Celanese Corporation, a global chemical and specialty materials company, announced that Mark Rohr, chairman and CEO, will assume the position of executive chairman of Celanese’s board of directors. After an extensive search, the board has selected Lori Ryerkerk to succeed Rohr as CEO. The appointments becamse effective May 1, 2019.

Ryerkerk is an accomplished global executive, bringing to Celanese an impressive track record of creating value at large international corporations. Throughout her 35-year career, she has held a variety of senior leadership roles at petrochemicals and refining businesses in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Ryerkerk most recently served as Executive Vice President of Global Manufacturing of Royal Dutch Shell where she was responsible for all chemical and refining assets globally and led an organization of 30,000 employees and contractors. Before joining Shell in 2010, Ryerkerk worked for ExxonMobil for 24 years where she held positions of increasing responsibility in management, strategy and operations, and at Hess Corporation. Ryerkerk earned a B.S. degree in chemical engineering from Iowa State University.

“Lori’s extensive experience in leading global operations and managing some of the most complex technologies, engineering and supply chain systems in the world complement the opportunities before us to advance our rapid growth and continue our global expansion to satisfy our business objectives. Beyond this, Lori is a skilled international leader who is passionate about developing talent in a high-performing inclusive culture. Her leadership capabilities and diverse experience are a perfect fit to what we have built at Celanese. I welcome Lori to the team and look forward to working closely with her to execute on our growth strategy,” said Rohr.

“I am very excited to join the Celanese team and get to know and work with all of its employees. I have long admired the company for its focus on execution and commercial innovation as well as its unwavering commitment to safety and environmental stewardship,” said Ryerkerk. “Mark and the team have built a tremendous company culture and I will be building on the company’s strong performance momentum and continuing to drive growth and shareholder value.”