PPG announced that Diane Kappas, PPG vice president, Global Sustainability, has been named a 2022 Woman of Influence by the Pittsburgh Business Times.

The recognition honors the Pittsburgh region’s most influential businesswomen across every industry and profession who have a strong track record of performance and have made a difference in Western Pennsylvania and its communities.

“Diane has been a key leader at PPG for more than three decades and a strong advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I), forging new paths for countless women and many other colleagues at PPG,” said Michael H. McGarry, PPG chairman and chief executive officer. “She has made a significant positive impact within our organization by successfully running numerous functions and businesses and paving the way for our ongoing focus on DE&I. I look forward to her continued leadership in strengthening the sustainability of our operations and products.”

Kappas co-founded PPG’s Women’s Leadership Council more than two decades ago to attract, develop and retain female talent. She also served as an executive sponsor and is an active member of PPG’s LGBTQ+ employee resource network.

Kappas has more than 35 years of experience at PPG, holding a variety of business and operational leadership roles in manufacturing, supply chain, procurement, human resources, and environment, health and safety (EHS).

In her current role as PPG vice president, Global Sustainability, which is a newly created position for the company, Kappas collaborates with the businesses and functions across the organization to drive the company’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) efforts. These include reducing the environmental impact of operations, growing PPG’s positive impact in the communities in which it operates and increasing sales of sustainably advantaged products to create value for customers.

Kappas also represents PPG in the Sustainability 50 organization,which is a private community for sustainability leaders from globally respected organizations to share ideas and solutions and collaborate on climate change issues.

Prior to her current role, Kappas served as PPG vice president, Automotive OEM, Americas, where she maintained and managed day-to-day relationships with major automotive customers and oversaw PPG’s mobility efforts. She also led the transformation of PPG’s U.S. Automotive OEM business to focus on winning business in the high-growth electric vehicle battery market.

Kappas earned a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master of Business Administration from Duquesne University.