New top man to come at BASF Polyurethanes

By David Reed, UT EditorLudwigshafen, Germany-From 1 May 2006, Jacques Delmoitiez will be president of the polyurethanes division of BASF AG, in Brussels. He succeeds Jean-Pierre Dhanis, who will retire on 30 April 2006.The move is part of a major change in managers across the company, agreed by the supervisory board of BASF in a 16 Dec. meeting, notably including appointments such as:* Martin Brudermüller (44), to the Board of Executive Directors with effect from 1 Jan. 2006. He currently heads BASF's Functional Polymers division, but will assume responsibility for Asia and be headquartered in Hong Kong from 1 April 2006.* Eggert Voscherau remains vice chairman and industrial relations director until May 2008;* The supervisory board of BASF Coatings AG, Münster, will be asked to elect Raimar Jahn as successor to Jean-Pierre Monteny, president and chairman of the board who will retire on 30 June 2006. Jahn is currently president of performance polymers, based in Frankfurt;* Harald Lauke, president, regional functions & market efficiency Asia-Pacific, will succeed Jahn as head of the performance polymers division, with effect from 1 May 2006;* Tilman Krauch, group vice president of the polyamide & intermediates global business unit, will succeed Harald Lauke, as president, with effect from 1 April 1 2006.* Fried-Walter Münstermann, group vice president, regional functions and business development Europe, will succeed Hans Ulrich Engel as president, regional functions NAFTA (North American Free Trade Arae) based at Florham Park, New Jersey. Engel will assume project responsibilities as of 1 Feb. 2006.The division presidents who are retiring will continue to act as consultants to BASF for a given period, the BASF statement added."These changes to the board of executive directors strengthen the regions and allow us to face up even better to the global challenges. Martin Brudermüller will focus entirely on the Asian growth region … a further signal of the important role that this region plays in BASF's future," said Jürgen Hambrecht, chairman of the board of executive directors. He pointed out that, in addition to Brudermüller, all four of BASF's key regions were represented by a member on the board: Eggert Voscherau (Europe), Klaus Peter Löbbe (North America and Mexico) and Kurt Bock (South America)."