Clariant appoints new CEO
Clariant International Ltd has appointed Hariolf Kottmann chief executive officer, effective October 1. Dr Kottmann will replace Jan Secher who is leaving the company to pursue new activities after just two years in the job.
Dr Kottmann, a German national, gained a PhD in organic chemistry at the University of Stuttgart in 1984. In 1985, he started his career at the corporate R&D centre of Hoechst AG in Frankfurt. In the following years he assumed increasing responsibilities in various chemical divisions of the company. In 1996 he was appointed deputy to the division head of the basic chemicals division at Hoechst, taking responsibility for the inorganic chemicals business unit.
In 1998 he moved to Summit, New Jersey, as a member of the executive committee and head of the organic chemicals business of Celanese Ltd, a spin-off of Hoechst.
In April 2001, Dr Kottmann was appointed member of the executive committee of SGL Carbon AG in Wiesbaden, responsible for the advanced materials division and the Eastern Europe and Asia regions. He is also currently in charge of the corporate functions SGL Excellence as well as technology and innovation.
