Patrick Thomas has been named chairman of the board of management of Bayer MaterialScience AG as of January 1. He succeeds Dr Hagen Noerenberg, who ended his active employment with the Bayer Group as planned at the end of 2006.

Mr Thomas was born in the UK and began his career with British chemicals company Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI). Until 1989 he held a number of positions with ICI Pharmaceuticals and Agrochemicals in the U.K. In 1989 he then transferred to Belgium to join ICI Polyurethanes, undertaking various management assignments until 1993 when he was named regional director for Europe, Africa & the Middle East. Four years later he was appointed global CEO.

In 1999, Mr Thomas joined US chemicals company Huntsman Corporation as president of the Polyurethanes, Performance and Advanced Materials Divisions, also based in Belgium. In 2003 he was named Corporate Executive vice president of Huntsman MatlinPatterson. He joined Bayer MaterialScience on August 15, 2006.

With sales of €10.7 billion in 2005, Bayer MaterialScience is one of the world’s largest polymer manufacturers. Its main fields of activity are the production of high-tech polymer materials for products used in the footwear, sports and leisure, electrical/electronics, and construction sectors.

The company has production facilities at 40 sites around the world and a workforce of approximately 18,800.