Air Liquide CEO and Chairman Benoît Potier succeeded Leif Johansson as chairman of the European Round Table of Industrialists (ERT) on June 1. Potier, who joined Air Liquide in 1981 and has been CEO since 1997, was elected ERT vice chairman of ERT in 2010. Johansson is chairman of the board of AstraZeneca. The ERT forum, created in 1983, counts as its members 52 leaders of major companies of European parentage from a wide range of industry sectors in 18 countries. Together they have annual sales of over €1.3 trillion, employ around 6.8 million people in the region and spend more than €51 billion annually on research & development.