Covestro (Leverkusen, Germany; www.covestro.com) CEO Dr. Markus Steilemann will be the new Vice President of the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI; www.vci.de). The presidium appointed the 49-year-old to the new position, in a written circulation procedure on account of the corona pandemic. He will assume his office with immediate effect. By-elections by the General Meeting are planned for September 2020 in Düsseldorf. In his new position, the graduate chemist is now also a member of the VCI Board of Management. Steilemann has been a member of the association’s presidium since 2018.
“Especially in these challenging times, I am very much looking forward to this new task,” said Steilemann. “I will be particularly committed to further expanding the dialogue within the chemical and plastics industry and to networking it even more closely with society. This is the sole means of achieving a viable, truly sustainable economy. Our industry, with its high level of innovation, is a key partner on the path to this goal. This makes it even more important to secure and expand our global competitiveness and innovative capability.”
In addition, Christian Kullmann, Chairman of the Board of Management of Evonik, was appointed Chairman of the VCI as part of the presidium election. He succeeds the former Henkel CEO Hans van Bylen. The VCI represents the economic policy interests of around 1,700 German chemical companies and local subsidiaries of foreign groups vis-à-vis politicians, authorities, science and media, as well as other sectors of the economy.