Business

Dan Coombs has become vice president of corporate planning and development for Chevron Phillips Chemical. He had been vice president of the Qatar region for Chevron Phillips Chemical and deputy general manager for the company’s Qatari joint-venture entities—roles that have now been taken on by Scott Sharp. Sharp had been vice president of health, environment, safety, and security, a position that has been filled by Don Lycette, formerly general manager of specialty chemicals at Chevron Phillips Chemical. Ron Corn, formerly general manager of olefins and natural gas liquids, is now vice president of olefins and natural gas liquids. Mark Amelunke, formerly general manager of engineering polymers, has assumed Lycette’s former role as general manager of specialty chemicals.

D. Michael Donnelly has been named executive vice president and chief operating officer for St. Louis-based Solutia, a performance materials and specialty chemical company. Most recently, he served as president and general manager of Solutia’s Performance Films division; that role will be filled by Craig Ivey. In addition, Nadim Qureshi has been named the company’s senior vice president of corporate development for emerging markets and president of photovoltaics. He had been Solutia’s vice president for corporate strategy and development. Qureshi will be based at Solutia’s Asia-Pacific regional headquarters in Shanghai. Timothy Spihlman has been named senior vice president of corporate strategy and analysis. Christopher Bray has become vice president and corporate controller.

Robert Ferguson has been named executive vice president of electronic materials and northeast Asia at Center Valley, Pa.-based Avantor Performance Materials. He will remain in China, where he had been Veeco Instruments’ corporate vice president for Asia.

David Kelsey has joined Elevance Renewable Sciences as its chief financial officer. Most recently, he was senior vice president and CFO at Sealed Air Corp. Based in Woodridge, Ill., Elevance uses olefin metathesis technology to create specialty chemicals from natural oils.

Lin Liangqi has been appointed president of AkzoNobel China. He will also continue in his role as managing director of decorative paints for China and North Asia. Jaap de Jong, previously a principal at McKinsey & Co., has been appointed regional director for Latin America and president of AkzoNobel Brazil. Bob Taylor, formerly managing director of AkzoNobel Marine & Protective Coatings (M&PC), has become managing director of decorative paints for North America. Rob Molenaar has moved from AkzoNobel Powder Coatings to become the new managing director of M&PC. A. B. Ghosh, formerly director of the Automotive & Aerospace Coatings Americas business, has succeeded Molenaar as managing director of powder coatings.

Rainer Metternich has joined Roche as head of small-molecules research. In this position, based in Basel, Metternich will lead 800 scientists in Europe and the U.S. in medicinal chemistry, discovery technologies, process research, and formulation. Metternich replaces Klaus Strein, who is retiring.

Dulce Paredes has been appointed Takasago’s vice president of consumer insights and market research. Before joining Takasago, she led Avon Products’ global R&D consumer sciences group.

Hans-Josef Ritzert has become Evonik Industries’ regional president for Greater China. He had been head of the company’s exclusive synthesis and pharma amino acids business. Ritzert assumes the position from Dahai Yu, who has been appointed to the company’s executive board. Jean-Luc Herbeaux will head the recently formed health care business; he had been head of the company’s pharma polymers business.

Andrew E. Tometich was named president of Hemlock Semiconductor Group, which consists of several joint-venture companies owned by Dow Corning, Shin-Etsu Handotai, and Mitsubishi Materials. He assumes the role from Richard S. Doornbos, who retains his position as chief executive officer. Most recently, Tometich served as business vice president of strategic feedstocks for Dow Corning’s core products business. Hemlock Semiconductor Group produces polycrystalline silicon and other silicon-based products used to manufacture semiconductor devices and solar cells and modules.