News Article
SAFC Hitech announce new President
Industry stalwart Barry Leese to retire for new adventures
SAFC Hitech, a business segment within SAFC, a member of the Sigma-Aldrich Group, today announced the appointment of Philip Rose as its new company president succeeding Barry Leese, who retired on April 1, 2010. Rose will be based at SAFC Hitech’s Haverhill, MA. facility, and joins the company after 20 years with Rohm & Haas (recently acquired by Dow Chemical in 2009), where he worked in a variety of senior roles in R&D, Marketing, Operations and Business Development in the United States, South Korea and Japan.
PhilipRosewas most recently based in Seoul, Korea, where he served as the global marketing director for Dow Electronic Materials’ display technologies unit. Looking at the challenges ahead in his new role, Rose sees a great deal of opportunity. “SAFC Hitech has established itself as a leading materials supplier in the electronics industry,” he said. “Despite generally slow conditions in the global economy in 2009, the business performed well in the final quarter of the year, and the longer-term outlook remains positive. Our goal is to continue to develop the chemistries, the expertise, the tools and methodologies that will facilitate future generations of electronics. The foundation is in place for us to continue to grow our leading portfolio of materials and services that enable our customers’ technological advances.”
BarryLeesecaps an illustrious career, the last 27 years of which he spent leading Epichem and SAFC Hitech. Leese helped Epichem to become the leading provider of metal organics, precursors and gases to the electronics industries. The business was acquired by Sigma-Aldrich in early 2007 and integrated in its SAFC Hitech operations, of which Leese was named president.
“As president of SAFC Hitech, Barry Leese was instrumental in supporting and enabling the seamless integration of the former Epichem business into the Hitech business segment,” said SAFC president Gilles Cottier. “His experience during the transition proved invaluable, and we thank him for all the hard work and expert advice.”
