Kerr-McGee Chemical L.L.C. has named David M. Callow managing director of European Pigment Operations and Peter J. Davies director of European operations. Callow has more than 30 years of experience in the titanium dioxide (TIO2) industry, the company said. Davies was previously plant manager of the company's pigment plant in Antwerp, Belgium, and has 28 years of experience in the chemical industry. The company also named Peter C. Ryan plant manager of the company's TiO2 plant in Savannah, GA. He was formerly Technical Engineering Services manager of Kerr-McGee's 50%-owned pigment operation in Kwinana, Western Australia.

Dennis Erickson has joined S.P. Morell and Co. as Marketing/Technical Support representative, with responsibility for technical sales support and assisting in new business development. Erickson has more than 30 years of experience in the coatings and lubricants industries, and has worked for Monsanto Co./Solutia Inc. and ICI's Glidden Co. unit. He is considered an expert in the areas of amino resins, cure mechanisms and flow and leveling additives, the company said.

Resin Sales Ltd., Northbrook, IL, has named Andrew L. Greenwald vice president of Sales. The company is a distributor of resins and pigments to the coatings industry.

Wasser High-Tech Coatings, Kent, WA, has named Greg Hardig vice president of Sales, with responsibility for management of the company's field sales force and technical service functions in the United States. Hartig has more than 20 years' experience in the coatings field, the company said. He will be based at Wasser's primary manufacturing plant in Baltimore.

Doug Rasic, who has held various technical positions with coatings manufacturers in Asia, recently joined Ubis (Asia) Ltd., a coatings manufacturer based in Bangkok, Thailand, as Technical director. He has more than 25 years of experience in the industry, with Berger Paints Australia, W.R. Grace & Co. in Thailand and China, Valspar/Coates in Malaysia, and ICI packaging coatings in Thailand. Ubis has developed high-solids spray coatings for tinplate and containers, and markets products in China, Indonesia, India, and the Philippines. The company is planning to expand sales to markets in Europe and South America, Rasic said. The company also is developing powder and other coatings for cans.

Premier Mill Corp. has named Kim Roetenberg Midwestern Regional manager. Roetenberg has held sales positions involving mixing, drying and size-reduction equipment used in the chemical, food, and pharmaceutical industries, the company said.

Sun Chemical Corp.'s Colors Group announced several appointments, including the promotion of Bob Schweitzer to general manager, Global Coatings Business Unit, with responsibility for the company's coatings business worldwide. Schweitzer was formerly industry manager, Global Plastics, and previously held management positions with DuPont Co.'s titanium dioxide business. In other appointments, Maurice M. Carruthers was named vice president and general manager of the Colors Group's North American Merchant Ink Business Unit, Brian Leen and Scott Jacobson were named corporate vice presidents and group managing directors, and David Thompson was named corporate vice president, with responsibility for the North American operations of Sun Chemical's pigments business in the Pigments and Dispersions divisions. Sun Chemical's Colors Group is a major supplier of organic pigments and aqueous dispersions for coatings, ink and other markets.

ICI plc Chairman Charles Miller Smith announced his plans to retire at the conclusion of the company's annual general meeting in May 2002. Smith was named chief executive of the company in 1995 and became chairman in 1999. An announcement regarding his successor "will be made in due course," the company said. Smith will be 62, the customary retirement age at ICI, in November. In a statement, the company's board of directors said Smith has "made a unique contribution to the development of ICI" as "one of the principal architects" of the company's transformation into a specialty chemicals and coatings producer. ICI in recent years has divested a number of industrial-chemicals operations, including the Tioxide titanium-dioxide business, the acrylics and polyurethanes units, and parts of the Paints business.

The Aqualon Division of Hercules Inc. has named J. Logan Sturgill Business manager, Natrosol HEC and Aquaflow rheology modifiers, and Jack Scanlon Market manager, Waterborne Coatings. Sturgill joined Hercules in 1988 and has held technical, sales and marketing-management positions. Scanlon joined Hercules in 2000 as Marketing supervisor, Waterborne Coatings, and previously held various technical, sales and marketing positions with DuPont Co. and W.L. Gore and Associates Inc.

Walsh & Associates, a St. Louis-based distributor of raw materials and equipment to the coatings and other industries, announced the appointment of Timothy T. Walsh as chairman, Ellen Walsh Murphy as president and Randall D. Lewis as director of Operations. Robert F. Walsh has been named chairman emeritus. Timothy Walsh joined the company in 1969 and has been president since 1985. Murphy joined the company in 1981 and has held several key management positions. Lewis joined the company in March as Technical Sales Support manager, and previously held technical positions in the ink-manufacturing industry.

Peerless Coatings Inc., Cullman, AL, has named Rick Windham Sales manager. Windham has more than 20 years of experience in the coatings industry, including several years in sales-management positions, the company said. Peerless is a manufacturer of wood and metal OEM finishes.