Antwerp, Belgium-based specialty chemicals distribution company Azelis has announced several strategic personnel changes within the group as it gears up for future growth and expansion. The distributor has just finished integrating US-based Koda Distribution Group, which it bought last December and has since renamed Azelis Americas.

Thijs Bakker will join the company as chief financial offer in September of this year. The executive who has held various finance roles during his 15 years at AkzoNobel succeeds Martin Hollenhorst, who will retire in August. 

Anna Bertona, currently chief strategy and principal officer at Azelis, will assume the position of chief operating officer Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA) from Aug. 1. She will steer market teams in the region with a particular focus on the company’s principal development activities.

Further organizational changes planned for the executive committee have not yet been disclosed. Following Azelis’ rapid growth in China and Japan, the company is strengthening its team in Asia to further exploit the region’s growth potential and accelerate its development. To this end, chief operating officer, Laurent Nataf, will become CEO and president Asia-Pacific, effective Aug. 1.

Separately, Azelis has announced the appointment of Michael James Roney to its board of directors. Roney, formerly CEO of Bunzl, the international distribution and outsourcing group, retired from that company earlier this year, after serving as CEO since 2005 and prior to that as non-executive director.

Azelis is majority owned by private equity company Apax Partners, which bought the firm in February 2015 from 3i Group.