PEOPLE
Dual role for Igerl
IMCD has appointed Andreas Igerl as CCO and management board member. He will also continue to head the EMEA region and the Industrial business group. The company has also named Hedwig Koopmans, hitherto heads the Pharmaceuticals business unit in Germany, as managing director for Switzerland and Santiago Beltran to the same role in Central America.
New faces at Syensqo
Former Archroma CEO Heike van de Kerkhof has become the independent chair of Syenqo’ s board of directors. She has been a director since December 2023 and chairs the nomination committee. Other recent arrivals include Martine Snels as an independent non-executive director, Kerstin Artenberg as chief people officer and Arnaud Wisnia as chief strategy and transformation officer.
Baton passed at Neuland
Indian CDMO Neuland Laboratories has named Saharsh Davuluri as its new CEO and managing director, in place of his father Sucheth Davuluri, who will assume the role of executive vicechairman. Saharsh Davuluri has been with the company for more than 18 years and has led its transformation into an NCEfocused drug substance CDMO.
Hart to Emery
Emery Oleochemicals has appointed Chris Hart as COO, responsible for end to end operations including planning, procurement, manufacturing, logistics, customer service and continuous improvement. Hart brings over 30 years of leadership experience and joined Emery in 2025.
New CFO at Nabaltec
Dirk A. Müller has joined German chemical company Nabaltec as CFO. He succeeds Günther Spitzer, who has retired after 45 years with the firm. Müller had similar roles at multiple other firms, most recently Swash Group. Nabaltec has also extended the management doard contract of CEO Johannes Heckmann for five years.
Prevost to head Oleon
Oleon has named Antoine Prevost as its new CEO, replacing Moussa Naciri, who will retire in May after 19 years with the company. Prevost, who joined Oleon’ s parent company Avril as COO in 2021, will also serve as managing director of the Specialties division on Avril’ s executive committee.
Prieto steps up at CEFIC
CEFIC has promoted, Miguel Prieto Arranz to executive director of speciality chemicals after 14 years with the association. He will be responsible for overseeing eight clusters, supporting their work on policy, regulatory and competitiveness files. His predecessor, Marc Vermeulen, has moved up to a senior role.
Fry joins the board
The Lonza board has nominated Stephen Fry as an independent member. If he is elected at the AGM in May 2026, Stephen will also be appointed to the People & Governance and Audit & Compliance committees. Fry spent over 30 years at pharmaceutical giant Lilly, the last 12 as chief HR officer.
78 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981