PEOPLE
Sap takes over
Bart Sap , who had been EVP Catalysis since March 2021 , became CEO of Umicore after Mathias Miedreich stepped down by mutual agreement with the supervisory board . One of his priorities will be to assess the development plans for the Battery Materials business , including capex . Jensen Verhelle will take over Sap ’ s old job .
Actylis names Thomson
Actylis has appointed Scott Thomson as CEO in place of Gilles Cottier . Most recently CEO of SPI Pharma , Thomson had spent 29 years at BASF in senior roles , including president of the North America Care Chemicals and Global Pharmaceutical Solutions businesses .
New ChemPoint president
Univar Solutions has appointed Austin Nichols as the president of its ChemPoint subsidiary , which distributes speciality and fine ingredients . He replaces global managing director Rick Hoener , who has left the company . Nichols began his career as a sales rep at ChemPoint and has also worked for Univar and its Nexeo Plastics subsidiary .
Skudlarek takes charge
Evonik has named Guido Skudlarek as president of the North America region effective in place of Bonnie Tully , who becomes COO for North America . Skudlarek most recently served as head of operations excellence at headquarters in Germany , designing and implementing global transformation programmes in production and supply chain management .
New CEO for Neste
Finnish firm Neste has appointed Heikki Malinen as its new president and CEO , effective by 2 November “ at the latest ”. He previously had the same role at Finnish mining giant Outokumpu . In addition , Carl Nyberg , EVP of Renewables Supply Chain , is taking the interim lead at the Renewable Products business unit after Katja Wodjereck ’ s deaparture .
Srivastava heads Sajjan
Sajjan India , a CDMO active in speciality chemicals and active ingredients for agrochemicals , pharmaceuticals and other industries , has named Rajesh Kumar Srivastava as its managing director and CEO . He has over 36 years of experience in the industry , most recently in the same role at Jubilant Ingrevia .
Co-CEOs at Heraeus
Dr Steffen Metzger and Dr Stefan Staubach have taken over as co-CEOs at Heraeus Precious Metals . They have replaced André Christl , who had been CEO since 2017 and oversaw the firm ’ s transition to a fully integrated supplier for precious metal products and services , and left for personal reasons .
58 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981