Kennesaw, Ga.—Industry veteran Al Kabus has joined Mohawk Industries as president of The Mohawk Group, the manufacturer’s commercial strategic business unit. He replaces Jim McCallum, who left the company “to pursue other interests.”

Kabus has spent nearly 30 years in the interiors industry, including more than 20 in the commercial floor covering sector. During his flooring career, he has held executive leadership positions at Bentley Prince Street and Interface’s Workplace Solutions Group.

In announcing the appointment of Kabus, Monte Thornton, Mohawk’s president, said, “[Al] brings an intimate knowledge of the factors driving today’s design and building industries to his new position. His proven leadership, coupled with an innovative approach to sales and a strong personal commitment to sustainability, promises to reinforce The Mohawk Group’s principles of environmental and social responsibility, while supporting the manufacturer’s drive for growth.”

In his new position Kabus will oversee the sales, marketing and customer operations for Mohawk’s six brands of commercial carpeting—Karastan Contract, Durkan Commercial, Lees Carpets, Mohawk Commercial, Bigelow Commercial and Durkan Hospitality.

“I am genuinely excited about The Mohawk Group’s future,” he told FCNews. “Our vision for the strategic direction of the company will be best answered by the value we deliver to our customers, and our social impact and financial results in the years to come.”

Along with his experience as a manufacturing executive, Kabus has shown an entrepreneurial side, as he has launched several companies over the last seven years. In 2000, for example, he began BlueBolt Networks, a start-up software company that helped raise the digital standards for imaging and text in the commercial interiors industry. Three other companies he helped to found were askstrategies, a provider of strategic planning for companies seeking revenue expansion; ecologgic3, a firm offering cost/benefit analysis of the United States Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED rating system based on lifecycle parameters, and askforensics, a company that specializes in customer, prospect and market intelligence for Fortune 500 companies.

“We look forward to incorporating his diverse business experience into his new leadership role in the company,” Thornton concluded. “His wealth of experience and history of industry-changing ideas are ideally suited to The Mohawk Group’s vision for the future of commercial flooring. We are confident his creativity, strategic thinking and dynamic approach to sales and marketing will fortify our already strong team, and he will help build even more solid relationships with our valued customers.”