Lanxess appoints new leadership for Americas business

Frederique van Baarle. Photo Credit: Lanxess AG

Germany-based global materials firm Lanxess AG has appointed Frederique van Baarle as president and CEO of its Americas business unit Lanxess Corp., which is headquartered in Pittsburgh.

She replaces Antonis Papadourakis, who has retired after serving in the role since 2015.

“It has been an honour to have been a part of the world-class team at Lanxess and having the opportunity to work alongside so many amazing colleagues,” Papadourakis said in an Oct. 2 news release. “The team, and future operations within the region, have a bright future with [van Baarle] at the helm.”

Van Baarle is a native of the Netherlands, and recently relocated from Lanxess’ global headquarters in Cologne to Pittsburgh – marking the first time in company history that a board member has been based outside of Germany, the news release said. She joined Lanxess in 2011, and her roles have included leading the firm’s High Performance Materials business unit. She also led a regional engineering plastics business line at Royal DSM NV, where she worked for 11 years before joining Lanxess.

“I’m very excited for the opportunity to lead the team here in the Americas, which is becoming an increasingly important region for our industry and for Lanxess,” van Baarle said.