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Our leadership team

Phil McDivitt

President and Chief Executive Officer

Phil McDivitt brings more than 30 years' industry experience to Ascend Performance Materials. He serves on the boards of directors of Ascend, the American Chemistry Council and DePelchin Children's Center; and the advisory council for the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University. At the American Chemistry Council, McDivitt serves on both the Sustainability and Rail, Transportation and Infrastructure committees. He joined Ascend in 2015.

Tim Frielingsdorf

Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer

Tim Frielingsdorf has 25 years of controlling experience in manufacturing, sales, and projects, in addition to corporate finance. Prior to joining Ascend in 2014, he held various financial roles with public and private companies, cultivating a diverse skillset. He leads Ascend's finance and IT organizations.

Vikram Gopal

Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer

Vikram Gopal has broad experience in the advanced materials industry with expertise in research and development, product development, process engineering and applications development. Before joining Ascend in 2015, he was vice president of technology at Invista Engineering Polymer Solutions. He is credentialed as a Six Sigma black belt.

Gustavo Nechar

Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer

Gustavo Nechar brings decades of HR experience to Ascend. Before joining the company in 2017, he held leadership roles with Dresser-Rand, WABCO Vehicle Control Systems, Valeo and Citrosuco, a Brazilian food and beverage company.

Andrew Ralston

Senior Vice President and General Counsel

Andrew Ralston has more than 30 years of experience practicing law in the energy and chemicals industries. He came to Ascend in 2009, following tenures as counsel for international law firms McDermott Will & Emery and Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP and senior counsel for Westlake Chemical Corp. and Valero Energy Corp.

Chris Witte

Senior Vice President and Chief Integrated Supply Chain Officer

Chris Witte has over 35 years of chemical manufacturing and engineering experience, including multiple executive leadership roles with BASF and SABIC. He has extensive experience in capital budgeting and investments, strategic direction, manufacturing digitalization and sustainability strategy. He has served as Chair of the Texas Chemical Council’s Sustainability Committee and received the Brazoria County 2018 Stephen F. Austin Leadership Award.

Kevin Wu

Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Asia Pacific

Dr. Kevin Wu has more than 30 years of chemical industry experience, including various regional and global leadership roles at Rohm and Haas, Shanghai Chemspec Corporation and Celanese. He also served as an advisory member of the Committee of Multinationals within the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation as well as an advisory board member of the Association of International Chemical Manufacturers.

Paul Cartlidge

Vice President, Environment, Security, Safety and Health

Paul Cartlidge has been with the organization for more than 25 years and served as the Chocolate Bayou site director for 12 years before assuming his role as the vice president of ESSH.

Amanda Castro

Vice President, Capital Projects and Engineering

Amanda Castro has over 35 years of experience in global production and project execution. Before joining Ascend in 2021, Amanda served as project director over a multi-billion-dollar joint venture for Dow Chemical. She holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Universidade Federal da Bahia and an MBA from the University of Michigan.

Jonathan Craig

Vice President, Polymers and Fibers

Jonathan Craig joined Ascend in 2010 and was named VP of specialty chemicals in 2018. Previous roles at Ascend include senior director of supply chain and director of business planning and analysis. He also has held senior roles with Bigler LP and Biogen Idec.

John Ferguson

Vice President, Procurement

John Ferguson has gained more than 20 years' experience and institutional knowledge from his wide range of roles at the company. He joined in 1996 as an engineer and led our intermediate chemicals business from 2008 to 2022, before joining our procurement organization.

Grace Rojas

Vice President, Strategic Development

Grace Rojas joined Ascend in 2022. Since then, Grace has led several critical projects and now leads Ascend's strategy and growth team. Prior to her current role, Grace held a variety of roles at ExxonMobil in global market development, financial planning and process design.

Christelle Staller, Ph.D.

Vice President, EMEAI

Christelle Staller has more than 25 years’ experience in the chemical industry with expertise in technology development, strategy development and global sales. She has been with Ascend Performance Materials since 2014 in different business relevant roles and over past 5 years as EMEAI commercial director for Engineering Plastics sales.

Rachell Gold

Senior Director, Global Culture, Diversity and Inclusion

Rachell Gold has extensive experience in human resources leadership from a variety of roles at Ascend. In addition to leading culture, diversity and inclusion, she is also the executive director of the Ascend Cares Foundation.

Chris Johnson

Senior Director, Sustainability

Chris Johnson has over 25 years of experience with Ascend Performance Materials and its predecessors. He has held a number of roles in operations, maintenance and reliability, and large project execution.

Thank you for your interest in Ascend Performance Materials

Page Title: Our leadership team

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Email

Americas: NorthAmericaCustomerService@Ascendmaterials.com

Asia / Pacific / Australia: AsiaCustomerService@Ascendmaterials.com

Europe / Africa: EuropeCustomerService@Ascendmaterials.com

Sales & Product Inquiries

Ascend Performance Materials SPRL
Watson & Crick Hill Park
Rue Granbonpré 11 – Bâtiment H
B-1435 Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium
Phone: +32 10 608 600

Product & Expert Support

Ascend Performance Materials (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
Unit 3602, Raffles City Office Towers
268 Xi Zang Road (M)
Shanghai 200001, China
Phone: +86 21 6340 3300

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