With effect from May 1, 2020 the executive committee of the Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium-based Minafin Group has appointed Bernhard Müller as Managing Director of its affiliate Minascent Technologies.

Prior to the appointment of Müller, Mojmir Vavrecka had been serving as interim managing director at Minascent since October 2019. He supports the transition and will then retire.

Müller holds a doctorate in chemistry as well as an MBA. He brings a wealth of business and technology management experience from a variety of international fine chemical, food, and medical technology industries. With a strong focus on technology and innovation, he has succeeded in driving new business development as well as in restructuring of businesses with companies such as Henkel, Cognis, and BASF. Most recently, he had been managing director at WeylChem InnoTec from October 2016 to April 2019, and head of Future Business and Innovation at Ciech Group from May 2019 until his transition to Minascent.

Minascent is a CDMO specialized in in challenging organic synthesis with hazardous reagents in exothermic processes with a wide range of chemical reactions.

Müller’s priority focus areas involve ensuring increased reliability and effectivity of operations at the high occupancy rates, as well as developing new business opportunities taking advantage of Minascent’s expertise in challenging chemistry to grow its portfolio of recurring business.

He stated: “Minascent has a good setup to serve our key customer markets. Our employees are very well educated and show a high level of motivation. Itis a very good basis to further implement changes, to create competitive advantages, and to be more profitable in the future. My key focus will be to establish increased productivity, implement an innovative and sustainable pipeline plus a robust and customer-oriented commercial strategy –all based on a modern and open leadership culture”.