Reinforcement: Three new members on the Dechema Executive Board

The members of the Dechema Executive Board are each elected for three years and are divided into the groups „Apparatus and Plant Engineering“, „Science“ and „Chemical Industry / Biotechnology“. They thus represent the most important areas of Dechema.

Cord Landsmann has been Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Uhde business unit, which comprises thyssenkrupp's chemical engineering and plant construction activities, since January 2022. Prior to that, he was responsible for several multi-billion dollar businesses and projects in the energy, renewables and utilities sectors. Cord Landsmann brings his experience in the development and execution of projects on a global scale, project financing and the negotiation of complex commercial contracts in the areas of sector coupling and energy transition. As part of his CEO role, he is also responsible for the R&D activities for the development of innovative processes and products for a more sustainable future of the chemical industry, including in the fields of green ammonia and methanol. He studied business administration and management with a focus on finance and international management in Münster, where he also completed his doctorate.

Beate Müller-Tiemann is Global Head of „Manufacturing Science, Analytics and Technology (MSAT)” for Chemical and Microbial Products at Sanofi-Aventis Frankfurt. She is responsible for the entire Sanofi product portfolio (active ingredients and pharmaceuticals). Her responsibilities include microbial biotechnology for the production of biopharmaceuticals, but also classical organic chemistry. She holds a PhD in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Cell Biology from the University of Hamburg and is a Maîtrise de Biochimie from the University of Montpellier, France. She began her career at Sandoz in Basel, Switzerland, in molecular neurology research, then moved to molecular oncology at Bayer Corporation in West Haven, Connecticut, USA, and then to Schering in Berlin, Germany, where she focused on high-throughput technologies in protein research and crystallography before establishing and heading the Biologics Research Organization at the Bayer Research Center in Wuppertal, Germany.

Irina Smirnova is Vice President for Research, TU Hamburg and Head of the Institute of Thermal Process Engineering. Her research focuses on aerogels, high-pressure technology, biorefinery, innovative separation technologies and the development of molecular thermodynamic methods. She was previously a visiting scientist at Sogang University in South Korea and worked until 2008 as a group leader and habilitation candidate at the Institute of Thermodynamics and Thermal Process Engineering at the Technical University of Berlin and at the Institute of Thermal Process Engineering at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. Irina Smirnova studied physical chemistry at the State University of St. Petersburg, obtained her doctorate at the Technical University of Berlin in 2002 and habilitated at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in 2008. During her academic career, she has been honoured with the Dechema University Lecturer Award, the Hamburg Teaching Prize and the Ralf Dahrendorf Prize.

Dr Armin Knors, Bayer, Leverkusen, Prof Dr Vera Meyer, TU Berlin, Prof Dr Oskar-Werner Reif, Satorius Stedim Biotech, Göttingen, and Dr Wolfram Stichert, HTE, Heidelberg, were re-elected. Dipl.-Ing. Eva-Maria Maus, Hamilton Bonaduz, Bonaduz/CH, and Dr Andreas Hoff, Evonik Technology & Infrastructure, Hanau, were re-elected as auditors and members of the Executive Board for the 2023 association year.

Industry news from 10 January 2023