After five years in office, Vernon Sankey has retired as Firmenich's chairman. Yves Biosdron has taken his place as the new chairman effective July 1.
The company said Sankey expressed his desire to retire from the board of directors at the end of the company’s fiscal year on June 30, 2013. He joined the Firmenich board in October of 2006 and succeeded Jean-Marc Bruel as chairman in 2008. Sankey has served as the vice chairman of the company and as the chairman of the governance and compensation committee.
Among his many actions, the company said that despite the economic slowdown, Sankey "ensured the resiliency of Firmenich by advocating excellence in execution and tight cost control while maintaining strategic investments into innovation."
Boisdron, who takes his place, is a French national and holds a degree in chemical engineering from Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Industries Chimiques in Nancy, France as well as an M.S. and MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.
Firmenich said Boisdron brings comprehensive experience from his many years in the chemical industry, as well as a broad knowledge of emerging markets. Boisdron spent 26 years at specialty chemicals group, Rhodia (former Rhone-Poulenc). He began his career in the Brazilian offices of Rhone-Poulenc for six years and during the following four years, developed Rhone-Poulenc Inc. in the U.S. before repositioning the group in specialty chemicals from 1991 to 1996. Afterwards, he spent seven years in Asia managing the development of Rhodia and returned to Paris in 2003 to execute the Rhodia turnaround.
Boisdron has also held positions at Gist Brocades (acquired by DSM) and Badger Inc. He currently serves as president of the board of Group DIANA, a company focused on natural and functional food solutions and palatability enhancers for pet food.
