PEOPLE
Sebbesse leaves Otto Krahn
Axel Sebbesse , chief development officer at the Otto Krahn Group , left the company on 28 February to pursue new challenges elsewhere . He had been with the group since 2007 , mostly as managing director of Krahn Chemie , and was appointed to the executive board in 2021 . CEO Philip Krahn and CFO Dr Jan Lösch will now resume charge of the holding company .
Dowdeswell to Siegfried
CDMO Siegfried has named Dr Christian Dowdeswell as chief business officer for drug substances and an executive committee member . Marianne Späne remains chief business officer for drug products . Dowdeswell worked at Maybridge Chemicals , Synprotec , Contract Chemicals and Dishman before joining Lonza in 2014 , where he rose to be global head of commercial development for the custom manufacturing business .
New CEO at Perstorp
Ib Jensen became CEO of Swedish chemicals company Perstorp on 1 March . He replaces Jan Secher , who had decided to step down a year ago before the firm ’ s acquisition by Petronas and will now become chairman . Formerly in finance and executive roles with Lonza , Arxada , Syngenta and others , Jensen had been CFO , a role his deputy Monica Jönsson has taken over .
Kurian promoted at BASF
Dr Mary Kurian has been appointed president of BASF ’ s global Care Chemicals operating division as of 1 April . She succeeds Ralph Schweens , who has decided to retire . Kurian has been with BASF Corporation in Houston in many positions , rising to be senior vice president of petrochemicals North America .
New COO at Apollo
UK-headquartered research chemicals supplier Apollo Scientific has appointed Martin Kennerley as its new COO , working with CEO Neil Hamilton to increase the company ’ s capacity across sales , operations and manufacturing . Kennerley has been in various sectors of the manufacturing industry for 30 years , most recently as regional director at Scott Pallets in north-west England .
Rupani joins Minafin
The Minafin Group has appointed Sameer Rupani as CEO of its Green Chemistry division , including the Minasolve and EcoXtract business units , based at the PennAkem office in Memphis . Rupani has over 25 years of broad functional and business leadership experience in companies of all sizes , including Solvay and Honeywell .
Bleger heads APAC for Brenntag
Brenntag , the global market leader in chemicals and ingredients distribution , has named Francois Bleger as regional president of Brenntag Specialties Asia Pacific . A French national , Bleger has 28 years of experience in speciality chemicals and spent the last 12 years in the region with Clariant , rising to be head of the Industrial & Consumer Specialties business unit .
62 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981