Coatings World - December 2013

PPG Industries has appointed Diane M. Kappas vice president, Americas, for the protective and marine coatings (PMC) business. The company also announced that Jane Valenta has been appointed to Kappas’ previous role of vice president, environment, health and safety (EHS).

Kappas will assume full responsibility for PPG’s PMC business in the U.S., Canada and Latin America, and she will report to Tim Knavish, global vice president, PMC.

Kappas joined PPG in 1986 as an engineer trainee in the industrial coatings business, and she has advanced through positions in corporate diversity as well as facility, supply chain and product management.

Reporting to executive vice president Michael H. McGarry, Valenta will assume responsibility for all EHS functions including environmental affairs, product stewardship, health, safety, compliance assurance and corporate medical, and she will contribute to PPG’s corporate sustainability efforts.

She is currently associate director of performance coatings for research and development, supporting the aerospace, architectural coatings, automotive refinish and PMC businesses.

Valenta joined PPG in 1986 as a chemist trainee with the automotive OEM coatings business at the Allison Park, Pennsylvania Coatings Innovation Center, and she has held positions of increasing responsibility in product development. Valenta holds 10 patents.

Solvay’s Appoints New
Members to Asia Pacific
Coatings Market Team

Solvay Novecare has made three key appointments to its Asia Pacific Coatings Market Team. Leading the team is Asia Pacific regional market director Marc Teo, who is responsible for delivering financial targets and sustainably growing the business in line with growth objectives. Teo brings with him more than 20 years of experience in the chemical and process technologies industries. He has held various sales and marketing roles with Allied Colloids and Ciba Specialty Chemicals in Asia Pacific. Most recently, Teo was ASEAN general manager for GE Betz.

Also joining the team is Asia Pacific Coatings business development manager Koh Hwee Koon, who is responsible for identifying and exploring new market opportunities, managing key accounts and marketing activities, driving product commercialization and supporting new project development for coatings in the Asia Pacific region. Koh brings with her more than 18 years of experience in technical and sales roles in the coatings industry and has worked in companies such as Rohm and Haas, Ciba Specialty Chemicals and most recently for BASF as industry manager for Coatings and Construction, ASEAN.

Evy Krisnawaty has been named key
account manager for Southeast Asia.
Krisnawaty will work closely with the
regional business, distribution, Research
and Innovation and operations teams on
the deployment of Solvay Novecare’s key
account strategy for coatings in Southeast
Asia. Krisnawaty brings with her more
than 15 years of experience in techni-
cal and sales roles in the coatings indus-
try. She started her career in PT Rhodia
Indolatex in Indonesia before moving on
to other chemical companies in Indonesia
and Singapore. She joined Solvay most re-
cently from Ashland Singapore (formerly
Hercules) as Southeast Asia account man-
ager for Coatings Additives.

Ashland Water Technologies
Appoints VP Marketing

Ashland Water Technologies, a commercial unit of Ashland Inc., has hired Jeff Fulgham as vice president, marketing. He is based in Wilmington, Delaware and reports to John Panichella, Ashland senior vice president and president, Ashland Water Technologies. Fulgham brings more than 30 years of sales and marketing experience, primarily in industrial water treatment, to this role.

Resinate Materials Makes
Key Appointments

Resinate Materials Group, Inc. has appointed Brian J. Chermside chief operating officer. Chermside will be responsible for overseeing the company’s daily operations and strategic activities while ensuring the company operates in a fiscally responsible manner. Prior to joining Resinate, Chermside had a distinguished career at Dow Corning, which began in 1985 and included a variety of senior level positions including corporate vice president, chief commercial officer and chief marketing officer.

Resinate has also added Shakti Mukerjee to its team. He will serve as director of product development for polyols and PUDs and will be responsible for leading lab activities for Resinate’s next generation of products.

Mukerjee has more than 25 years of experience developing polymer-based products for numerous industries and applications. Prior to joining Resinate, he worked at BYK Additives, where his research involved the development of new commercial products for the coating, drilling and cosmetic industries. While at Zeon Chemicals, he developed new polymerization techniques that resulted in products for the automotive, medical device and other industries. CW