Basel, Switzerland – 8 March 2022 – Arxada, a global leader in specialty chemicals, announces that it has created two business units: Consumer Microbial Control (‘CMC’) and Industrial Microbial Control (‘IMC’) from its existing Microbial Control Solutions (‘MCS’) business. The new structure reinforces Arxada’s strategy to strengthen its microbial control business and improve its customer focus following the significant expansion of the business through the merger with Troy Corporation and acquisition of Enviro Tech Chemical Services, both completed in December 2021.
The CMC business will encompass the Hygiene, Home and Personal Care, Wood Protection, Crop Protection, and Food, Beverage and Water business lines and will be led by Jérôme Charton. Jérôme joined Arxada from Ecolab, where he was President of the international organization, with responsibility for the company’s operations outside of North America. During his 12 years with the company, he successfully managed several businesses including food safety, water conservation and infection prevention solutions and services. Prior to this, Jérôme spent 15 years in various commercial and general management roles in the healthcare industry at companies including Baxter and Abbott.
The IMC business will consist of the Paints and Coatings and Material Protection business lines, including specialty additives for Plastics, Metal Working Fluids, and Oil and Gas. The business will be led by Jean-Michel R. Gauthier, who joins Arxada from AkzoNobel, where he was Vice President / Managing Director, Marine, Protective & Yacht Coatings. Previously, Jean-Michel spent over 25 years at DuPont in various R&D, M&A and business management roles in electronic materials, engineering polymers, industrial coatings and protective technologies in Europe and the U.S. Most recently, Jean-Michel was Global Business Director for Kevlar® and Nomex® in DuPont Protection Technologies.
Both Jérôme and Jean-Michel are members of Arxada’s Executive Leadership Team.
These changes will give Arxada a greater focus on key customer and market needs within the global $15bn+ microbial control industry, in alignment with its growth strategy. Arxada’s businesses benefit from deep customer relationships, a strong innovation pipeline and industry-leading regulatory expertise, which are leveraged across each of the end markets that the Company serves.
Marc Doyle, Chief Executive Officer of Arxada, said:
“Arxada has expanded significantly within our first year as an independent company. Today’s changes to our organizational structure will strengthen the focus of our microbial control businesses, recognizing the different dynamics of the consumer and industrial markets, in line with our strategic growth objectives. We will continue to develop innovative solutions to help our customers protect their products from harmful microorganisms, improve health and safety and reduce their environmental footprints. I look forward to working with Jérôme and Jean-Michel to create the broadest range of unique solutions for our customers in both business units.”
The organization of Arxada’s Specialty Products Solutions (‘SPS’) business, headed by Antje Gerber, remains unaffected by these changes.