• Profile in brief
• People
• Chronology
• Responsibility
• Corporate policy

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The Sachtleben Board of Management

Vernon S. Sumner Vernon S. Sumner has been the Chairman of the Board of Management and CEO at Sachtleben Chemie GmbH since the summer of 2010. He gained his Bachelor's degree in chemistry, followed by a Master of Business Administration (MBA), specialization: Marketing, at the renowned Lehigh University, in Pennsylvania, USA, and subsequently started his professional career with Air Products Chemical, Inc. He held a range of top managerial positions with this international producer of special gases, ultimately being appointed Chairman of the Board of Management at Air Products Polymers LLP, a Joint Venture between Air Products and Wacker-Chemie, of Munich, Germany.
Vernon Sumner moved to the Rockwood group in 2001, initially with responsibility for Rockwood's inorganic mineral salts activities. He was also on the board of the Rockwood Viance Joint Venture, a company operating in the field of timber treatment chemicals.
Until summer 2010, Vernon Sumner was CEO of Southern Clay Products, Inc., Rockwood's clay-based additives division. As CEO at Sachtleben Chemie GmbH, Vernon Sumner now has responsibility for Sachtleben's global business activities.

Dr. Andreas Grünewald initially studied economics at the University of Dortmund, subsequently moving on to the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, in Münster. After qualifying as a Dipl.-Kaufmann in the spring of 1989, he was employed as a scientific assistant at the University of Münster, pursuing during this period the doctorate (Dr. rer. pol.) awarded to him in 1992.
After commencing his industrial career in the central financial department of Dr. August Oetker KG, the Oetker group's holding company, Dr. Andreas Grünewald took over the financial management of "Chemischen Fabrik Budenheim Rudolf A. Oetker", a further division of the Dr. Oetker group, in 1997. Dr. Grünewald, a native of Essen, moved to Dynamit Nobel AG as Senior Controller in July, 2000. Following the takeover of this business by Rockwood Specialties Group Inc., Dr. Grünewald was assigned responsibility for Corporate Controlling within the Rockwood group. He was appointed director with responsibility for Finance and Controlling in the Rockwood Specialties Group GmbH in mid-2007. Dr. Grünewald has been Chief Financial Officer on the Sachtleben Board of Management since September 1, 2008.

Juha Mäkinen studied chemical engineering and economics for engineers, completing his training as a Master of Business Administration. He then commenced his professional career as a marketing and sales engineer for corrosion-protection paint systems at the Tikkurila group in Finland, in 1984. Tikkurila, a former family-owned enterprise, has represented the paints and coatings segment of Kemira Oyj since the 1970s. As Sales and Marketing Manager from 1986 to 1989, Juha Mäkinen significantly expanded Tikkurila's market share in the field of marine paints. He subsequently spent two years living in the Netherlands, a period in which he acquired numerous strategically important new customers for the company. In 1992, he move to the Industrial Paints division, and became Vice-President of the Metal Paints division in 1993. He was Vice-President of the Tikkurila group from 2003 to 2006, and was responsible in this post inter alia for production, logistics and restructuring. He was managing director of Kemira Pigments Oy from the end of 2006 onward. Within the Board of Management of Sachtleben, Juha Mäkinen is responsible, as Chief Commercial Officer, for all sales and marketing activities.