People to watch

Eric Barta has joined Archway Sales Inc., St. Louis, as a sales representative. Barta has 13 years of experience in specialty-chemical distribution to the paint and coatings, adhesives and elastomers markets, and has focused in particular on sales of epoxy, acrylic, phenolic and urethane resin systems.

Eckart America L.P. has promoted John Kruzel to National Sales manager - Coatings & Plastics, with management responsibility for the company's sales force and distributor and agency network in the United States. Kruzel had been senior Account executive with Eckart since joining the company in 1998. He was formerly a coatings specialist at International Protective Coatings and a regional sales manager for Toyal America.

Jeffrey Landau has joined Degussa Corp.'s Coatings & Colorants business unit as Marketing manager, Architectural Colorants, with responsibility for promotion of the business's Color Systems and In-Plant lines of architectural colorants in the United States and Canada. Landau was formerly Technical Services director at Digital Printing Systems.

Muralo Co. has promoted Shawn Norton to Marketing manager, with responsibility for advertising, marketing and promotions. She will continue to manage the company's Devine Paints division, which consists of a premium line of interior paints manufactured by Muralo under a licensing agreement. Norton joined the company in 2002 and previously worked as a production coordinator for a fashion designer in New York. Muralo Co., based in Bayonne, NJ, is a manufacturer of interior paints and primers, exterior stains and primers, floor paints and coatings, enamels, waterproofing products, and patch and repair products.

Pan Technology Inc. has named Robert Whiteley executive vice president and general manager. Whiteley, who joined the company in early 2002 as vice president of Sales and Marketing, will direct the company's sales, marketing, research and development, and technical-service operations. Prior to joining Pan Technology, Whiteley was director of Sales and Marketing for Condea Servo, and also held various positions with Engelhard Corp., in the company's Pigments and Additives division and other businesses. Pan Technology, Carlstadt, NJ, is a manufacturer of dispersions, coatings and ink.

Jerry Williams has joined Chemidex Inc., a supplier of electronic information-retrieval services for the chemical industry, as vice president, Sales. Williams was formerly vice president, Corporate Business/Account Development at Chemcentral Corp. Prior to joining Chemcentral, Williams headed eFodia, an e-commerce joint venture of Chemcentral and Holland Chemical International (HCI). He previously held a series of sales and operations-management positions with Chemcentral over a 27-year period. Chemidex, based in Lenexa, KS, operates the Chemidex Cybrary, a technical-exchange resource for chemical suppliers and users.

Crompton Corp.'s board of directors has named Robert L. Wood president and CEO, effective immediately. Vincent A. Calarco, chairman, president and CEO for the past 18 years, will remain chairman until his retirement later this year. Wood has held a variety of management and executive positions during a 27-year career with The Dow Chemical Co., most recently as business group president - Thermosets and Dow Automotive. In that position, he was responsible for the company's Polyurethanes, Epoxies, Automotive, and Polyurethane Systems units. Crompton Corp., Middlebury, CT, is a supplier of specialty chemicals and polymer products.