John Beard Named President of Lyondell Europe
HOUSTON, October 9, 2000 -- Lyondell Chemical Company (NYSE:LYO) announced the appointment of John R. Beard as President of Lyondell Europe, Inc., based at the Company's European headquarters in Maidenhead, England.
In this position, Beard will provide leadership to Lyondell's European business activities, with direct responsibility for sales and marketing, manufacturing, engineering, health, safety and environmental affairs and external and industry affairs.
Lyondell currently operates two large manufacturing complexes in Europe, at Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and Fos sur Mer, France. In addition, the Company maintains a European Service Centre in Rotterdam where supply, purchasing, accounting and customer service activities are carried out for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
"Lyondell is poised for significant growth in its European operations, with two world-scale manufacturing facilities in construction that will extend our leadership in our core business areas and enable us to serve the present and future needs of our customers in Europe, Asia and North America. John's extensive experience in the chemical industry will be invaluable as we move forward with our growth plans in Europe," said Dan F. Smith, Lyondell's President and Chief Executive Officer.
The new projects currently underway are a BDO (1,4 butanediol) facility located at the site of the Company's large propylene oxide (PO) complex at Botlek in Rotterdam and a new PO plant that will be built on the nearby Maasvlakte site. "Together these projects represent Lyondell's largest current capital investment and, to our knowledge, constitute the largest chemical industry project underway in Europe at this time," Smith said.
Beard has served in a variety of leadership roles in economic optimization, marketing, manufacturing, supply and purchasing within the Lyondell organization since the Company was formed in 1985. Prior to that time, he was with Lyondell's former parent company, Atlantic Richfield, which he joined in 1974 as a process engineer. Most recently, he served as Senior Vice President of Manufacturing, with responsibility for operations at 18 Lyondell and Equistar manufacturing sites throughout the United States.
Beard received his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Texas A&M University and a master's degree in business administration (MBA) from the University of Houston. He serves on the Board of Trustees for the Alley Theatre in Houston.
Lyndon Stanton, who has served as President of Lyondell European Operations since 1998, will be leaving the Company by year-end. "In his 22 years of service, Lyn has played a key role in developing our European business and in preparing Lyondell to pursue further growth in Europe," Smith said.
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