Patrick Thomas has been named as chairman of the board of management of polymer company Bayer MaterialScience AG. British-born Mr Thomas succeeds Dr Hagen Noerenberg, who will retire from active service on December 31, after 30 years with the Bayer Group.

In 1999 Mr Thomas joined US chemicals company Huntsman as president of the Polyurethanes, Performance and Advanced Materials Divisions, based in Belgium. In 2003 he was named corporate executive vice president of Huntsman Matlin Patterson. Since 2005 he has been working as a management consultant for private-equity companies in the industry sector.