GMA This month the GMA said that its president and Chief Executive Officer, Cal Dooley, had been named president and CEO of the American Chemistry Council. Dooley took the helm at the GMA in January 2007 and the move means that the search for his successor is now underway. Doug Conant, GMA chairman of the board, who is also president and CEO of Campbell Soup Company, said: "He has provided tremendous leadership to the association and to the food, beverage and consumer products industry, especially with regard to the recent merger between GMA and the Food Products Association (FPA). "As a result of the GMA-FPA merger, GMA is now an advocacy, supply chain and scientific powerhouse on behalf of our industry, and the GMA Board of Directors has appointed a search committee that is in the process of finding the right person to lead the organization and to build on GMA's legacy of success." Dooley will assume his new duties at ACC on September 8. Unilever Meanwhile Unilever has announced that Professor Geneviève Berger (PhD, MD) has been appointed as its chief research and development officer. She will be the functional leader for research and development in Unilever and will directly lead all the resources and major laboratories dedicated to the company's focus on scientific discovery. Berger, professor of medicine at Pierre and Marie Curie University and at La Pitié-Salpétrière Teaching Hospital in Paris, will report directly to group chief executive, Patrick Cescau, joining his executive team. She will be responsible for Unilever's Safety and Environmental Assurance Centre (SEAC) as well as advising the executive on all matters of science and technology. The 53-year-old will step down from the boards of Unilever plc and Unilever NV, where she has been a non-executive director and take up her new position this month. Patrick Cescau, Unilever group chief executive, said: "The contribution she has made to the business as a non-executive was outstanding and served to demonstrate to us how much more she could achieve in a full-time capacity. "She will bring to Unilever her strong interdisciplinary background, as well as her expertise in managing science." Niutang Sweetener manufacturer Niutang Chemical is opening an office in the UK which it said will be run by Alan Turner, who has just joined the company as sales director for Niutang UK. Turner's credentials include previous employment with DSM's anti infectives and specialty chemicals products, and aspartame producers Holland Sweetener Company. The aim of Niutang's new office is to expand its share in sucralose, aspartame and folic acid in this important geographical market. The company has its headquarters and manufacturing base in Changzhou, China, and already has a base for mainland Europe in Rotterdam, as well as an office in California, USA. He will be setting up warehousing facilities in the UK, will enable a rapid response time to customer orders. Lonza Lonza has hired Stacy Baca to the position of western regional account manager, food & nutrition. Her responsibilities include providing superior customer service by establishing and maintaining customer contact. The company said she will identify customer needs and respond appropriately through the alignment of Lonza technologies. She will also manage the implementation of sales strategies and provide support to marketing efforts to achieve business team objectives. Michael DeGennaro, global Head of Sales & Marketing, Nutrition for Lonza, said: "Stacy will help continue Lonza's history of providing the health and nutrition landscape with innovative, effective ingredients into the future." Symrise Global fragrance and flavor supplier Symrise has appointed Frank Pellmann as its new vice president human resources EAME (Europe, Africa, Middle East). He assumes overall responsibility for human resources policy in Europe. Along with local themes at the company's Holzminden headquarters, he will handling Symrise remuneration policy and staff development in Europe. Pellmann has worked for Symrise since May 1, 2008. He had previously spent 12 years heading the worldwide personnel sector for the Balda AG group. He succeeds Karlheinz Klammt.
