PulteGroup CEO plans retirement, as founder seeks change

PulteGroup says Chairman and CEO Richard J. Dugas Jr. will retire next year, a decision the executive made after the homebuilder's founder and grandson recently demanded a change in leadership.

Dugas has served as CEO since 2003 and chairman of the company's board since 2009. The Atlanta-based company said Monday that Dugas decided to retire in May 2017, due in part to the actions of company founder Bill Pulte and his grandson, Jim Grosfeld, who was appointed to the board at the founder's request.

PulteGroup Inc. says Bill Pulte and Grosfeld had recently demanded an immediate CEO change and a different direction for the company.

The homebuilder says Dugas offered to accelerate the company's succession plan to avoid a "public battle that would not be in the interests of shareholders."