Management shuffle

Albemarle Corporation has made changes in several positions following its merger with Rockwood Holdings.

Albemarle Corporation said Tuesday that as a result of the completion of its acquisition of Rockwood Holdings, it will realign its global business units, effective by the end of the first quarter 2015.

Albemarle employs hundreds of South Arkansas residents at facilities in Columbia and Union counties.

The company said the new structure aligns its assets and businesses to be market focused and allows the company to more effectively leverage its combined resources on innovation and growth.

The new Albemarle structure will consist of three global business units (GBUs): Chemetall Surface Treatment, Refining Solutions and Performance Chemicals.

Chemetall Surface Treatment will continue to supply specialty chemicals with a focus on processes for the surface treatment of metals and plastics.

Refining Solutions will consist of the heavy oil upgrading and clean fuels technologies businesses, delivering catalyst solutions that apply to the entire refinery process.

Performance Chemicals will combine the lithium, aluminum alkyls and derivative catalysts businesses with Albemarle's existing Performance Chemicals GBU, which includes its South Arkansas facilities that focus on bromine and lithium production.

Each GBU will have a dedicated team of sales, R&D, process engineering, manufacturing and sourcing, and business strategy personnel and will have full accountability for improving execution through greater asset and market focus, agility and responsiveness.

"This organizational structure will help us achieve our goal of growing faster and performing at even higher levels and help accelerate the identification and achievement of strategic synergies beyond the identified cost synergies," said Luke Kissam, Albemarle's chief executive officer. "The new company will be structured to leverage its complementary fit, especially between lithium and bromine, allowing us to capitalize on our long-term lithium strategy while providing immediate scale and ability to leverage its similarities with bromine."

Consistent with the new organizational structure, the company also announced its senior leadership team, all reporting to Kissam:

Joris Merckx will serve as president, Chemetall Surface Treatment. With more than 20 years' experience in technical sales, account management and business unit management, Merckx has managed Chemetall's global surface treatment business since October 2007 and has served as president since September 2012.

Silvio Ghyoot will serve as president, Refining Solutions. Ghyoot has held numerous commercial and management positions of increasing responsibility, including roles in business, sales and supply chain, since joining Albemarle in 1990.

Michael Wilson will serve as president, Performance Chemicals. Wilson has served as president of Catalyst Solutions since 2013. Prior to joining Albemarle, he served as president of the Specialty Chemicals Group at FMC Corporation.

Matt Juneau will serve as senior vice president, Corporate Strategy and Investor Relations. Juneau has more than 30 years' experience in the chemical industry and has held leadership positions across all of the Albemarle businesses and global sales during his career with the company.

Susan Kelliher, Karen Narwold and Scott Tozier will continue in their current roles as senior vice president, Human Resources and chief people officer; senior vice president, General Counsel, Corporate & Government Affairs, Corporate Secretary; and senior vice president and chief financial officer, respectively.

The leadership team changes will become effective with the realignment of the global business units before the end of the first quarter. In the interim, business and investor questions should be routed to the current contact.

The company will provide financial transparency for each of the new business units, including lithium and bromine in Performance Chemicals.

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