German chemicals giant BASF (Ludwigshafen; www.basf.com) has announced the appointment of Melanie Maas-Brunner to the company's executive board and the position of chief technology officer (CTO), effective 1 February 2021. She replaces CTO Martin Brudermüller, who is also chairman of the board of executive directors. Maas-Brunner will assume responsibility for the company's three research divisions and its unit for new business.

The company said Wayne Smith, who is responsible for monomers, performance materials, petrochemicals, intermediates process research, chemical engineering, and North America, will leave the board on 31 May 2021. Michael Heinz will take over Smith’s responsibilities in North America after a transition period on 1 June 2021, and retain his responsibilities for South America, BASF said.

Following these changes, the company said it decided to redistribute the following responsibilities, effective 1 June 2021:

• Martin Brudermüller, chairman of the board of executive directors, responsible for corporate legal, compliance, tax and insurance; corporate development; corporate communications and government relations; corporate human resources; corporate investor relations
• Hans-Ulrich Engel, vice-chairman of the board of executive directors, chief financial officer and chief digital officer, responsible for corporate finance; corporate audit; global business services; global digital services; global procurement
• Melanie Maas-Brunner, industrial relations director and chief technology officer, responsible for European site and “Verbund” management; global engineering services; corporate environmental protection, health and safety; advanced materials and systems research; bioscience research; process research and chemical engineering, new business.
• Saori Dubourg, responsible for agricultural solutions; nutrition and health; “Care Chemicals”; Europe
• Michael Heinz, located in Florham Park, New Jersey / USA, responsible for monomers; performance materials; petrochemicals; intermediates; North America and South America
• Markus Kamieth, located in Hong Kong, responsible for dispersions and pigments; catalysts; coatings; performance chemicals; greater China; South and East Asia, ASEAN and ANZ; “Mega Projects Asia”