NEWS
Leading female CEOs announce departures
Two of the most senior women in the European speciality chemicals industry are to step down from their roles. It was announced in the space of eight days in September that Dr Ilham Kadri will quit as CEO of Syensqo on 1 January 2026, while Belén Garijo’ s tenure as CEO of Merck KGaA will be completed as planned by the end of April 2026.
Moroccan-born Kadri( below) began her career as a development and technical service manager at Royal Dutch-Shell in Belgium in 1997. She had roles at LyondellBasell, Huntsman, UCB-Cytec, Rohm and Haas and Dow Chemical, which acquired it in 2009. From 2013 to 2019, she was with Diversey, becoming president and CEO in 2017 when Bain Capital acquired it from Sealed Air.
In March 2019, Kadri became CEO of Solvay, overseeing, among other things the launch of the G. R. O. W. strategy and the Solvay One Planet sustainability plan. When the company split in December 2023, she became CEO of the part that as renamed Syensqo. She has also served as president of CEFIC and was re-elected for a second twoyear term in 2024.
Board chair Dr Rosemary Thorne described Kadri as“ a defining voice
for our two companies and the whole industry. Ilham is credited with transforming a 160-year-old industrial group, turning Solvay’ s returns to double digit levels. She revolutionized how we do business.”
Her successor is Mike Radossich, who joined Solvay in 2015 and rose to become president of Syensqo’ s Performance & Care and Other Solutions segments, responsible for overseeing four global business units that generated € 2.8 billion in net sales in 2024.
Garijo( above), meanwhile, is of Spanish origin. Following an early career in medicine she moved into industry and became managing director of Aventis Spain, leading its merger with Sanofi. In 2011, she became COO at Merck KGaA, was promoted to president in 2013 CEO of the Healthcare business sector in 2015 and then CEO in 2021. In 2023, Forbes ranked her 68th in its list of the‘ World ' s 100 most powerful women’ and Fortune ranked her 30th in its list of‘ Most Powerful Women in 2023
“[ Belén Garijo ] has shaped the company’ s evolution into a globally leading science and technology company while nurturing a high-impact culture and making our teams future-ready. Under her exceptional leadership, Merck strengthened its position across life science, healthcare and electronics,” said board chairman Johannes Baillou.
Following the end of her tenure, the company added, Garijo“ will remain actively involved in the healthcare ecosystem to continue serving the needs of patients, her area of expertise and passion.” Her successor will be Kai Beckmann, who has been with Merck since 1989 and rose through multiple senior roles to become CEO of the Performance Materials business sector in 2017.
6 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981