Mario Mehren, currently a member of the
Board of Executive Directors of Wintershall
responsible for Exploration & Production
Russia, North Africa and South America,
has been named president of BASF’s Oil &
Gas division effective July 1, 2015, and in
this function will be head of BASF’s sub-sidiary Wintershall. He succeeds Dr. Rainer
Seele, who has been named CEO of OMV
Aktiengesellschaft, Vienna, Austria, effective July 1, 2015. Seele has been head of
Wintershall since 2009.
Brilliant Group Appoints
Director of Operations
Brilliant Group, Inc. has appointed Dan
McClelland to its new position of director of operations to oversee its California
manufacturing facility. He will be responsible for expanding the new manufacturing
operations and is charged with overseeing
the company’s ISO9001 certification.
McClelland has more than twenty
years experience in manufacturing and
distribution operations. In addition to
his specialization ISO implementation
and Lean Manufacturing, his focus has
been on inventory control, production
planning and cost management.
Personnel Changes at BASF
BASF has announced that Teressa Szelest,
currently senior vice president, Global
Business Unit Hygiene, Ludwigshafen,
has been named president, Market &
Business Development North America,
effective May 1, 2015. She will be located
in Florham Park, New Jersey.
Szelest succeeds Dr. Beate Ehle who
will take a sabbatical until the end of
2015 at her own request.
Huron Capital Partners
Hires Robert Taylor
Huron Capital Partners LLC has added
specialty coatings industry veteran Robert
Taylor to the Huron Resource Group.
Taylor will serve as a member of the Board
of Directors of Valentus Specialty Chemicals,
Inc., where he will advise Valentus’s manage-
ment team, including CEO Ray Chlodney
and CFO John Ragazzini.
Taylor brings to Huron 42 years of experience in the specialty coatings industry, including 29 years with AkzoNobel
NV in various research, commercial development, marketing and operations
positions. In addition to leading several
divisions of AkzoNobel NV, he has served
as president & COO of Lilly Industries,
Inc. and president and general manager
of The Sherwin Williams Company’s
Chemical Coatings Division.
Estron Chemical Appoints
Applications Manager
Estron Chemical Inc. has named Anna
Chizhikova applications manager - powder
coating raw materials, Estron Chemical.
Chizhikova has more than 20 years
experience in powder coatings. She began her career in this industry in 1994
as a technician at the Ferro Corporation
and advanced to R&D technical manager
at Akzo Nobel Powder Coatings, a position that she held for a decade. Working
in the architectural, automotive, general
industrial, IT, furniture and functional
coating markets, Chizhikova has managed multiple R&D projects that resulted
in the commercialization of cost effective
new products, technology and processes.
Orion Engineered Carbons
Appoints Marketing
Manager, Polymers & Inks
Kane Henneke has been appointed
marketing manager, Polymers & Inks,
Americas Region at Orion Engineered
Carbons. He is responsible for developing and implementing business and
marketing strategies, identifying business opportunities, and ensuring a
substantial, sustainable and profitable
growth strategy.
Henneke brings 20 years of experi-
ence to his new position. He has held
sales and marketing positions in the
ink, paint, coatings and plastics in-
dustries and has a technical chemi-
cal background in resins, pigments
and colorants. Prior to joining Orion
Engineered Carbons, Henneke served
as director of Americas – Architectural
and Industrial Colorants Division of
Chromaflo Technologies and global
business manager, Inks and Coatings
Division of Keystone Aniline Dyes. He
is president of the Chicago Printing
Ink & Production Club (CPIPC) and a
member of NPE and the Chicago Paint
& Coatings Society.
PolyOne Appoints Vice
President, Treasurer
PolyOne Corporation has announced
that Scott J. Leffler has been appointed
vice president and treasurer.
Leffler will now be responsible for all
aspects of the company’s capital structure, cash management, insurance and
capital markets transactions. He was appointed to this position after serving as
the company’s vice president of Financial
Planning and Analysis since 2013, and
he will retain those responsibilities while
in his new role as treasurer. He replaces Daniel J. O’Bryon who has accepted
a chief financial officer position with a
Florida-based company.
Leffler joined PolyOne in 2008 as
senior finance manager in Corporate
Treasury and was later promoted to finance director, South America, while
based in the company’s offices in Sao
Paulo, Brazil. He began his career in the
financial services industry, working in
both trading and banking. Leffler earned
a bachelor’s degree in economics and history from Yale University and an MBA in
finance from Emory University.
“Scott’s breadth of skills and diverse
background will be instrumental as he
manages and builds PolyOne’s Treasury
function,” said Bradley C. Richardson,
executive vice president and chief financial officer.” CW
Mario Mehren to Head
BASF Subsidiary Wintershall
