Names In The News -- August 2006

Nick DiGennaro

David G. Birney has been elected to the Oklahoma City-based Tronox Inc. board of directors. Birney recently retired from his position as president and CEO of Solvay America, Inc.

Tronox Inc. has also named Stephen (Steve) Wachnowsky vice president of global pigment operations, responsible for the company's titanium dioxide pigment operations. In his new position, Wachnowsky will be responsible for Tronox's global pigment facilities, which include plants in the United States (Hamilton, Miss., and Savannah, Ga.), Europe (Botlek, Netherlands, and Uerdingen, Germany) and Australia (Kwinana, Western Australia).

The Duha Group announced that Doug Crabb has accepted the position of global director, sales and marketing for Duha Color Services, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. His responsibilities will include managing sales and marketing activities in an effort to ensure coordination between the regions and corporate objectives, and to provide support and direction for any marketing-related activities or questions that may arise.

Nick DiGennaro has joined Münzing/Ultra Additives, Bloomfield, N.J., to fill the position of Northeast regional sales manager for the paint, coatings, adhesives, ink and building product industries. DiGennaro will be responsible for the sales and marketing of these products in New England, Eastern New York, New Jersey, Eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland.

Andrew Eisenstein

Chemtura Corp., Middlebury, Conn., named Andrew Eisenstein to the position of global business director, Polymerization Additives and Intermediates. His area of responsibility covers nine business units.

Chemtura has also named Marc van Gerwen to the position of global business director, Antioxidants & UV Stabilizers. Stationed in Frauenfeld, Switzerland, van Gerwen is responsible for the global antioxidants and UV stabilizers business, which has manufacturing units in Europe, North and South America, Asia, and the Middle East.

Dow Biocides, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company, and ANGUS Chemical Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dow Chemical Company, Buffalo Grove, Ill., have restructured their marketing and sales forces. Nanette Hermsen is now the global marketing manager for Dow Biocides, and Liam Doherty is the global marketing manager for ANGUS. Hermsen will be responsible for the marketing and sales of biocides for all applications, excluding paint and coatings, and Doherty will be responsible for all ANGUS products, excluding metalworking fluids additives and leather.

John M. Hill

NETZSCH Fine Particle Technology, LLC, Exton, Pa., has promoted John M. Hill to sales manager, mid-Atlantic region. He will manage all aspects of NETZSCH customer relationships in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia and Southern New York.

Juha Mäkinen, vice president of operations at Tikkurila Oy, Vantaa, Finland, has resumed his new position as senior vice president of SBU Pigments and managing director of Kemira Pigments Oy, Helsinki, Finland. The HSEQ function will be transferred to part of the Technology function and headed by Ilkka Sarvimäki, vice president, R&D and Technology. Petri Boman, currently vice president, Procurement, will be appointed head of the Supply Chain.

Lee Morgan, Jonesboro, Ark., has been named president of Farr Air Pollution Control (APC), a leading manufacturer of dust-collection equipment. In the newly created post, Morgan will oversee all activities of the Farr APC operating unit, which has been consolidated and expanded to include all of North America.

ICI, London, has announced that William ("Bill") H. Powell, chairman and chief executive of National Starch and Chemical, Bridgewater, N.J., will retire from National Starch with full effect at the end of October and has accordingly stepped down from the ICI board. Powell has been an executive director of ICI since 2000. He joined National Starch in 1976 and has worked for 30 years in a variety of international roles for the business before becoming chairman and CEO of National Starch in 1999.

For an interim period, John McAdam, chief executive of ICI, will assume responsibility for National Starch.

Russel Rhoads

Fitz Chem Corp., Itasca, Ill., a leading Midwest distributor/sales agent of raw materials to the coatings, plastics, ink, construction, adhesives, I & I and personal care industries, announced that Russel Rhoads has joined its inside sales department as a technical industry account representative.

Cliff Zheng has joined Bomar as technical applications manager, Asia, for Bomar Specialties Company, Winsted, Conn. He will be based in Shanghai with responsibility for China, as well as Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.