The Supervisory Board of
AkzoNobel announced that chief executive officer
Hans Wijers has decided to step down with effect from the annual general
meeting (AGM) 2012.
The Supervisory Board also announced the appointment of Ton Büchner as the
company¹s new chief executive officer, pending AGM approval, with effect
from the AGM 2012. Büchner is currently president and chief executive
officer of Swiss publicly quoted multinational Sulzer AG, a position he
has held since 2007.
Wijers, 60, joined AkzoNobel as member of the board of management in October
2002, and was subsequently appointed chief executive officer in May 2003. He
previously pursued a career as minister for economics in the Netherlands and
within management consultancy.
Büchner, 45, joined Sulzer in 1994 and has held a number of operational and
leadership roles across the company including the presidencies of two of its
divisions, Sulzer Turbomachinery Services and Sulzer Pumps. He was also
chief representative and responsible for Sulzer operations in China.
A Dutch national, Büchner graduated from Delft University of Technology with
an MSc in civil engineering and gained an MBA from the International
Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland.
