Armstrong Looking for New Chief Executive

Lancaster, PA, Feb. 12, 2010--Armstrong World Industries said that CEO and board chairman Michael D. Lockhart will be stepping down effective Feb. 28.

James J. O'Connor, currently Armstrong's lead independent director, has been named chairman.

The company said a search is beginning for a new chief executive.

O'Connor said, "The Board and Mike agreed that this was the right time to look for new leadership to take the company into its next phase of growth."

O'Connor has served as a director since February 2007 and as the lead director since February 2009.

O'Connor is a past chairman of the board of the Edison Electric Institute and of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, and he previously served as a director of Bell and Howell, Borg-Warner, Esmark, Everen Securities, First Chicago Corporation, Tribune Company and Trizec Properties, Inc.