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AkzoNobel will add four new members to its senior leadership committee and make several other executive changes worldwide in anticipation of “new strategic ambitions” to be announced Tuesday (Sept. 28).
The world’s largest paint and coatings company, also a major producer of specialty chemicals, is establishing a nine-member Executive Committee composed of the current five-member Board of Management and four new members.
The new members of the Executive Committee and their areas of responsibility are:
 
• Marjan Oudeman (Human Resources and Organizational Development);
• Graeme Armstrong (Research, Development & Innovation);
 
• Sven Dumoulin (General Counsel); and
• Werner Fuhrmann (Supply Chain/Sourcing).
The committee will also include these current AkzoNobel executives: CEO Hans Wijers, CFO Keith Nichols, Leif Darner (Performance Coatings), Tex Gunning (Decorative Paints), and Rob Frohn (Specialty Chemicals).
‘New Ambitions’
"With this enhanced leadership team in place, we will be better positioned to deliver the best innovations, world-class sustainability performance, the most efficient supply chains, and the most engaged employees, while maintaining the highest standards of integrity in our actions," said Wijers.
The broadening of the leadership team coincides with a shake-up in management of the company's businesses worldwide and “should be considered in the context of new strategic ambitions” to be announced Tuesday at a Capital Markets Day in London, the company said in a statement.
The members of the Executive Committee will assume their positions on Jan. 1.
Business Unit Shake-Up
AkzoNobel also announced these management changes.
Richard Stuckes will become Managing Director AkzoNobel Decorative Paints Europe. He is now Managing Director of Decorative Paints UK, Ireland and South Africa.
Frank Sherman, Managing Director of Surface Chemistry, will focus on his role as Country Director for AkzoNobel in North America, based in Chicago. Sherman “has been instrumental in setting up the North American leadership team and will continue full-time in that role,” the company said in a statement. “On April 1, 2011, after leading Surface Chemistry through a restructuring for more than seven years, he will step down from the MD role.”
Bob Margevich, Managing Director of Functional Chemicals for three years, will become Managing Director of Surface Chemistry, based in Chicago. Margevich, now based in the Netherlands, will assume his new duties April 1.
Jan Svärd, who now manages the Pulp and Paper Chemicals business, will become Managing Director of Functional Chemicals, effective March 1. He will be based in Amersfoort, the Netherlands.
Ruud Joosten will become Managing Director of Pulp and Paper Chemicals, based in Gothenburg, Sweden, on Feb. 1. Joosten is currently Managing Director of Decorative Paints Northern and Eastern Europe.
Knut Schwalenberg will be appointed Managing Director of Industrial Chemicals with responsibility for Supply Chain/Sourcing, effective Jan. 1, in Amersfoort. He will succeed Werner Fuhrmann, who has been appointed to the new Executive Committee.
Peter Tomlinson, Director EMEA at Marine and Protective Coatings, will add the title of Regional Director AkzoNobel Middle East, effective Oct. 1.
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