— By Plasteurope.com staff — 

One might say Lori Ryerkerk has become a victim of her biggest success – the 2022 takeover of DuPont’s automotive unit by Celanese (Irving, Texas, USA; www.celanese.com). Automotive manufacturing has since been increasingly weak, dragging the financial results of the engineering thermoplastics and compound specialist down again and again. Most recently, Ryerkerk announced cost-cutting measures and a reduction in dividends after a considerable slump in the group’s Q3 operating results.

Ryerkerk is now stepping down at the end of the year, with previous COO Scott Richardson named as her successor. Richardson had just in November 2023 switched positions from CFO. It is unclear whether the decision on Ryerkerk’s departure was taken by herself or by other parties.

The incoming CEO has an MBA from the Texas Christian University and has been employed at Celanese for two decades. His previous responsibilities included the group’s compound chain and acetyl activities.