The supervisory board has spoken, and confirmed managing board member Markus Kamieth as chief executive of BASF (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com), currently the world’s largest chemical producer. The “changing of the guard” is due to take place at the end of the annual shareholders’ meeting on 25 April 2024.

The 53-year-old executive, who has been on the board since 2017 and was widely tipped as the leading candidate for the position, will succeed 62-year-old Martin Brudermüller, who has been a member of the managing board since 2006 and CEO since 2018. Brudermüller plans to join carmaker Mercedes-Benz as non-executive chairman.

Supervisory board chairman and former CEO of BASF, Kurt Bock, praised Kamieth as combining strategic vision with operational implementation strength and who will provide new impulses to the businesses and teams at BASF.

In other changes, Katja Scharpwinkel and Anup Kothari are to join the managing board with effect from 1 February and 1 March 2024, respectively. The contract of Michael Heinz, managing board member since 2011, has been extended.

Kothari, who began his career with BASF in North America, has held various positions within the company in the US, Germany, and China. Currently, he is president of the group’s Nutrition & Health division.

Now president of BASF’s Europe, Middle East and Africa region, Scharpwinkel joined the company with the acquisition of former Henkel spinoff Cognis in 2010. She is to take over the role of industrial relations director from Melanie Maas-Brunner, who has decided not to renew her contract. 

Along with Saori Dubourg, who left the company earlier this year, Maas-Brunner, who has been with BASF for 24 years and on the managing board since February 2021, had been seen as a potential candidate to become the chemical giant’s first female chief executive.

In other changes at the Ludwigshafen group, Tamara Weinert, president and CEO of the business area Americas at Outokumpu, has been nominated for a position on the supervisory board.