PEOPLE
ECHA names McGuinness
ECHA has appointed Dr Sharon McGuinness as its new executive director for an initial term of five years . She replaces Shay O ’ Malley , who temporarily stood in after Bjorn Hansen ’ s retirement in March . McGuinness had chaired the management board between 2016 and 2020 and has also been CEO of the Health and Safety Authority in Ireland since 2018 .
All change at Clariant
Clariant has named Angela Cackovich , Jens Cuntze and Christian Vang to head the new Adsorbents & Additives , Catalysts and Care Chemicals business units from their biggest growth regions in the EMEA , Asia-Pacific and Americas respectively . They will all sit on a new Executive Steering Committee with CEO Conrad Keijzer and CFO Bill Collins . The COO and CTO roles are being eliminated and Hans Bohnen and Bernd Hoegemann are leaving .
Two to SK Capital
SK Capital Partners has named Richard Jackson as managing director and head of capital markets and Asim Bhatia as director of business development . Both will be based in New York . Jackson was previously managing director and head of leveraged and acquisition finance for the Americas at HSBC Group , while Bhatia was most recently senior director of corporate M & A at DuPont .
Big role for Lahtinen
Kemira has named Sampo Lahtinen , its VP of R & D & technology EMEA , to be SVP for the Growth Accelerator unit . This has been launched to drive growth for selected strategic initiatives in both the Pulp & Paper and Industry & Water business units . The organisation will be built up in 2H and should be in full operating mode from January 2023 .
Oqema shuffles the decks
German distributor Oqema has named Partick Barthels to succeed Peter Overlack as CEO . Barthels ( right ), who arrived from Shell as CSO in 2016 , will join CFO Hartmut Kunz ( left ) on the executive board , along with another new arrival , Philipp Junge ( centre ), who became COO in June after 14 years at Lanxess . Peter Overlack , who presided over the company founded by his family for 34 years , will become chairman of the supervisory board as of October .
New role for Nataf
Azelis has appointed Laurent Nataf to the new role of chief mergers and acquisitions officer . In this role , he will “ further develop and execute Azelis ’ global M & A strategy , in line with the group ’ s ambitious growth plans , and will also oversee post-acquisition integration programmes ,” the firm said . Sertaç Sürür , currently managing director of Azelis Turkey , will replace Nataf as president of Azelis Asia-Pacific . Both will join the executive committee .
IMCD promotes Jordan
IMCD has named Marcus Jordan as COO and a new member of the management board for a first term of four years . His responsibilities include the group ’ s strategy execution for digitisation and sustainability and driving operational excellence globally . Jordan has been with the firm for 23 years , most recently as president of Americas . His replacement in that role is Argentine national Nicolas Kaufmann , previously president of IMCD Brazil .
Berdou to Piramal
Piramal Pharma Solutions has taken on Hervé Berdou as its new COO . Berdou was hitherto global head of operations for cell and gene technologies at Lonza and has over 20 years of experience across global supply chain , procurement and operations , including manufacturing and site head positions at both small and large facilities . He will be based in the north-eastern US .
62 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981