People

BASF

Ludwigshafen, Germany

Gerry P. Podesta has left his position at General Electric as vice president and general manager of GE Plastics Americas to become group vice president for performance chemicals at BASF, with responsibility for regional business unit operations in North America. Before his 20 years with GE, Podesta worked for Rohm and Haas. He has a B.S. in plastics engineering from the University of Massachusetts.

Bill Sparks has been appointed business manager for BASF's functional polymers business serving the architectural coatings market in North America. Sparks will be based in Charlotte, N.C. He joined BASF in 1997 as a product manager, and before that he worked for Alco Chemicals as a sales manager and market manager. He received a B.A. in chemistry from the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga; an M.S. in polymer science from Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta; and an M.B.A. in marketing from DeVry University, Chicago.

BUCKTON SCOTT GROUP

Essex, England

There are two changes at the U.S. office, Buckton Scott Nutrition.

Chris Nolte, Western sales manager since 2000, has been promoted to vice president of sales. Before joining Buckton Scott, he held sales management roles at Takeda Vitamin & Food Corp. He graduated from St. Mary's University, San Antonio, with a B.S. in chemistry.

William Redwood brings 12 years' experience at Ajinomoto to his new position as sales manager. He has also been a partner in Umbrella Food Systems and worked in sales planning for Kraft. Redwood earned a B.S. from the University of Detroit and an M.B.A. from Wayne State University, Detroit.

CHEMQUEST GROUP

Cincinnati

There have been two appointments to the position of director of technology and analysis planning.

Richard Hartshorn has devoted his career to the adhesives, sealants, and coatings industries. He spent 28 years at 3M, most recently as laboratory manager of the Adhesive Technology Center.

Earl H. Wagener brings 36 years' experience in global R&D. He held leadership positions at Dow Chemical, served as vice president of R&D at Stepan Co., and was CEO of Tetramer Technologies.

ISOCHEM

Paris

Jean-Louis Delbauffe, former president of the French association Sicos, has joined Isochem as vice president. Isochem is a fine chemicals subsidiary of SNPE. Delbauffe has spent his career working in sales and senior management positions in the fine chemicals industry. He graduated from Escom Chemical Engineering School with a B.S. in chemical engineering and also holds an M.S. in organic chemistry from Paris Sorbonne University.

Jean-Pierre Martinet, vice president of operations for SNPE's fine chemicals business since October 2002, has been named vice president of that business unit and senior vice president of Isochem. He joined SNPE after holding management positions at Rhône-Poulenc and Aventis Crop Science. He earned a B.S. in chemical engineering from ENSIC Nancy Chemical Engineering School and an M.S. in chemical engineering from Laval University, in Quebec.

QUARK BIOTECH

Cleveland

There have been three appointments at the company's facilities in Fremont, Calif.

John A. Delyani has been named vice president of business development. His previous positions include director of technology acquisition and operations as well as associate director for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases at Pharmacia. He holds a B.A. in biology from Saint Anselm College, Manchester, N.H.; an M.B.A. from Maryville University, St. Louis; and a Ph.D. from the State University of New York, Buffalo.

Manzer J. Durrani has joined the company as vice president of pharmaceutics and manufacturing. He has more than 14 years' experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Most recently, Durrani worked as senior director of global R&D at Baxter HealthCare. Durrani holds an M.S. and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.

Don Westmacott has been appointed <br > director of bioassay development and high-throughput screening. Before joining Quark Biotech, Westmacott was director of screening at Signature Biosciences. He began his career at Roche and spent 10 years there. Westmacott holds a B.S. from the University of Bath, in England, and a Ph.D. from the University of Warwick, in England.

ROHM AND HAAS

Philadelphia

Bill Magee, who joined Rohm and Haas in 2000, is the new global marketing manager for packaging and converting in the adhesives and sealants business. He is also marketing manager for adhesives and sealants in North America. He will be based in Chicago. He was most recently marketing manager for packaging and converting adhesives and sealants in North America, leading global efforts for the company's water-based dry bond laminating adhesives and guiding the integration of the company's acquisition of Technical Coatings.

Barry Snyder has been appointed North American region business manager for transportation adhesives. After starting at the company in 1990 as a research scientist, he went on to management positions in research, global marketing, and European marketing. He will be based in Elgin, Ill. Snyder earned a B.S. and an M.S. in chemistry at Emory University, Atlanta; a Ph.D. in chemistry at Harvard University; and an M.B.A. at Temple University, Philadelphia.

Anton Van Beek has been appointed global marketing manager for pressure-sensitive adhesives. Still based in the Netherlands, he will also continue his role as European marketing manager for adhesives and sealants. He spent the past several years as account manager and marketing manager for label adhesives in the company's pressure-sensitive adhesives business.

OTHER COMPANIES

Norbert Dieterich, previously CEO of Switzerland's SF-Chem, is the new head of Clariant Pharmaceuticals, Sulzbach, Germany. His experience includes management positions in sales and marketing from 1978 to 1987 in the agricultural chemical business of Hoechst. From 1989 to 1996, Dieterich was CEO of Shell Agrar (Cyanamid Agrar as of 1993). He earned a degree in agricultural science from the University of Bonn, in Germany, and a Ph.D. in agriculture from the Agricultural Chemical Institute, Bonn.

Alexandra Englund has been appointed manager of sales and business development for the pharma business of Cambrex Corp., East Rutherford, N.J. Responsible for developing new business in Scandinavia and Finland for the company's pharma facilities in Europe, she will be based in Copenhagen. Before joining Cambrex, she was marketing and account manager at Atofina Noden.

Michael Kraus has been appointed site manager of Uniqema's Atlas Point manufacturing facility in New Castle, Del. Most recently plant manager of Velsicol Chemical's Chestertown, Md., plant, Kraus also worked as operations manager and technical manager at Velsicol. He holds a B.S. in chemical engineering from West Virginia University, Morgantown, and an M.B.A. from Loyola College, Baltimore.

Dana Lipp, a visiting lecturer in chemistry at Massachusetts' Bridgewater State College, has started Boston-based Dana Lipp Imaging (http://www.danalipp.us). He brings to the business more than 20 years of chemical industry and photographic experience. In addition to producing scientific images for advertising, promotion, publishing, and presentations, Lipp helps clients troubleshoot problems associated with product development and manufacturing and finished products. He also identifies foreign materials in chemicals, plastics, additives, electronics, foods, nutraceuticals, and instrumentation. He has a B.S. in chemistry from Bridgewater State College and an M.S. in food science from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Gail McIntyre has been named senior vice president of research for PPD Discovery, a subsidiary of PPD Inc., Wilmington, N.C. She had worked at PPD Inc. for five years, left to join 3-Dimensional Pharmaceuticals, and returned to PPD this past spring to become acting head of PPD Discovery. McIntyre earned a B.A. in biology from Merrimack College, North Andover, Mass., and an M.S. and doctorate, both in biochemistry and biophysics, from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Michelle D. Pate has been appointed director of quality at Wacker Chemical, Adrian, Mich. She started in 1975 as a lab technician at Anderson Development, later becoming a development chemist. In 1979, Pate joined Stauffer-Wacker-Silicones (now Wacker Chemical) as an R&D chemist. In 1993, she began working on quality system registration to the ISO 9001 standard. She has a B.S. in chemistry and mathematics from Adrian College.

Michael J. Valentino is the new president, CEO, and director of Adams Laboratories, Fort Worth, Texas. With 25 years' experience in the pharmaceutical industry, he has held leadership positions in domestic and global general management, operations, strategic management, marketing, and sales at Alpharma, Novartis, Pharmacia & Upjohn, Warner-Lambert, and E. R. Squibb & Sons.

Robert S. Vruggink has been promoted to vice president of Praxair, Danbury, Conn., and president of subsidiary Praxair Surfaces Technologies. Before joining Praxair in 2001, Vruggink served in a range of engineering and management positions at Conoco and DuPont, beginning in 1980. He holds a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

Bethesda, Md.

Brent B. Stanfield has been named acting director of the National Institutes of Health's Center for Scientific Review. He has been deputy director since July 2000. Before starting at CSR, he was director of the Office of Science Policy & Program Planning at the National Institute of Mental Health. From 1987 to 1996, he ran the NIMH unit on developmental neuroanatomy in the Laboratory of Neurophysiology. He holds a Ph.D. in neurobiology from Washington University, Saint Louis.

Norka Ruiz Bravo has been appointed NIH deputy director for extramural research. She started at NIH in 1990 as a scientific review administrator in the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. Since then, Ruiz Bravo has held positions such as program director for the NIGMS Division of Genetics & Development Biology and most recently associate director for extramural activities at NIGMS. After earning a Ph.D. in biology from Yale University, she completed an NIH postdoctoral fellowship in biochemistry and molecular biology at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas, Houston. Before going to NIH, Ruiz Bravo was an assistant professor in the departments of urology and cell biology at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston.

This section is compiled by Deanna Miller. Announcements of promotions and new hires may be sent to d_miller@acs.org.