Who’s working where?
October was a busy month for the industry’s human resources departments. A big shake up at Korea’s SK Innovation installed a trio of new CEOs for three of its subsidiaries. Kim Jong-hwa takes the helm at SK Energy, Choi Ahn-seop at SK Geo Centric and Lee Sang-min at SK IE Technology. Less than a year ago, seven people were fired from the C suite and this latest flurry of appointments was made amid a 20% management cull across all affiliates.
A reshuffle at Castrol India Ltd. saw industry veteran Rakesh Makhija appointed as chairman. Rakesh previously worked at SKF Group, Tata Honeywell and Honeywell International, and was non-executive chairman of Axis Bank. At the same time, the company made Jyoti Prakash vice president and head of supply chain. Jyoti joined Castrol in 2008 and has held various logistics and supply chain roles. Finally, the company announced Kedar Lele will be managing director effective November 1. Kedar was previously at Hindustan Unilever Ltd.
Staying in India, Gulf Oil Lubricants Ltd. made Abhijit Kulkarni the chief commercial officer and a member of its senior management personnel team. Abhijit also comes from Unilever, where he was for 16 years.
Graham Lane became head of commercial at the 125-year-old British lube company Duckhams. Graham worked for another venerable oil company Comma Oil, as well as Moove Europe, Comma’s owner. Graham has clocked up 25 years in the industry. Shweta Singh is now Duckham’s chief of human resources, having worked for Gulf Petrochem and MAG Lubricants.
There have been a few new name plates ordered at two of the big additive companies. Keith Corkwell was promoted to president of Lubrizol Additives. Keith has been at the company for 25 years and has led commercial and product teams across the additives portfolio. Brenna Huovie is now vice president of the Americas additives division. Brenna brings nearly 30 years of experience in management, technology and commercial roles. Mark Davies is vice president for additives technology. He’s had roles in chemistry, technology management and R&D, focussing on additives solutions and applications. Anouska Norman is the new vice president for additives strategic marketing and commercial excellence. Since 2007, Anouska has been in global commercial and product manager roles covering Europe, North America, China, Southeast Asai and India.
Infineum appointed Rahim Oberholtzer its new chief financial and strategy officer. Rahim began his career at KPMG, moving to Merrill Lynch then Shell’s mergers and acquisitions division.
Richard Camper, executive vice president of Hasco Oil and Pacific Precision Formulators in Vernon, California, on October 1 assumed the presidency of the Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association. He succeeds Catharine T. Golden, CEO of Etna Products Inc.
Egidio D’Antona joined Rocol as the new head of technical. Egidio previously worked with Swedish electric car manufacturer Polestar. Kelly Dougill and Matthew Broderick were also named as two new product managers for the company, overseeing plants, facilities and maintenance fluids, and process lubricants, respectively.
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