Fred Poses is the Chief Executive Officer of Ascend Performance Materials and an Operating Partner of SK Capital Partners. Prior to SKCP, Mr. Poses was the recently retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of American Standard Companies. In 2007, after increasing sales 60% in eight years, American Standard spun off the Vehicle Controls Business (WABCO) to its public shareholders and sold its Bath & Kitchen business to a private equity firm. The largest and remaining business, Trane – air conditioning, was acquired by Ingersoll Rand in June 2008. Mr. Poses spent much of his career at AlliedSignal Corp. joining Allied Corporation as a financial analyst in 1969 after two years in Peru with the Peace Corps. In 1985 Allied Corporation merged with the Signal Companies to form AlliedSignal. At that time Mr. Poses became president of the Plastics and Engineered Materials division, a producer of nylon engineering plastics. In 1986, Mr. Poses was selected to become president of the Fibers division, a nylon and polyester fiber business, and was promoted in 1988 to president of the Engineered Materials division and executive vice president of the company. He became a member of AlliedSignal's board of directors in 1997, a position he held until 1999. Mr. Poses was appointed president and COO of AlliedSignal in June 1998. He was targeted to become the CEO of AlliedSignal until the company merged with Honeywell International in 1999. Mr. Poses then assumed the position of chairman and CEO of American Standard Companies in early 2000. Mr. Poses serves as the non-executive chairman of the board of Tyco Electronics and as a director for Centex Corporation and Raytheon Company. In addition, he is Chairman of the Board of the National Center for Learning Disabilities; a member of the board of visitors at Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering; and a trustee of the Eagle Hill School, 92nd Street Y, and Central Synagogue.

Mr. Poses earned a BBA from New York University.