Coatings World - May 2012

AkzoNobel appoints Büchner CEO

AkzoNobel has appointed Ton Büchner
CEO and a member of the board of man-
agement. At the same time, Hans Wijers
stepped down from
his position as CEO
and as a member of
the board. Keith
Nichols was reap-
pointed to the
board of manage-
ment for another
four-year term, and
Leif Darner, who
will reach the regu-
lar retirement age for board members in
2014, was reappointed for a two-year
term. Rob Frohn stepped down from the
board while Dolf van den Brink and Peter
Ellwood were reappointed to the supervi-
sory board for further four-year terms. In
addition, Sari Baldauf and Ben Verwaayen
were appointed to the supervisory board
for four-year terms. Having reached the
maximum 12-year tenure as member of
the supervisory board, Virginia Bottomley
stepped down.

J. Erik Fyrwald to be president
and CEO of Univar
Chemical distributor Univar Inc. has
named J. Erik Fyrwald as president and
chief executive effective May 7, 2012. Fyr-
wald, age 52, is currently president of Eco-
lab, a global provider of water, hygiene and
energy technologies that merged with
Nalco in December 2011. Fyrwald will
also become a member of Univar’s board
of directors. As a result of the addition of
Fyrwald to the executive team, Univar’s
current president and CEO, John Zillmer,
will assume the position of executive chair-
man of Univar and its board of directors,
succeeding William S. Stavropoulos, who
will move to the role of lead director. Fyr-
wald brings extensive global experience to
his new role with Univar. Prior to the
merger with Ecolab in 2011, he was chair-
man and chief executive officer at Nalco.
Before joining Nalco in 2008, Fyrwald held
several executive positions during his 27-
year career at DuPont, including group vice
president of DuPont’s agriculture and nu-
trition division and vice president of
DuPont’s nutrition and health business.

ADM names new general manager of glycols Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) has named Kyle James general manager of glycols. In this newly created position, James will oversee commercial operations of the glycols business, including sales of propylene glycol, glycerin and co-product streams. CW