MUENSTER, Germany - Dr. Katja Scharpwinkel has taken over as head of the Automotive Refinish Coatings Solutions Europe business unit at BASF's Coatings division in Münster, Germany, effective February 1, 2016. She succeeds Harald Pflanzl, who was appointed head of the BASF Group's Central Europe unit in Vienna effective the same date.

Scharpwinkel has held various positions throughout her career, primarily in marketing and sales at Ciba and Cognis. After BASF's acquisition of Cognis, she was first appointed head of Sales in the Formulation Technologies unit. Starting in February 2012, she managed the business of BASF's European distributor of specialty chemicals, BTC Europe.