“Clariant has undergone a successful portfolio change in recent years and is now a true specialty chemicals company. Now is the right time to align the organization more closely to customers, businesses and markets. The new set-up will further strengthen our position as leader in sustainability and establish a best-in-class governance,” said chairman Günter von Au.

The Swiss group will cut the number of business units from five to three and locate the unit presidents in the regions with the largest customer base and highest growth for the respective businesses. The existing catalysts business unit and biofuels & derivatives line will be combined into one single business called catalysts. Jens Cuntze, previously head of corporate planning and strategy at Clariant, has been appointed president of the new catalysts unit and the Asia-Pacific region.

Functional minerals and additives will merge into adsorbents & additives. Angela Cackovich, who joins from German tapes and adhesives manufacturer Tesa, will be president of this division as well as Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Industrial and consumer specialties and oil & mining services will form care chemicals, which will be headed by Christian Vang, formerly head of industrial and consumer specialties and head of corporate planning & strategy. Vang will be responsible for the Americas region.

Clariant is also creating a new executive steering committee that will include CEO Conrad Keijzer, chief financial officer Bill Collins and the business unit presidents. This, the company said, will enable it to reduce hierarchical layers and overall complexity across business functions. It is expected to foster greater accountability, speed up decision-making processes and enhance customer proximity, while strengthening diversity.

The roles of chief operating officer (COO) and chief transformation officer (CTO) are being eliminated. Consequently, the current incumbents, COO Hans Bohnen and CTO Bernd Hoegemann are stepping down and will pursue careers outside Clariant.

Additionally, Clariant has launched its diversity, equity and inclusion roadmap, under which it said it has set ambitious targets for 2030. These include doubling female representation to at least 30% and increasing the share of leaders with national origin outside of Europe from 32% to more than 40%.

In April, the company completed an internal investigation into accounting irregularities in its 2020 financial results. The former CFO Stephan Lynen was replaced by Collins.

Author: Elaine Burridge, Freelance Journalist