Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation: Notice Regarding Change in Representative Corporate Executive Officers

October 23, 2020 |

4 min read

Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation announced that, at the meeting of its Board of Directors held , it resolved change of representative corporate executive officers as outlined below.

Oct. 23, 2020 06:40 UTC

TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation (“MCHC”) (TOKYO: 4188) announced that, at the meeting of its Board of Directors held today, it resolved change of representative corporate executive officers as outlined below.

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Jean-Marc Gilson (Photo: Business Wire)

1. Change in Representative Corporate Executive Officers

(Appointed)	Name:	Jean-Marc Gilson
	Title:	Representative Corporate Executive Officer
		President and Chief Executive Officer

(Retiring)	Name:	Hitoshi Ochi
	Title:	Representative Corporate Executive Officer
		President and Chief Executive Officer

2. Biographical Sketch of New Representative Corporate Executive Officer

Refer to the appendix

3. Scheduled Date of Appointment

April 1, 2021

4. Reason for the Change

MCHC converted to a company with a nominating committee, etc. in June 2015. Since then, the Nominating Committee has carried out preparations to properly conduct nominations, taking into account the period covered by the medium-term management plan and other factors. Representative Corporate Executive Officer, President and CEO, Hitoshi Ochi, has recently expressed his intent to retire at the end of the current fiscal year that coincides with the conclusion of the current medium-term management plan, where the fortification of its business infrastructure has been achieved to a meaningful degree. Therefore, the Nominating Committee explored and selected specific candidates of his successor.

The Nominating Committee set the following criteria for the next Representative Corporate Executive Officer, President and CEO. The individual had to be able to execute the following initiatives reflecting our Group Philosophy, KAITEKI.

			(1)		Able to build a strategic vision and branding strategy, foreseeing the post-COVID 19 world, that integrates the healthcare business, including biochemicals and life science, with the high-value added chemicals business based on the high-performance products
			(2)		Capable of improving corporate value particularly from the perspective of shareholders and investors
			(3)		Able to decisively implement portfolio transformation through strong leadership

The Nominating Committee searched globally for suitable candidates, both inside and outside the company. It conducted multifaceted evaluations, including interviews with candidates and gathered references from related parties on the past performance of potential candidates. The Nominating Committee ultimately nominated Jean-Marc Gilson based on which MCHC, at the meeting of Board of Directors today, adopted the resolution to select him as the next Representative Corporate Executive Officer, President and CEO.

Jean-Marc Gilson has demonstrated leadership in the positions of president or chief executive in charge of business operations at various US and European chemical companies. This includes Executive Vice President, Specialty Chemicals Business at Dow Corning. Then he served as CEO at Avantor Performance Materials, which was selected by New Mountain Capital, a private equity fund, as their first investment in the chemicals sector. After this, at the request of New Mountain Capital, he served as COO at NuSil Technology. At present, he serves as CEO of Roquette, headquartered in France.

Jean-Marc Gilson possesses a global outlook in the fields of specialty chemicals and life science. In his previous experiences he worked at, Gilson built a proven track record for decisively executing portfolio transformation. In addition, he fully understands how correctly establishing strategies and clearly disseminating these strategies to all stakeholders contributes to the improvement of corporate value.

Given his performance, competencies and enthusiasm to lead the company, we determined that Jean-Marc Gilson is the optimal choice to lead MCHC realizing our vision of sustainable growth by accelerating our portfolio transformation and globally undertaking initiatives to solve social issues based on the Group Philosophy, KAITEKI.

Appendix

Biographical Sketch

Name:	Jean-Marc Gilson
Date of Birth:	December 16, 1963
Place of Birth:	Belgium

Professional Experience
1989	Joined Dow Corning
2005	Corporate Vice President & General Manager of Specialty Chemicals Business, President Asian Area, Dow Corning Shareholder Representative Director, Dow Corning Toray
2009	Executive Vice President & General Manager of Specialty Chemicals Business, Dow Corning
2011	Chief Executive Officer, Avantor Performance Materials
2012	Vice-Chairman & Chief Operating Officer, NuSil Technology
2014	Chief Executive Officer, Roquette
2021	To be appointed Representative Corporate Executive Officer, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation