Our Board

Nationality: British

Position and date of appointment
Chair of the Board and the Nomination and Disclosure Committees. Caroline joined the Board in March 2015 and was appointed Chair in December 2020 having previously been Chair of the Audit Committee and a member of the Nomination and Remuneration Committees.

Key appointments
Caroline is a Non-Executive Director and chair of the employee engagement committee of Spirax-Sarco Engineering plc, and a Non-Executive Director and chair of the audit committee of Shepherd Building Group Limited, a private company which owns Portakabin Limited. She has an honorary role on the board of the University of Manchester.   

Skills and experience
Caroline has nearly 40 years’ experience of working with large global organisations in the chemicals sector and other industries. Her experience includes delivering value from M&A, turnaround, culture change and cost optimisation. She was a partner in and sat on the board of the Assurance practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) with responsibility for all people matters. Caroline is a chartered accountant and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.

Nationality: Swiss

Position and date of appointment
Chief Executive Officer since November 2021; member of the Disclosure Committee.

Key appointments
Michael is a Non-Executive Director of Glaston Oyj (Nasdaq Helsinki) and sits on subsidiary boards of the Indutrade Group.

Skills and experience
Michael is an established public market CEO with a track record of driving performance through strong operational management and strategic actions, including mergers and acquisitions. He was previously CEO of Conzzeta AG, Zurich, (now Bystronic AG), a global industrial company listed on the SIX Swiss exchange. Before Conzzeta, Michael spent 18 years with Clariant, leading its global Industrial and Consumer Specialities division from 2010 to 2015. This followed 13 years in leadership roles in Asia Pacific, based in Hong Kong, Canada and Turkey.

Nationality: British and Australian

Position and date of appointment
Chief Financial Officer since July 2022; member of the Disclosure Committee.

Key appointments
Lily is a Non-Executive Director and member of the Audit Committee of DCC plc, a FTSE 100 listed international sales, marketing and support services business.

Skills and experience
Lily is a highly experienced CFO. She has worked in the manufacturing and engineering sectors for over 20 years, and joins from Essentra plc, a FTSE 250 components and solutions business, where she has been CFO. Lily was previously CFO at Xaar plc, a UK listed inkjet technology developer, and Smiths Detection business, a division of Smiths Group plc.

Position and date of appointment
Company Secretary since 1998; Group Chief Counsel.

Key appointments
No external appointments.

Other executive responsibilities
Member of the Executive Committee Sustainability Steering Group; deputy chair of the boards of the Group’s Middle Eastern joint venture companies; trustee of the UK pension scheme.

Skills and experience
Richard qualified as a solicitor in 1988 and worked in private practice as a corporate and banking lawyer before moving into industry as an in-house lawyer working in the USA and UK. He has extensive M&A experience and led on the legal aspects of all the Group’s acquisitions over the past 20 years. He has a law degree from the University of Birmingham.

Nationality: British

Position and date of appointment
Non-Executive Director since 1981; member of Nomination Committee and designated Non-Executive Director to lead workforce engagement.

Key appointments
Alexander is managing director of CairnSea Investments Limited, a private investment company, and a Non-Executive Director of several early-stage companies that have been backed by CairnSea.

Skills and experience
Before the establishment of CairnSea, Alexander was a Director of Morgan Grenfell & Co and then Lazard Brothers & Co.

Nationality: British

Position and date of appointment
Independent Non-Executive Director since January 2014; Chair of the Remuneration Committee; member of the Audit, Disclosure and Nomination Committees. Senior Independent Director since April 2015.

Key appointments
Brendan is a Non-Executive Director of Victrex plc, Pepco Group NV and Applus, and two private equity backed companies, one of which he chairs.

Skills and experience
Brendan has over 30 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry. Until June 2013, Brendan was a senior executive at Intertek Group plc and had previously been chief executive officer of Moody International (which was acquired by Intertek in 2011). Before Moody, he was managing director of Atos Origin UK, and spent more than 25 years with Schlumberger in senior international roles over three continents. Brendan has previous experience as chairman of the remuneration committee of a UK-listed company.

Nationality: American and British

Position and date of appointment
Independent Non-Executive Director since July 2020; Chair of the Audit Committee and a member of the Nomination and Remuneration Committees.

Key appointments
Cynthia is a Non-Executive Director of the Competition and Markets Authority, where she is chair of the audit, risk and assurance committee, an independent Non-Executive Director and member of the audit committee of Hurco Companies, Inc., an independent Non-Executive Director, and member of the audit and risk committee of ICE Futures Europe, a subsidiary of Intercontinental Exchange, and an independent Non-Executive Director, chair of the audit committee and a member of the compensation committee of Franchise Group, Inc.

Skills and experience
Cynthia has served in senior finance and business roles in the power, oil, gas and broader clean-energy technology sector, having started her career in the banking industry in New York specialising in advising and lending to large energy projects before relocating to London in 1992.

Nationality: German and Italian

Position and date of appointment
Independent Non-Executive Director since July 2021; member of the Audit, Remuneration and Nomination Committees.

Key appointments
Roberto is chair of CABB Group and a member of the board of directors of Aerogel Corporation.

Skills and experience
Roberto has over 25 years’ chemical sector experience at BASF where he held senior operational roles covering international sales, marketing, procurement and M&A and served on a number of joint venture boards. His final role at BASF was as president of its Styrenics business, which was carved out as part of a joint venture as Styrolution, and which Roberto led as chief executive for three years until 2014. Roberto has previous board-level experience in Saudi Arabia, Finland and Belgium.

Nationality: Malaysian

Position and date of appointment
Non-Executive Director since 2002; first joined the Board in 1993 and stood down in 2000 to become an Alternate Director. Member of Nomination Committee.

Key appointments
Hau Hian is a director of Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd and is the president of the Perak Chinese Maternity Association. He also serves as a director of Yayasan De La Salle.

Skills and experience
Hau Hian is the managing director of Batu Kawan Bhd, a listed Malaysian investments holding company, with interests in plantations and chemicals manufacturing. He has experience in organisational transformations, acquisitions, chemical and manufacturing operations and sustainability issues.

Nationality: British

Position and date of appointment: Non-Executive Director since June 2022; member of the Nomination Committee and Remuneration Committee

Key appointments: Ian is a Non-Executive Director and Chair of Amey plc (a subsidiary of Ferrovial S.A.), and Non-Executive Director and Chair of Affinity Water Limited. Previously, he has served on the Boards of BAE Systems, Vistry Group (formerly Bovis Homes Group), Cairn Energy, Mediclinic International, VT Group and Cable and Wireless.

Skills and experience: Ian has extensive Board experience as a former Chief Executive of Balfour Beatty and as a Non-Executive in several international industrial organisations. He serves as Remuneration Committee Chair at BAE Systems plc and Anglo American plc where he is also Senior Independent Director. Ian’s senior executive career was at Balfour Beatty plc, a global infrastructure business, joining as Finance Director in 1996 and serving as Chief Executive from 2005 to 2013.

Nationality: American

Position and date of appointment
Independent Non-Executive Director since September 2018; member of the Audit, Nomination and Remuneration Committees.

Key appointments
Holly is a Non-Executive Director of Kimball Electronics, Inc., where she chairs the Compensation and Governance Committee. She serves as a Non-Executive Director of Albermale Corporation and as a member of the Executive Compensation and Capital Investment Committees.

Skills and experience
Until 2005, Holly was group vice president, Petrochemicals, at BP. She has worked in the global chemical industry for over 25 years and held senior positions across North America, Europe and Asia. In addition, since 2006, Holly has held Non-Executive Director roles for global companies headquartered in the USA and spent 12 years on the board of a Norwegian-listed company.