Steve joined Croda as a graduate trainee in 1990 and has held a number of senior management positions in the Group, becoming President of Croda Europe in July 2010. Prior to this, Steve held a number of Managing Director roles across Croda’s European business. He was appointed to the Board of Croda in July 2010 and became Group Chief Executive at the beginning of 2012. Steve is Chairman of the Group Executive Committee and Finance Committee, and a member of the Nomination Committee.
Liam was appointed Chief Executive in March 2022. Previously he was a Member of the Board of Management of Bayer AG and President of the Crop Science Division, a role he held for nine years. He has also served in senior roles at Schering AG and Bayer HealthCare.
Tom is a Director of INEOS with responsibility for Corporate Affairs and Communications and the development of INEOS business in new territories. Following a 20 year career with ICI, he came into INEOS in January 2001 as CEO of INEOS Fluor. He subsequently became CEO of INEOS ChlorVinyls and then INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe. Tom is a Board member of CEFIC, past President of the European Petrochemicals Association (EPCA), Vice President of Plastics Europe, Chairman of Cogent, the UK Sector Skills Council for the Process Industries and sits on the UK’s CBI Climate Change Board. He is married with three children and his interests include golf, rugby and music.
Steve is Chief Executive of the Chemistry Council. He joined the Chemical Industries Association in 1997, spending four and half years as Head, International Trade with additional responsibility for Sustainable Development. In April 2002, he was promoted to the position of Director, Trade & Competitiveness and subsequently Director, Business Environment. Steve was appointed Chief Executive of the CIA in February 2006. Steve possesses a First class BA (Hons) degree from Nottingham Trent University, and is an Associate Fellow of the IChemE. Prior to his career with CIA, he spent fifteen years working with the DTI, a South African trade advisory body and Crown Agents as an international trade policy and promotion specialist, as well as in general consultancy with Price Waterhouse.
Neil Johnson is the Director for Infrastructure and Materials in BEIS. His education was in Chemical Engineering and Economics before he embarked on a career in investment banking. Since leaving the city he has worked in a number of roles in the Civil Service including leading international negotiations on climate change, working in the Cabinet Office on crime policy and leading reform of the Housing Benefit system in DWP. He also spent a period as Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for work and pensions. As well as his work on infrastructure and materials, Neil leads safer working policy in BEIS which has led to the development of guidance to help businesses and workers keep safe in the COVID pandemic.
Alan joined Unilever in 1985 as a graduate trainee. Before being appointed as Chief Executive Officer in January 2019, Alan served as President of Unilever’s Beauty and Personal Care business. Prior to this, in 2009, Alan led Unilever’s business in Greater China and North Asia, before leading the Russia, Africa and Middle East businesses in 2013. Other senior management positions span North America and the Food & Refreshment Division. Alan is an Executive Director to the Boards of Unilever N.V. and Unilever Plc.
Jakob Sigurdsson joined Victrex in September 2017 and was appointed to the Board in October 2017. He has more than 20 years’ experience in large multinational companies, both listed and private, including nine years with Rohm & Haas (now part of Dow Chemical) in the US, as well as chief executive officer of food manufacturer Alfesca in Europe and as chief executive officer of Promens. Jakob’s executive responsibilities have spanned marketing, supply chain, business development, strategy and M&A. Between September 2016 and June 2017, Jakob was chief executive officer of VÍS, the largest Icelandic insurance and reinsurance company. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the Icelandic Technology & Development Fund, the Council of the University of Iceland, as well as several non-profit organisations. Jakob holds a BSc in chemistry from the University of Iceland and an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University in the US.”
Phil joined P&G in 1997 as part of the R&D team. During his time at P&G, he has had a variety of roles including inventing and designing the P&G Purifier of Water product which is used to provide clean, safe drinking water in over 90 countries. He currently works in P&G’s Strategic Innovation & Technology department designing new molecules, technologies and formulations for Fabric & Home Care products, partnering heavily externally with many of world’s leading chemical and biochemical companies, Universities & selected SMEs. Phil is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Phil is responsible for the award-winning “P&G Pure Water” product that produces safe drinking water. Phil’s idea for “P&G Pure Water” came after he’d been working on chemical products to allow water recirculation in washing machine applications. He rapidly realised that the same chemistry could be adapted to purify drinking water, which led to the product. P&G now distribute the product as a small sachet that can be added to dirty water to remove bacteria, viruses and pollutants such as arsenate. One small 7p sachet will purify 10 litres of water in 15 minutes, providing people with safe drinking water for under 2p a day. “P&G Pure Water” is distributed by P&G on a not for profit basis and is now shipped all round the world.Since P&G Pure Water was launched enough has been distributed to clean almost 5.5 billion gallons of water and the product is estimated to have prevented 200 million days of disease and saved more than 26,000 lives.
Harry is the owner, Chairman and Chief Executive of Thomas Swan. Harry joined the company in 2002 to launch the new Carbon Nanomaterials business. He took over as Managing Director in 2006 and became Chairman and CEO in 2018. In addition to his responsibilities at Thomas Swan, he is a Non-Executive Director and Council Member of the Chemical Industries Association and Chairs the Innovation Committee of the Chemistry Growth Partnership. He also chairs the Advisory Board of the Centre for Education Collaboration at York University. After graduating from Durham University in 1998, Harry started his career as a Scientific Affairs Manager for Monsanto, followed by two years at Regester Larkin Ltd., providing technical and scientific advice to major international companies. His focus is now on leading Thomas Swan into an exciting new sustainable future, developing their credentials as an innovative global player and maintaining their reputation of outstanding quality and customer service.
Sharon is Executive Director of the SCI. She is responsible for delivering the strategy as agreed by the Board of Trustees and running the day to day activities of SCI. Sharon Todd joined SCI as Executive Director on 15 June 2015. Sharon is an experienced senior executive with over 25 years in the chemical industry. She has worked for a number of global corporations, including board positions in listed companies as well as small companies and start ups. In moving to SCI she brings her industry experiences to strengthen the ties between SCI and industry
Mark is SABIC’s Vice President Europe. The focus of his current role is creating a sustainable and competitive environment for the European Petrochemicals Industry and the development of talent to achieve this. He has extensive manufacturing experience and has previously been responsible for SABIC’s Manufacturing and Strategic planning in Europe focused on transforming the competitive performance in safety, reliability, productivity and cost to achieve best quartile performance. Mark serves on the boards of the CIA, CEFIC and Plastics Europe and is a graduate of the London Business School General Management Development Programme.
Michael graduated in Finance and Accounting from the University of St. Gallen (HSG), Switzerland. 19 years in specialty chemicals with Clariant in Turkey, Canada, Hong Kong and Switzerland. CEO of Synthomer since November 2021, following 6 years as CEO of Conzzeta.
