A. Schulman, a leading international supplier of high-performance plastic compounds and resins, has announced several key organizational changes within its Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) regional leadership team.

In a major revamp, Dr Oliver Neuss has been appointed to the newly-created position of director, technology and innovation, EMEA, with responsibility for establishing best practices, driving the company's technological leadership position and accelerating global technical collaboration across the business units, said a statement from the US firm.  

The company's technological expertise in the EMEA region is a critical element of its global success. With the promotion of Dr Neuss, the company is concentrating its efforts in this area under central leadership.

Horst Klink will become business unit director, Engineered Plastics, EMEA, the position previously held by Dr Neuss. In addition, Fabrizio Cochi has been named business unit director, Specialty Powders, EMEA, replacing Frank Roederer who will now concentrate solely on the Masterbatch Solutions business.

Neuss, Klink and Cochi will report to Heinrich Lingnau, the VP and general manager, EMEA.

"Oliver, Horst and Fabrizio represent the high talent level that we have developed to lead our EMEA team as we continue to pursue growth opportunities and improve our operations," Lingnau said. "We congratulate them and look forward to their ongoing contributions in this important strategic region for A. Schulman," he added.

Dr Neuss became business unit director, Engineered Plastics for EMEA in June 2011. He joined A. Schulman in 1999 and has held a variety of positions of increasing responsibility, including leadership roles in its Engineered Plastics business in Germany, technical customer service, R&D and quality planning.

He received a Ph.D. in organic chemistry based on research at Rheinische Friedrich Wilhelms University in Bonn, Germany, and the Polish Academy of Science in Warsaw, Poland.

Klink joined A. Schulman in June as sales head (Central Europe) for distribution services business unit. Prior to this, he worked in several key positions in Europe, India, Brazil and the US, including as VP (Sales & Marketing) MBA Polymers; business director and head of the Nafta region for Ineos Abs (US) Corporation; VP/GM Styrenics for Nafta and Europe & Latin America regions for Lanxess; and global product manager Styrenics and head of plastics business Latin America for the Bayer Group.

His education included participation in the Executive MBA Initiative of the German Steel and Chemical Industry (Wirtschaftsassistent), said the company statement.

Cochi joined A. Schulman in June 2011 and has served as market and business development manager and regional sales manager, Emerging Countries. Prior to joining A. Schulman, he was business development manager for Ampacet Europe, and he previously held sales and marketing positions for Polyone Corporation in Belgium and was a project manager for Techware Corporation in France.

He holds an Executive MBA from Solvay Business School, Belgium; a European master's degree in environmental management from the European Association for Environmental Management Education in Italy; and a bachelor's degree in chemical sciences from Universite Libre in Brussels, Belgium.-TradeArabia News Service