Business

Claire Cruz has joined Huntsman Corp. as its global market manager for performance specialties, coatings, polymers, and resins. She will focus on the epoxy and polyurea markets. Previously, Cruz was sales manager for Latin America and a strategic account manager at Chemtura.

David Ellis, general manager for lab products and services at Chiral Technologies, will take on the new position of senior manager for sales operations there. In this expanded role, he will develop sales for key export markets, focusing on Canada and Latin America. Chiral is a West Chester, Pa.-based supplier of chiral chromatography products.

Wilfried Eul has been promoted to head of the exclusive synthesis business line of Degussa, the chemical subsidiary of the RAG Group. He succeeds Rudolf Hanko, who has become head of the exclusive synthesis and catalysts (ES&C) business unit. Most recent, Eul had been head of strategic projects in the ES&C unit, which is focused on customer-specific manufacture of pharmaceutical active ingredients and intermediates, as well as chemical catalysts.

Catherine Joy has been promoted to senior vice president for specialty chemicals for North America at International Specialty Products (ISP), after an eight-year tenure as vice president of sales for North America. In her new role, Joy will lead all aspects of ISP's specialty chemicals business in the North America region, including sales, marketing, technical service, sales support, and customer service.

Peter Montenegro has been appointed market development manager for asphalt in the construction business of BASF's functional polymers regional business unit in North America. In his new role, Montenegro will focus on the public transportation agency market segment. Over the past 15 years, he has been a marketing consultant to highway and heavy construction businesses, introducing new products into the Northeast region.

Theresa Natalicchio has been appointed senior vice president of marketing and sales at PTC Therapeutics. She will be responsible for all commercialization aspects of PTC's programs. Natalicchio comes to PTC with 25 years of product marketing experience at Pfizer, where she most recently held the position of vice president of the marketing centers of excellence for Pfizer's portfolio of U.S. pharmaceutical products. PTC is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of small-molecule drugs targeting post-transcriptional control mechanisms.

Mario Orlando has joined Neuromed Pharmaceuticals as vice president of marketing, a newly created position. He will be responsible for precommercial and commercialization activities in preparation for the U.S. launch of NMED-1077 (OROS hydromorphone), a potent pain reliever, and other products, after Food & Drug Administration approval. Most recently, Orlando was an executive director at Wyeth. Headquartered in Conshohocken, Pa., and Vancouver, Neuromed is a privately held biopharmaceutical focused on developing new and improved chronic pain drugs.

Marcie Peters has been promoted to vice president for the supply chain for Houston-based Solvay Chemicals; she is now responsible for customer services and logistics. She had been business director for soda ash, a position that will now be filled by Cameron Berry, former vice president for logistics at the company. Gary Waller has been appointed director for customer services and imported products.

Lance Stewart has been promoted to president of deCode Biostructures. In 1997, he cofounded Emerald BioStructures, which was acquired by MediChem Life Sciences and later by deCode. He is based in Bainbridge Island, Wash., and will oversee all business and scientific operations related to protein structural biology and development of emerging technologies for synthetic gene-to-protein crystal structure research. deCode Biostructures is part of deCode Genetics, which is headquartered in Reykjavik, Iceland.