The Executive Committee
Role of the Executive Committee
Thierry Le Hénaff, who is Chairman of the Board of Directors, also holds the position of Chief Executive Officer. At his side, he has established an Executive Committee whose mission is to ensure the operational management of the Arkema group. The Executive Committee is a decision-making body that focuses on strategic matters and performance monitoring. He reviews major issues regarding organization and large projects. It meets twice a month in principle.
Chaired by Thierry Le Hénaff, the Executive Committee is comprised of:
- Marc Schuller, Chief Operating Officer, Coating Solutions, Intermediates, and Advanced Materials businesses segments
> Marie-Pierre Chevallier, Senior Vice President, Performance additives
> Erwoan Pezron, Senior Vice President, High-performance polymers
> Richard Jenkins, Senior Vice President, Coating Solutions
- Bernard Boyer, Executive Vice President, Strategy
- Vincent Legros, Executive Vice President, Bostik
- Luc Benoit-Cattin, Executive Vice President, Industry and CSR
- Marie-José Donsion, Chief Financial Officer
- Thierry Parmentier, Executive Vice President, Human Resources and Communication
Thierry Le Hénaff
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Thierry Le Hénaff, born in 1963, holds degrees from École Polytechnique and École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées and a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management from Stanford University in the United States. He is a Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite, as well as a Chevalier dans l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur.He is member of the Board of Fondation de l’Ecole Polytechnique and also Senior Independent Member of the Supervisory Board of Michelin Group.
After starting his career with Peat Marwick Consultants, he joined in 1992 Bostik, Total’s Adhesives Division, where he held a number of operational positions in France and worldwide.
In July 2001, he was appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Bostik Findley, the new entity resulting from the merger of Total’s and Elf Atochem’s Adhesives divisions.
On January 2003, he joined Atofina’s Executive Committee and then Total’s Management Committee in 2004.
He has been Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Arkema since the initial public offering of the company in 2006. The Group is listed on the French Stock Exchange in Paris.
Marc Schuller
Chief Operating Officer, Coating Solutions, Intermediates, and Advanced Materials businesses segments
Marc Schuller, born in 1960, is a graduate of the École Supérieure des Sciences Économiques et Commerciales.
He joined Orkem in 1985 as acrylics product manager.
In 1990 he joined the Strategy Segment of Total Chimie and in 1992 he became Deputy Managing Director of the Structural Resins department at Cray Valley.
In 1995, he was appointed Sales Director — Petrochemicals/Special Fluids at Total, and later Director, Base Petrochemicals at TotalFina.
In 2000 Marc Schuller was appointed Managing Director of Atofina’s Butadiene/Aromatics business unit and Special Advisor to the Chairman. In 2003 he became Director of the Thiochemicals and Fine Chemicals business unit, before being appointed Executive Vice President, in charge of the Coating Solutions and Industrial Specialties business segments at the creation of Arkema.
Effective 3 March 2020 Marc Schuller is being appointed Arkema’s COO (Chief Operating Officer). In this capacity he now oversees the Coating Solutions, Industrial Specialties, and Advanced Materials businesses. The North America region, Raw Material and Energy Procurement, and Commercial Excellence also fall within his remit.
Marc Schuller has also been Chairman of EPCA (European Petrochemical Association) since October 2017.
Marie-Pierre Chevallier
Senior Vice President, Performance additives
Marie-Pierre Chevallier, born in 1959, is a graduate from the École Supérieure des Sciences Économiques et Commerciales (ESSEC) in Paris.
She joined the Pechiney Group in 1981, then Elf Atochem in 1983 where she held a number of posts in marketing and in management until 1997. She was responsible for European Affairs within the Corporate Planning and Strategy Department, before becoming Styrene Business Manager in the Petrochemicals business Unit.
From 1998, she was Director of Planning and Strategy for Elf Atochem, later Atofina.
In 2002, she became General Manager for Atofina’s Refrigerants product range.
She was appointed Group President of the Hydrogen Peroxide business unit in 2004 when Arkema was established. Since 2008, she had been Group President of the Acrylics business unit.
Erwoan Pezron
Senior Vice President, High-performance polymers
Erwoan Pezron, born in 1961, graduated from École Supérieure de Physique et Chimie Industrielle in Paris (ESPCI) and has a PhD in Polymer Science from Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris).
After post-doc research at the Institute of Surface Chemistry in Stockholm (Sweden), he joined Total’s Resins Division as R&D Research Scientist at the Verneuil-en-Halatte R&D Center in 1989.
In 1996, he became Vice President Technology at Cook Composites and Polymers (Total’s Resins Division) in the United States (Kansas-City, MO).
In 2002, he returned to France and became Business Development Director of the Technical Polymers business, and in 2004 became R&D Director for Technical Polymers and Director of Cerdato (Arkema’s R&D center specializing in polymers).
Since 2008, he had been Managing Director of the Technical Polymers business unit.
Richard Jenkins
Senior Vice President, Coating Solutions
Dr. Richard Jenkins, born in 1964, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University (1986) and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Lehigh University (1990). He started his career in the Research & Development department of Union Carbide in 1990, and became Asia-Pacific R&D Director in 1995.
In 2001, he joined Dow Chemical, where he held development and operational management positions for the Asia-Pacific region. In 2003 he returned to the United States to run the Dow Latex Americas Business. In 2007, he was appointed Global Vice President for Architectural Coatings at Dow Coatings Solutions.
From 2008, he managed the "acrylic resins and monomers" activities sold by Dow until their acquisition by Arkema in 2010. In the same year he joined Arkema and was involved in the acquisition and integration of various coatings-related businesses, which then became the Coatings Resins business unit. He had been Director of the Coatings Resins business unit since 2012.
Dr. Jenkins serves on the Board of Directors of the American Coatings Association.
Bernard Boyer
Executive Vice President, Strategy
Bernard Boyer, born in 1960, holds engineering degrees from École Polytechnique and École Nationale Supérieure des Pétroles et Moteurs.
He has spent his career working in the chemicals industry in operational positions, starting out in a factory then moving to Elf Atochem’s head office (Finance & Strategy) from 1992 until 1998.
In 1998, he joined Elf Atochem’s Adhesives affiliate as Executive Vice President.
He was appointed Atofina’s Director of Acquisitions and Divestitures in 2000, then Director of Economy, Planning and Strategy, Acquisitions and Divestitures at the end of 2003.
Mr. Bernard Boyer is Executive Vice President in charge of Strategy. He oversees planning, economic studies, acquisitions/divestitures, internal audit, insurance, and risk management.
Vincent Legros
Executive Vice President, Bostik
Vincent Legros, born in 1973, graduated from Ecole Polytechnique and from Ponts et Chaussées, and holds a postgraduate diploma (DEA) in production and corporate organization.
In 1998 he joined the Saint-Gobain group as production engineer at the Pont-à-Mousson plant (1998 – 2000), before becoming manager of the Toul plant (2000 – 2002), followed by deputy manager of the Pont-à-Mousson plant (2000 – 2004), and managing director of the fittings and valves business (2004 – 2006).
He was appointed managing director of operations for Saint-Gobain Pont-à-Mousson in 2006. From 2009 to 2013 he held the post of managing director of Saint-Gobain Pont-à-Mousson China. Since 2013 he had been managing director of Saint-Gobain Pont-à-Mousson and manager of the group’s pipe business.
Luc Benoit-Cattin
Executive Vice President, Industry and CSR
Luc Benoit-Cattin, born in 1963, is a graduate of France's École Polytechnique and École des Mines (Paris) engineering schools.
Between 1988 and 1995 he held a number of positions in administration at the French Ministry for Economy, Finance and Industry.
From 1995 to 1997 he was Technical Adviser to the Minister of Industry. In 1997 he joined the Pechiney Group as Plant Manager and later became Head of a business unit for rolling and aluminum.
In 2002 he joined CGG Veritas, where he was successively Director of Resources and Operating Performance, Director of Offshore, and, from 2009 to mid-2011, was Managing Director of Geophysical Services and a member of the Executive Committee.
As Executive Vice President Industry, Mr Luc Benoit-Cattin oversees safety, environnement, sustainable development, quality, technology & construction, process, logistics, and goods and services purchasing.
Marie-José Donsion
Chief Financial Officer
Born in 1971, Marie-José Donsion is a graduate of France’s École supérieure de commerce de Paris (ESCP Europe).
Until 2018, she was Senior Vice-President Finance of Alstom and a member of its Executive Committee. Prior to this, she held a number of operational financial positions in Alstom’s subsidiaries in France and around the world. Before joining Alstom, Marie-José Donsion began her career at Coopers & Lybrand where she worked in the audit division between 1994 and 1997.
Marie-José Donsion is currently Chief Financial Officer of Arkema since 1st June 2018.
Thierry Parmentier
Executive Vice President Human Resources and Corporate Communication
Born in 1964, Thierry Parmentier is a graduate of the Nancy 2 University and Paris 2 Panthéon Assas University. He also holds a degree from the Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas University Centre Interdisciplinaire de Formation à la Fonction du Personnel (CIFFOP) personnel management training center.
He held a number of positions in Human Resources at Faurécia, Atos and Schlumberger.
From 2008 to 2017 he held the position of Human Resources Director and was a member of the Executive Committee of Technip.
Before joigning Arkema, he was Senior Vice President Human Resources and a member of the Executive Committee of Alstom.
Thierry Parmentier joined Arkema to take up the post of Executive Vice President Human Resources and Corporate Communication on 1st July 2019.