personal point of view, a very difficult but necessary decision. Terminated Jack Truong as the CEO of James Hardie. Termination of employment is immediate, with immediate effect. After extensive due diligence, the Board determined that Jack's management style was inconsistent with the James Hardie Global Code of Conduct, and the Board took the necessary action of termination. A little background for all. Multiple employees of the company raised concerns about Jack's work-related interactions over the past several months. The concerns were raised in a variety of manners, including our hotline, as well as concerns voiced expressly to Board members, including myself. The Board immediately took undertook extensive due diligence, including, but not limited to, the use of an expert independent consulting firm with many years of experience with this, and outside counsel. From this initial feedback, the first independent review, the Board had discussions with Jack. I personally and the Board had discussions with Jack. We provided him support for behavior change and continued to monitor the situation very closely. The Board provided opportunities for this sincere change, for looking for a sincere, sincere change to occur. But based upon additional employee concerns raised and further extensive due diligence over these last few months, it was clear that sincere change did not occur, and Jack's behavior remained inconsistent with the James Hardie Code of Conduct. While not discriminatory, and I urge that, I emphasize that it was not discriminatory behavior. Jack's behavior was cited by the management survey of these thirty or forty people as intimidating, threatening, and not respectful of the individual. And frankly, the report back to us through this independent, very confidential survey was the work environment has become overtly hostile as a result. In addition, several executives notified us directly that they intended to resign or were actively considering doing so as a result of Mr. Truong's professionally and personally, after this extensive due diligence, the Board today determined that Jack's management style was inconsistent with the James Hardie Global Code of Conduct, and the Board then took today the necessary action of termination. I want to emphasize something. This is not the case of a CEO just being demanding, hard, hard driving, goal-oriented. Frankly, that's the culture of Hardie that's always been here. That was not the issue. It's something much more basic than that, as I pointed out. The extensive due diligence we have described included, but was not limited to, independent interviews with over 30 global leaders twice. Independent interviews to make sure we knew what was happening. Across a variety of functions, we had high levels of work-related interactions with Jack, because those 30-40 people interacted with Jack daily. Those are the people that were expressing these serious concerns. The independent review process was conducted several times during the Board's due diligence. At James Hardie, we have over 5,000 committed and talented team members working together globally every day. As a Board, it's our priority and responsibility to ensure that all team members feel like they are working in an environment of respect, and where the Code of Conduct really, truly matters to everyone: chairman, CEO, no matter who. The Board must ensure our executive leadership team upholds our Code of Conduct and our core values while providing all employees and contractors a safe workplace. As a Board, we took great care, professionally and personally, in arriving at this decision. As I mentioned, there was an opportunity, several opportunities for change provided over the last several months and extensive due diligence performed over these several months, and we utilized expert, independent consultants and outside counsel. Ultimately, we took the action to, number one, uphold the company's Code of Conduct and core values, including the core one, operating with respect. Two, we want to avoid a strategic implementation risk. Without treating people with respect, you can keep the team together to implement it properly like we have been. Three, maintain continuity and depth of the leadership team that has been instrumental in the successful implementation of our strategy and our transformation. We will, of course, begin immediately a process to identify a permanent successor as CEO, from inside the company or from outside the company, whomever he or she may be. I believe the future for Hardie is very bright. As I mentioned earlier, we have a great strategy. It's really deeply embedded throughout the organization, and not only an excellent and talented leadership team, but an overall strong team of over five thousand employees who have been contributing and who have a real proven track record of delivering strong, strong results, and it's going to continue. I'll pass it over now to Harold Wiens in a moment, but before I do, I want to share a few points about Harold with you that I've learned over the last two years. Harold is extremely well-placed to step into the role of an Interim CEO, and he wants to. He is eager to lead James Hardie as the Board conducts a global search for a permanent CEO. Harold is an individual of outstanding integrity, who demonstrates not only great passion for our company, most importantly, is totally people-oriented and oriented toward our core values. He is very wise and he has been a very wise to me personally and to the Board, a very wise and insightful colleague since he joined the Board about two years ago, reflecting his extensive tenure as a senior international executive. His contributions have included matters pertaining to our strategy being implemented with great success. We're very fortunate. I feel very fortunate personally, that he's able to take on these CEO responsibilities and be the leader in driving what I think will be a seamless transition. With that, Harold, over to you. Thanks, Mike, and thank you to everyone joining today. I'm not going to bore you with an introduction to me, my background or my qualifications, because you can read all of that in the press release. I will quickly say that all the businesses that I've led in my career, from the smallest to the largest, have delivered accelerated growth beyond the market and have also brought innovative new products to our customers. I totally expect that to be the same here at James Hardie. What I want to spend time discussing is what I believe is a very bright future of James Hardie and what I believe will be a seamless transition. First of all, and I say this with a background of 38 wonderful years in a great company like 3M, I'll tell you that James Hardie is a world-class company with world-class products and an incredible amount of talent and passion among our team. Second, we have the right strategy to deliver continued growth above market with strong returns, and that strategy is deeply embedded across all of our 5,000-plus employees. Regarding our strategy, it remains unchanged and unwavering. We will continue to execute on our foundational initiatives that help form, forge our transformation. First, manufacturing. Second, customer engagement, and third, supply chain integration. And we'll drive profitable growth into the future, leveraging the three strategic initiatives that we introduced in May 2021. First of all, we're going to market directly to the homeowner to create demand. Second, to penetrate and drive profitable growth in existing and new segments, and thirdly, to commercialize global innovations. Based on the strategy and the team in place, I envision a seamless transition. Our strategy, along with the world-class leadership team, and every single one of our five thousand strong, hardworking employee base, will drive us to meet our mission of being a high-performance global company that delivers our organic growth above market with strong returns. As Mike mentioned, alongside us here in Chicago, are Sean Gadd and Jason Miele. Today, I promoted Sean to the role of President of North America. Sean has been the key leader within our North American business, driving our transformation over these past three years. His deep involvement in developing our strategy, his strong relationships with our customers, and his proven track record of execution, make him the right leader to drive our North American business forward. Also with us is our CFO, Jason Miele, and as you know, Jason has been our CFO through our transformation to a new James Hardie. His leadership has been also critical to our success during this period. I will lean on Jason to ensure the corporate functions and responsibilities are running smoothly. His oversight and leadership in this regard will allow me to have a primary focus on driving the operational business globally. I am most pleased to join these two key leaders and the rest of the James Hardie leadership team. As I've mentioned, I'm absolutely confident in our ability to have a seamless transition, and we will continue to deliver organic growth above market with strong returns. Now, to further discuss these strong financial returns, there's nobody better to do this than our CFO, Jason Miele, to discuss today's profit upgrade. Thank you, Harold. Good morning, and good afternoon, everyone. You would have read in our announcement earlier today that we increased our guidance range for fiscal year 2022 net income. The range we provided on November ninth was for full-year adjusted net income of between $580 million and $600 million. Today, we now raise that range to be between $605 million and $625 million. This increased guidance is supported by continued strong execution of our strategy, partially offset by significant hyperinflation of energy costs in Europe. All three regions continue to do an excellent job of driving high-value product penetration with our customers, which is evidenced by our strong Price/Mix growth. Specifically, for the third quarter of 2022, we expect North American net sales growth of 24%. In Asia Pacific, we expect net sales growth of 20%, and in Europe, we expect net sales growth of 14%. All our comparisons to the prior third quarter. This outstanding top-line growth continues to be paired with Lean improvements in our plants globally, resulting in strong adjusted net income growth. We'll briefly hand the call over to Sean Gadd to provide some color on our North American business as he takes on the role of North American President. Thank you, Jason. As Jason mentioned, in North America, we expect Q2 net sales growth of 24%, and we expect to continue that momentum in Q4. We are estimating net sales growth to be between 23% and 26%. The North American team is doing an excellent job delivering our strategy. The team continues their strong execution and continuous improvement on Lean. Our sales organization has never been closer to our customers. They continue to cultivate those relationships as we drive growth together. Our marketing team is really starting to gain traction and understanding how to effectively market directly to the homeowner. Finally, we expect them to be in a position to announce a partnership with a significant social influencer in the coming months. On a personal note, I'm really energized taking on this new, newly created role as President of North America. I think the timing is perfect. We have spent the last three years implementing the foundational aspects of our strategy: Lean, Push/Pull, and supply chain integration. As we enter our next phase of growth, having a singular leader of the North American business will help ensure we move together as an integrated team to deliver on the objectives of growth above the market and strong returns. Thanks, Sean. I'm sure everyone on the call appreciates the extra color regarding our largest segment, which is North America. Two items that Sean did not discuss, which I want to touch on briefly, are innovation and capacity expansion. Our R&D team remains focused on delivering new innovations that will continue to help us change the way the world builds. We are excited about the innovations we have in our pipeline, and we're looking forward to showcasing two new products at the International Builders' Show in Orlando, February eighth through February tenth of this year. In regards to capacity expansion, our ramp-ups in Prattville, Alabama, and Summerville, South Carolina, remain on track. The teams in both locations are doing a truly exceptional job. In November, we announced brownfield and greenfield expansions in all three of our regions. The planning and execution of these expansions remain on track, and we expect to be announcing key land purchases in the coming months. To reiterate the guidance we provided today, we have now raised our fiscal year 2022 Adjusted Net Income guidance to a range between $605 million and $625 million, with a midpoint of $615 million. That compares to the prior year Adjusted Net Income of $458 million, a 34% increase if referencing the midpoint of our guidance. We're currently finalizing our annual planning process and expect continued momentum into fiscal year 2023. We plan to introduce guidance for fiscal year 2023 in our third quarter earnings release call on February eighth, which is about four and a half weeks from now. I will now hand the call back over to Mike. Thank you, Harold, Jason, and Sean. Frankly, I gotta tell you honestly, hearing the three of you speak, I'm even more confident that this company is in very good hands, your hands. We're not going to miss a beat during this transition and going into that future. I'm going to close the meeting with a few additional Board announcements. First, as you'll have read, we support Harold and the broader leadership team on taking on the additional responsibilities in this interim time period as Executive Chairman, and then, reflecting good corporate governance and due to the no new non-independent responsibilities Harold and I are taking on, Anne Lloyd is assuming the role as Lead Independent Director. While today's news, I'm sure, is surprising to many of you, speaking on behalf of the Board, I want to close by stating, we, the Board, believe that today's decision by us was necessary, appropriate, and in the best interest of our stakeholders, including our employees and including yourselves, our shareholders. I'll now pass it back to the operator to open up the call to any questions you have. Operator? Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star two. If you're on a speakerphone, please pick up your handset to ask a question. A reminder, participants will be permitted to ask one question and a follow-up question. Your first question comes from Keith Chau with MST Financial. Please go ahead. Good evening, Michael and team. Thanks for taking my question. Obviously, a bit of a shock announcement this morning. But Michael, I just wanted to ask you a question, around the strategy that's been put in place. You and your team seem to be confident that, you know, things are well embedded, basically in the operations, of the business and the customer relationships. Can you confirm that is the case? It sounds like it certainly is. I mean, obviously, the shift to making Hardie’s a consumer brand, you think the team will be able to carry on with that, strategy that's, I guess, more in its infancy? I'm going to ask Harold and Sean to answer that when they get through. Very important question. I'm going to ask Harold and Sean to answer that. I want to add my own color at the end. Yeah, I'll take a shot at that. Obviously, been heavily involved in thinking through how we get to the consumer, how we engage Christine, and how we get her to move through the path to purchase. You know, we've set up a team to go and get that work done. We've brought what we call integration across products, marketing segments, and all the way through to sales. And that work has been embedded, really, for the last nine months. And I say embedded, we're still learning, but I would tell you that the learning is accelerating. We're understanding who Christine is, we're segmenting who she is, and we're getting way more targeted with our digital assets and our marketing assets to go and get her along the pathway. Now, I will tell you that from a color perspective, which is where we're driving this message, we're seeing continuous growth month over month, quarter over quarter. So we feel good about what's happening, and we're really... We have a clear path on what we need to do going forward, and so I don't think there's anything that we're not thinking about that can't be executed over the coming months, years, months, quarters, and years that will help us accelerate, actually, even further. But we are still in its infancy. But like all things, we're learning, and we're getting better at it every day. Let me add a little color to such an important point. It has become part of our DNA, which is as deep as that. Well, how the heck did that happen? Very simple. Back in 2016, 2017, we knew we had to get after that R&R market, that retail customer, the Christine. We didn't call her Christine. We knew we had to. Waiting for us to become the standard in the new home construction and having it flow down at R&R, that was going to take longer than any of us had. We had to find a way to get out. Digital marketing wasn't there five or six years ago. It's there now, and with that attitude, we've got to get at that. How do we do it? That's why, frankly, we need change in the CEO. We had to bring in a CEO who'd understood that, that had experience there, et cetera, to help us get there. It's now become part of our DNA. There isn't a swinging person in this company that doesn't believe in that deeply and personally. So then you say, "Well, are you really ready to execute?" We're already in the mid process of executing with the CEO. We're gonna go further. We got a lot still ahead of us, but yes, we have a team that can think that through. And Harold, you are gonna have one fun time. And sorry, just to follow up, Michael, you said that there were, you know, several executives who were either considering or in the process of resigning, over the last several months. Given the change today, do you feel confident that those resignations are no longer on the table, or is there some risk that some of those executives may still leave, given, you know, some of the intimidation that took place over the last several months? I'm gonna turn that over to the new boss. Harold? Yes, I can assure you that they will be staying. Period. Excellent. There will be. Thank you very much. None of that will be happening. And I'll tell you one reason they're staying. Harold went to them and talked to them man to man. His strength is people strength, and that's what this place needed. It has a great strategy and knows how to implement. It needed people strength, and that's what Harold brings. He did it. It wasn't Mike Hammes. That was Harold. Thank you. Your next question comes from Brook Campbell-Corbett with Barrenjoey. Please go ahead. Yeah, thanks for taking my question. The first one maybe for Jason. On North America guidance for FY 2022, can you confirm if it's still Price/Mix to be up 8%-9%, or could it be better than that? Yeah, Brook, it's. There's no change. We're obviously very confident in our North American results. We've signaled today Q3 net sales will be up 24%, as Sean mentioned, Q4, 22%-26%. And we'll deliver that mix, if not better. But we'll give you more details on February eighth on the Q3 call. But our strategy is going well. The partnership with customers driving that mix is outstanding and, you know, we're at the top end, if not above that. All right, thanks. And my, my follow-up, just on actually for Mike Hammes, if you could provide a bit of context on, on what you're looking for in the, the new CEO, maybe what are three criteria you're most focused on in, in that appointment? Number one criteria is just to pick the best person available out there. And I think we have a wonderful company to sell, and frankly, a very attractive bid on that by you guys, a very attractive compensation package. So we think we've got the opportunity to bring in one outstanding CEO. What kind of CEO are we looking for? He or she needs to be somebody that understands where we're going, where we, where our strength is, and where we're going. They have to understand that retail market. They have to understand, like you just said, very important price point. They have to understand your difference and how it all fits together and have the experience of pulling that together. So we need a CEO that not only has that, that vision, but has the, the experience of having done it, okay? So that's really what we're looking for is a combination of somebody that has the people skills, à la what Harold has, the strategic understanding skills that we have now, and frankly, that Jack has. Good strategist, okay? And somebody that also knows how to execute. You put that all together, and that's what we're looking for as a CEO. What do I think the odds of finding one are? Very high, and I don't think it's gonna take a year. I don't know how long it's gonna take. These things always tend to take a little longer than we think. I think, Harold, the Board feels, and I feel, that sometime in the next six months we should be in good position. Now, it might be longer, might not, but we're ready to... I think it'll be taking something deadline. So that's what we're looking for, and my personal view is, having done many CEO searches over the years in various companies, I think we have an outstanding opportunity to present to people, and we're gonna have a lot of great candidates to look at. Thank you for that. Thank you. The next question comes from Lisa Huynh with J.P. Morgan. Please go ahead. Hi. Morning, everyone. So I just have a question around the timing of the announcement. I mean, been with the company for some time now, and reasonably worked with the executives over the whole four years as CEO. So I was just wondering whether there was a specific catalyst in the last few months that, you know, drove the compliance that you saw, you know, and whether the strategy shift towards ASP played any role in this? That's an excellent question and one that we thought a lot about, in all honesty. The answer goes this way: This is something that has been occurring over the last several months, not weeks, and not years. It's over the last several months, not one or two months, over the last several months. And you sit there and scratch your head and say, "Why? I mean, is it - are we convinced that he really understands and is enabled or willing to change?" Unfortunately, yes. That took a lot of personal effort on my part, other Board members' part, like Harold, bringing in outside consultants, getting a coaching service in there, multiple surveys and from various people in all levels of the company. And we unfortunately came to the conclusion he was not either able or willing to change or accept that he has those issues. What caused that issue in the first place? I'm not a psychologist. I can't answer that question, but in all honesty, it, it's a perplexing one. He did not. Frankly, when he was at 3M, didn't show this kind of an attitude. He's very tough, very demanding, not necessarily the most fun guy to work with, but a very good, tough, demanding, driven kind of executive. That's, that's fine. That's the culture at Hardie. But he went beyond that. Over the last several months, not treating people with respect, and it, it was a repetitive thing. It wasn't a bad one-day meeting or something like that, and it was of the 30 or 40 people that we had surveys done, independent surveys done by a very professional group, a very professional guy. People saying it, and we just finally had to come to the conclusion it wasn't going to change, and we could not allow this to continue. I cannot answer the question why, over the last several months, would it become such a, such a serious issue arose? I don't know. I thought about that a lot myself. I don't know the answer to that question. Okay, for sure. Thanks, Mike. And then I guess my second question is around the succession plans internally. I guess you make comments around the current depth of the team as it currently stands, and whether there's a preference for an external or internal candidate in your view? From the Board perspective, I think we're just pretty open. Okay? We're looking for the best CEO, period, that, that is available and out there, and bringing somebody to come. I don't think we, we've not excluded anybody inside. We've not excluded a certain industry on the outside. We don't have a narrow definition of an industry to choose from, but we're looking for somebody, as I said, who is, is a visionary, understands strategy, understands the strategy we are on. He knows- he or she knows how to implement, et cetera, and we'll pick the best person, inside or outside. I, I don't really want to get any more specific than that. We have not yet started that. We will start that immediately. We'll be first going through the step of picking, the, the right search firm. We'll pick that within the days or a week or so, and then we're going to start that process. And it hopefully will not take very long, but we'll find out. Thanks, Lisa. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Your next question comes from Simon Thackray with Jefferies. Please go ahead. Thanks very much. Good morning, Mike and gentlemen. Mike, I want to explore this pricing behavior that you referred to from Jack over the last several months, in the context of some of the management appointments that he himself made in sales and elsewhere within the organization. So there's two parts to the question, and it'll involve Sean as well. Were any of these appointed executives part of the 30 to 50 survey respondents who had a problem with Jack? In other words, his own appointees were a problem. And secondly- The answer to that question is absolutely. Yeah. Correct. So even the people he appointed had an issue with the way he was conducting himself. Very straightforward answer. Correct. Go ahead. Okay, that's fine. Thanks, Mike. And then, Sean, just, you know, congratulations on your appointment to the President of North America. Should we expect any management changes or structural change to management under the new North American leadership now? Thanks, Thackray. Yeah, I think certainly as we continue to build our strategy out and start to execute it the way we want to execute it, there will be some small changes, most likely. A lot of the people we've brought in, and a lot of people we have focused are on the right things. So we've got to continue to get that learning, but we will get outside help as we gain understanding and need expertise. So, I'm not going to say there's been no changes, but I think we're very clear on what we need to go get done. We've got a great team currently, and we'll probably get some help as we do to other people in. I wonder if I might ask Harold a question. Harold, as you announced to the whole group now, that Sean's becoming the President of North America, what was the reaction of people in the company? Well, that was, that was kind of fun. About two seconds after I finished my announcement, about 100% of the room started cheering and clapping. I think they like the guy, and I think they have great confidence in the leadership he's going to deliver. And after, as I've gotten to know him over the last two years, I'm right with them. The only thing that bothers me a little bit is he says, "Well, you mind calling me Mr. Gadd from now on?" Go ahead, I'm sorry. No, that's all right. I probably won't call him Mr. Gadd, because I've known him for so many years. Congratulations to you. Cheers, mate. Thank you. Thank you. Your next question comes from Peter Wilson with Credit Suisse. Please go ahead. Thank you. Just on the CEO termination, I just want to better understand the, I guess, the root cause of the angst that then led to these unfavorable decisions. I, you know, when a business is doing well, reporting good results, again, trying to say, we usually, employees are somewhat content. The other question is, can you just say that there was no disagreement about the strategic direction the business was taking, no disagreement about, I guess, you know, the message of the business, you know, internally or externally? So I, you know, was it a difference of opinion or, you know, a difference of personality, effectively? I'll answer that very directly. As you know, I stay quite close to the business, as you got to be, and there was 100% belief and acceptance in the strategy laid out and how it tied together, and we're on the right course. And there was almost no disagreement with that, I will say right up front. And I'm talking at all levels and layers of the company, starting from the platform all the way up through the executive teams. We're on the right strategy, and it's working, and we're doing it. It's going to continue. So that was not the root cause. It was not the root cause. Hey, that's great, but this guy is too demanding. He expects too much from it. He's too unrelenting. He is just too demanding. He's too aggressive. No, that was not. Hardie's used to that kind of management. Sean, you can speak to that. That is the Hardie nature. He started treating, as I said, over the last few months, people with deep lack of respect and intimidation, fear, humiliation, publicly and privately. And it wasn't a one-person problem. It was something more endemic than that. Why? I can't answer that question, but it was there. And of multiple times of coaching and training and surveys and all that, it just, he either wouldn't accept it or couldn't agree to change. And it made a very difficult professional and personal decision, honestly, guys, that he had to be terminated. No one at Hardie has the right to ignore our code of business conduct. It's basic, and it's sacred, and we had to do what we did. It was not any disagreement at all in any nature. Well, wait a minute. What, why are we talking about this retail stuff for? Let's just go back to converting new home construction, and that's what we're good at. It wasn't... It was none of that. It was absolute agreement on it. I think, Sean, you were there. I think you'd agree, but I don't want to, I don't want to force your answer with you. I mean, there's no doubt. I worked, we've been working on the last three years, and because it's our customers has been a specific focus on repair and remodel, and we've got good traction there, and that's what we want to continue. I think that's where the large opportunity still exists, and that's where we're going to end up winning, and to do that, we have to get to the consumer. I'd like Harold to talk about a very important aspect of the need for the change, why one of the reasons we had to change. Thanks, Mike, and well, you have to ask yourself why you're a Board, and a Board is there partially to guarantee the sustainability of the enterprise for years to come. This situation was threatening the sustainability, and we took action, and you've heard every one of us say we're very confident in our ability to execute the strategy, and not only short term, medium term, and long term, because we will keep the talent that we need. And frankly, attract new talent, new talent, too. If you get a bad reputation, you can't do that. Right. It doesn't work. The dog doesn't hunt. Okay, thanks. Can I, can I ask, the discontent, was it quarantined to the executive team, or did it percolate out to the broader operational business? It was certainly not quarantined to the executive team, but as I said, the people that felt the full brunt of this were those 40-50 people that had daily interaction with Jack. Jack was a very hands-on manager, as we all know, which is fine, and those 30, 40, 50 people that had day-to-day relationships with him, they felt, they felt this, and 80% of them all said the same thing, and the people that worked for them saw it and got frankly embarrassed, and it just doesn't feel right, so it was a much broader team than just the executive team, and so those 40 or 50 people, plus the people that worked for them, that was the group. There was very good communication with the people on the plant floor and the general body politic. The people that were closely associated with that and the people that are part of their team, it just became, frankly, an untenable situation. Thank you. Thank you. The next question comes from Andrew Scott with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead. Thank you. I might just ask a really quick, direct one and then have a more general one, if that's okay. So maybe if I could start, Harold, do you have any intentions with pursuing the full-time CEO role after the, or putting your hand up for the process? And, Mike, you talked about your intentions. I think you've been on record saying you were probably thinking about coming to an end of your tenure as chairmanship. What does this do to that and your intentions around that? Harold's going to handle the first one. Oh. No, I didn't mean to be flip on that at all, but no, I have no intention of doing that. I'm looking forward to this experience, but James already needs to bring in the right person, the best person in the world to do this job. The second one's also very straightforward. I got elected for a three-year term, this last August, and I told the, the analysts, I told the proxy firms, I told the investors I do not intend to serve the three years. By age and tenure at the company, my time is up. I said, "I want to see this thing through, and so I will stay around till probably next August," meaning this coming August, et cetera, "and then I'll probably retire at that point in time." With this occurrence, my commitment to the Board and to Harold is this, that I will stay around as long as it takes to get the new CEO in place. And if the Board wants me to stay around, let's assume that's July. I'm not predicting July. Let's assume it's July or August. I'll stay around for any handover time period after that, that's reasonable, up to, let's say, a max of six months. But then, guys, it's time for the new team, time for a new chairman to come in, time for a new CEO, et cetera. So that's how I've been publicly saying it. I don't think this pretty changed, except that if we bring in a new CEO, say, in July, and if the Board felt they want a soft handover time period for the new chairman to come in, et cetera, I'll be happy to deliver that if the Board wants me to. But it's something that has a, it has an endpoint, guys, and that should be right around the, at the latest, the end of this calendar year. Thank you. Thank you both for your candor. Yeah, appreciate the candor. Just more broadly, Mike, and Harold, please feel free to jump in. Can you just talk about how you view the culture? And I know we're talking about an isolated incident, and it seems to be pretty isolated in time as well as individual. But, you know, Hardie's has prided itself on having a pretty aggressive upfront culture. Do you think there's a need across the organization to reset that and to maybe soften that a little? No. I think Hardie, I mean, Hardie is very much an in your face kind of culture. Always has been. I think it's one of the strengths of Hardie. It's a, it's a very honest to itself culture. "Hey, we screwed up, guys, and here's what we got to do." So, no, I don't think that culture should change or will change. That's deeply Hardie, and it drives itself. Hardie loves to hit the tough goals and see if they can make them. And they're very honest with themselves. "Hey, I didn't make it. Here's where I screwed up." So that culture, I think, won't change and shouldn't change, okay? Now, it needs to be managed with, with understanding and respect for people, and that's what, that's what will change. But no, I don't think the Hardie culture... Okay, if this was not a chemistry problem between Jack and his senior team, or Jack and then it was not a chemistry problem, it was something much more fundamental than that, guys. We have our Code of Conduct, and we treat people with respect in all cases, period. Full stop. And when that wasn't happening, we made the adjustments and we moved on. The culture change with Hardie is what Hardie is and will remain what Hardie is, in my opinion. Harold, what do you think? You've been around Hardie a few years. Yeah, and I have a few years, for sure. And I'll tell you that our culture to its core hasn't changed even between transitions of the last CEO. We are generally a company that wants to get things done. We want to try to set records, and we want to try to do things that we don't think initially is possible. Now, that won't go away. I think one of the things we will do and continue to do is do it respectfully. And I think that doesn't change the fact that we want to go and drive and hit good goals. Thank you. Thank you. Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one. Your next question comes from Daniel Kang with CLSA Australia. Please go ahead. Morning, everyone. Mike, I'm really sorry to hear the news about Jack's termination today, and to the rest of the team as well. Just wanted to explore a few points that have already been discussed. I find it coincidental that Jack's behavioral change coincided with the shift to the company's more aggressive targets. Are you comfortable to hold these 2024 targets, or will this come under review? I won't answer that question. I'd like Jason to answer it. Harold and I have talked a lot to Jason, and we can add some color at the end. But Jason, you know how you feel, you know how we feel, the Board. Yeah, Daniel, there's no change to our strategy. And the targets that we've laid out in the past associated with that strategy remain unchanged. So increasing EBITDA margin targets, as an example, to 25%-30%. We're very comfortable with that. That will not change. There's nothing to change there. In February, we'll deliver fiscal year 2023 net income guidance that will reflect the continued momentum that we built this year. So no, there's not going to be any backing away from any of the targets we've set out. The team is well positioned to deliver on it. Harold? I would agree totally with Jason, and I will say this, is that we are entering this period leaning into it. We're not going to be even thinking about treading water. We are totally committed to the goals that we have been committed to in the past. And I think, I expect really good things out of this team in terms of accomplishments, not just intentions, but accomplishments. I think that holds true. Those answers, I fully support, and I do know the detail, and I think that holds true not only for North America, but for Europe and for Asia Pacific as well, guys. Absolutely. Yeah, let's, if I can just add something, having led a subsidiary in Japan and worked in Europe for five years, I have great admiration for our European success as of recent past couple of years. And Asia Pacific, we will see what happens, but we certainly have opportunities there. So there. All that to say that we feel aggressive. We will give it our very best efforts, and we're committed to the goals that we established. Thanks, everyone. Just a follow-up question on you commented that of your confidence of retaining the leadership team. Are you able to confirm whether retention payments were made? A message from me to Jack? No, made to the team. I will say, we have an opportunity to improve our retention situation, and we're going to do that. Great. I'm not going to go into any more detail than that right now. Okay. Thank you. Thanks, everyone. Thanks, Daniel. Thank you. Your next question comes from Lee Power with UBS. Please go ahead. Hi. One for you, Mike. I mean, how do you think the Board's approach changes to the new CEO search? Because I know you've talked this six months. Obviously, with Jack, he had this kind of testing period as the President of International, so he was really there for a couple of months before he was actually appointed CEO. How do you manage that, finding the right person in such a short timeframe? Or is it going to be a similar strategy where you might bring someone in a little bit and then go from there? Well, first of all, don't, don't bury me, guys, for six months. I'm hoping to accomplish before, it might take longer. But in all honesty, we've got a really strong team now, guys. We've got a strong team in Europe, we've got a strong team in North America, and we continue to have a very strong team in Asia Pacific. With that strong team, we don't need to, if we go on the outside, we don't need to bring somebody in on a trial basis. We're going to bring somebody in that's a proven deliverer, performer, okay? Again, on a strategic basis, on a implementation basis, and on a people basis. Innovation is driving us, HMS is driving us. Somebody mentioned the Price/Mix is driving us, Europe is sharply driving us. We need somebody that understands all those pieces, have done it, and has got a proven track record. And I think we will be able to attract somebody like that. But with the strong team that's existing today, we don't need to come in and try to develop the person and have them. So whether we go inside or outside, it'll be a shoo-in as the CEO, in my view. Okay, thank you. And then, Harold, is there anything with Jack's departure and how you plan on kind of focusing on that during the transition period? I think we retain the best of what he did, which was the strategic plan, and I add to that a much more engaged, aggressive, and committed senior leadership team that's going to keep a very high talent level, so I think we are in a good place of being able to leverage what was done well and add to that a team of people whose potential is yet to be realized. Just adding to what Harold just said, and I'll say it in my way, and I'm going to ask you to respond, Sean, but it wasn't a real pleasant experience for that group of 40 million people over the last few months as this was occurring, and, and under Harold, with even that same strategy and all that, it's going to be a much more contributory, you know, involvement, and that's what you're really saying. Absolutely. Thank you. Appreciate your time today. Thanks, Lee. Thank you. Thank you. Your next question comes from Paul Quinn with RBC. Please go ahead. Thanks very much, guys, and sorry to hear the difficult news. Mike, I appreciate your comments on Jack's behavior. I just wanted to get some comments from Jason and Sean as to their interactions over the last few months, just to give some more color on it, around it. I obviously we're talking about a very personal situation. I think it's better not to go into overly in detail, and frankly, I don't want to pin Jason as well. I just want to say that group of thirty, forty, fifty people, that we had several independent, confidential surveys made, it was overwhelmingly the same answer coming from everybody. I don't think it's quite appropriate to directly ask at this point in time, Sean and Jason. I'm sorry. Okay, I'll ask another later date. Thanks. Thanks, Paul. Thank you. Your next question is a follow-up from Simon Thackray with Jefferies. Please go ahead. Thanks very much. Just, just quickly, I think let's get to the heart of what people are gonna ask or be concerned about. Things are going well. You give early guidance for FY 2023. You discussed sales and marketing. You've given the upgrade that I think most people were expecting. What, what is the, what's the root cause of Jack's behavior over the last several months for him to become so intolerable? If it's not a departure from strategy or target or something that's, that's caused it. I think that's what everyone really wants to try to understand. What, what, what do you think the root cause of his behavior was for him to become so intolerable? Give you as detailed an answer as I can. We don't know. We do know it was there. It was not just a month or two, it was over several months. It was widespread across all functions and all geographies, and it was basic and deep. And we do know, and I can personally attest, Jack, you can't act this way. You've got to change. These are the facts. No, those aren't the... Yes, they are the facts. And at various points in time, as Harold knows, too, he did commit to do certain things and then didn't do it. Okay? And it's just, I cannot, as I said before, I wish I could tell you. I wish I was a psychologist or psychiatrist. I don't know. All I know is that it was extended over a long period of time. By long, I don't mean years. It was real and deep, and he either changed how we came or didn't. If he didn't change, we had to make this move. That's what happened. Now So Why it was happening over the last year, I don't know. Right. So it could have been something external that was happening to Jack, that he was bringing to the workplace, potentially? I do not know. Okay. I don't know. Thanks, Mike. Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. And that does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating, you may now disconnect.