Borealis, a leading provider of chemical and innovative plastics solutions, announces the appointment of James McCummiskey as Senior Vice President Operations, effective October 1, 2010. He succeeds Philippe Roodhooft who has taken over the role of Senior Vice President Product Management & Supply Chain.
James McCummiskey joins Borealis from Ciba Inc. where he was most recently a member of Ciba’s Group Executive Committee until the company’s takeover by BASF. He began his career in 1973 at Ciba Inc. in Paisley, Scotland where he held several key positions within the manufacturing and engineering discipline, before becoming Head of the Global Business Unit Classical Pigments in 1996. Five years later, he took over the role of Managing Director at Ciba’s largest single site chemical plant in Bradford as well as Grimsby, UK, where he later assumed the global business responsibility as Head Business Line Water. During this period he also successfully completed a number of special assignments to turn round difficult operational issues on other Ciba sites as well as fulfilling board memberships of JV's in Korea, China and India. In 2007, he was appointed Executive Vice President Ciba Inc. as Head of the Water and Paper Treatment Segment, based in Basle, Switzerland. James McCummiskey is a Scottish citizen and has Full Technical, Ordinary National and Higher National Certificates in Engineering from the City and Guilds of London Institute.
“James has learned the chemicals business from the bottom up with his many and diversified roles in manufacturing, engineering, industrial relations, sales and marketing,“ says Borealis Deputy CEO Herbert Willerth. “I am pleased he will be joining Borealis and bring his wealth of experience ranging from a hands-on understanding of operations to the most senior level of leading an integrated business to the challenging role of Senior Vice President Operations.”
Philippe Roodhooft has a long history in the polyolefins industry beginning in 1990 with Neste Chemicals in Belgium. When Neste Chemicals was integrated into the newly formed Borealis in 1994, he became a member of the Borealis Belgium management team. Philippe Roodhooft’s previous experience in Belgium includes Engineering Manager, Plant Manager, Location Leader, as well as Group Planning Manager. When he assumed the role of General Manager Borealis Central Europe in 2007, he moved to Austria. Since 2008, Philippe Roodhooft has held the position of Senior Vice President Operations based at the head office in Vienna. He was born in Belgium in 1963 and holds a degree in Applied Sciences from the University of Leuven, Belgium.
“I am glad that Philippe now brings the wealth of experiences he gained in various key positions at Borealis into his new role in product management and supply chain,” says Gerd Löbbert, Borealis Executive Vice President for Polyolefins, effective October 1, 2010. “With his know-how in operations locally and from a group perspective he we will make a significant contribution to building a solid bridge between operations and the requirements of the business and operations.”
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For further information, please contact:
Kerstin Meckler, Director Communications,
Tel. +43 122 400 389
Email: kerstin.meckler@borealisgroup.com
Borealis is a leading provider of chemical and innovative plastics solutions that create value for society. With sales of EUR 4.7 billion in 2009, customers in over 120 countries, and 5,200 employees worldwide, Borealis is owned 64% by the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) of Abu Dhabi and 36% by OMV, the leading energy group in the European growth belt. Borealis is headquartered in Vienna, Austria, and has production locations, innovation centres and customer service centres across Europe and the Americas. Through Borouge, a joint venture between Borealis and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), one of the world’s major oil companies, the company’s footprint reaches out to the Middle East, Asia Pacific, the Indian sub-continent and Africa. Established in 1998, Borouge employs approximately 1,400 people, has customers in more than 50 countries and its headquarters are in Abu Dhabi in the UAE and Singapore.
Building on the unique Borstar® technology and their experience in polyolefins for more than 50 years, Borealis and Borouge provide innovative, value creating plastics solutions for the infrastructure (pipe systems and power and communication cables), automotive and advanced packaging markets. In addition, Borealis offers a wide range of base chemicals from melamine and plant nutrients to phenol and acetone.
Today Borealis and Borouge have a manufacturing capacity of over 4 million tonnes of polyolefins (polyethylene and polypropylene) per year. Borouge is currently tripling its polyolefins manufacturing capacity to 2 million tonnes per year (t/y) by mid-2010 and an additional 2.5 million t/y is scheduled for 2013. The companies continue to invest to ensure that their customers throughout the value chain, across the globe, can always rely on product quality, consistency and security of supply.
Borouge and Borealis are committed to the principles of Responsible Care® and proactively contribute to addressing the world’s water and sanitation challenges through their Water for the World™ initiative.
For more information visit:
Borealis: www.borealisgroup.com
Borouge: www.borouge.com
Water for the World: www.waterfortheworld.net
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