people to watch

CHEMCENTRAL's board of directors has elected Samuel W. Ach to the position of senior vice president, general counsel and secretary. In this capacity, he oversees all of the company's legal activities and is a key member of its executive management team. Ach fills the position left by William D. Mulliken, who retired.

CHEMCENTRAL has also appointed Kristine J. Weigal to the position of vice president, corporate business development. Weigal has served in sales-management positions of increasing responsibility within CHEMCENTRAL since joining the Chicago-based company in 1986.

Thermo Electron Corp., Waltham, Mass., announced that Ken Berger would become president of the company's Process Instruments Division, which offers online measurement and analytical instruments and associated services to global manufacturers. In his new role, Berger will be responsible for the division's $450-million business and will oversee its 2,000 employees. Berger will be based at the company's San Diego facility.

Robert J. Broomham is assuming the role of global business director for the Vinyl Acetate Monomer business at The Dow Chemical Company, Midland, Mich. Broomham was previously the director of distribution sales for Dow Chemicals & Intermediates and Performance Chemicals & Thermosets. He has worked at Dow for more than 20 years, holding a variety of leadership roles. Broomham replaces Michael Marinaccio who retired at the end of June.

International Paint LLC, a division of Akzo Nobel, Houston, has recently hired Luke Gorinsky to serve as senior account executive. A coatings-industry veteran for nearly 30 years, Gorinsky was recruited by International Paint to help direct the company's long-term efforts for expanding distribution of its protective rail coatings throughout the Northern United States and Canada.

BASF has appointed Mario Pschaidt as Architectural Coatings business manager for BASF's Functional Polymers business, serving the architectural coatings market in North America. In his new position located in Charlotte, N.C., Pschaidt provides strategic direction and day-to-day management of BASF's Acronal Optiv® 100-percent-acrylic polymers used to manufacture conventional, low- and zero-VOC architectural coatings.

Prior to joining BASF, Pschaidt was, as vice president, sales, marketing and technology, responsible for the U.S. business operations of Alberdingk Boley, Inc., Greensboro, N.C., a producer of water-based resins for the coatings industry. As a marketing manager, Pschaidt also worked for Vianova Resins, Inc., then a division of Hoechst Celanese, in Charlotte, N.C., and as a chemist for Vianova Resins AG, a division of Hoechst AG, in Graz, Austria.

Sun Chemical Performance Pigments, Cincinnati, has named Dr. Philippe Schottland manager of it newly formed Advanced Technology Group, which will concentrate more resources on innovative product development. Schottland will focus his team on three key areas: special-effect pigments, next-generation security and conductive systems.

Dow Corning Corp., Midland, Mich., has named Akihiko Shirahata as science and technology manager, Silane Products. A 25-year veteran of Dow Corning, Dr. Shirahata will direct the global activities of the Silane product development, process engineering and product capabilities.

A major highlight of the CDMA fall conference is the presentation of the Lee W. Rivers Innovation Award to Nicholas P. Trainer, president, Sartomer Company, Inc., Exton, Pa. The award will be presented to Mr. Trainer at a reception and dinner to be held on Thursday, September 29, for his leadership skills in growing the organization from two million dollars in sales in 1975 to more than 335 million dollars in 2004. Mr. Trainer provided consistent, long-term innovation in several areas to create this growth: internal product development, business sector expansions, and strategic product line and corporate acquisitions.

University of Missouri-Rolla chemist, Dr. Michael Van De Mark, director of the UMR Coatings Institute, received a Presidential Green Chemistry Award from the U.S. EPA for his invention of an environmentally friendly latex paint additive that reduces volatile organic compound emissions. Dr. Paul Bloom and Dr. George Poppe from Archer Daniels Midland and Jeff Nelson of Stepan Co., who were responsible for implementing the UMR technology, share the award.