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Wes Lucas To Become Sun Chemical CEO on March 31
Fort Lee, NJ
- February 12, 2002 -- Sun Chemical, the world's leading manufacturer of printing inks and organic pigments, announced that Wes Lucas, President, will succeed Henri Dyner as Chief Executive Officer on March 31st, while continuing as President. All of Sun Chemical's divisions - including the Colors Group, Kohl & Madden, Screen & Electrographics, Sun Chemical Europe, Sun Chemical Ink (GPI), Sun Chemical Latin America, and US Ink, along with the functional teams - will report to Mr. Lucas.
Mr. Dyner has elected to step down as CEO, and will continue his close involvement with the business, but on a part-time basis, working in an advisory role to Mr. Lucas and providing support in ongoing relationships with larger customers, as well as ongoing strategic projects for the company.
During his more than 28 years with the company, Mr. Dyner has been instrumental in building Sun Chemical into the world's leading graphic arts company. When Mr. Dyner joined Sun Chemical Europe, the European operations had only $20 million in sales, and he helped build Sun Chemical into the largest player in Europe, with sales over $1.5 billion. Mr. Dyner built the business through organic growth, developing new markets and new technologies, and acquisitions. In fact, with the inclusion of Sun Chemical's acquisition of Coates Lorilleux's ink and pigments business in 2000, the company's European ink sales now account for almost half of the company's total ink sales.
In addition, Mr. Dyner helped to expand Sun Chemical globally. Mr. Dyner was one of the first printing ink executives to establish operations in Eastern Europe. He also expanded into Latin America, where the Sun Chemical brand is now represented in virtually every country, with plants in almost all the countries.
Mr. Dyner was the first graphic arts executive to move beyond just supplying ink and pigments, when he introduced high value-added solutions and the concept of working closely with customers to reduce their total cost of print.
Mr. Dyner joined Sun Chemical in 1974 as General Manager of the company's European printing ink operations, assuming responsibility for their integration into Sun Chemical. Mr. Dyner was elected Corporate Vice President for Sun Chemical's International Operations in 1983. Five years later, he was appointed Senior Vice President, International Operations. In 1995, he assumed responsibility for Polychrome for the next two years, until Sun Chemical and Eastman Kodak formed the joint venture, Kodak Polychrome Graphics. In 1997, Mr. Dyner was named President and Chief Operating Officer, Sun Chemical Corporation, and in 1998 he became President and CEO.
Wes Lucas began his career with the Chevron Corporation in California in 1985. In 1990, he became a consultant with McKinsey & Company. Based in Sweden, he helped manufacturing companies in Western Europe, Eastern Europe and North America focus on sales growth, new product development, expansion into new markets, and operational improvement.
Mr. Lucas returned to the United States in 1995 as a Vice President for AlliedSignal Corporation in Morristown, NJ. In this role, he was a member of the Executive Leadership Team of AlliedSignal's Engineered Materials Sector, with responsibility for strategy, mergers & acquisitions, Asian business and other areas of growth. In 1997, he was named Senior Vice President of Nova Chemicals Corporation and President of its Styrenics Division. During his tenure at Nova Chemicals he significantly improved the business by growing sales, increasing profitability and building the division into a market leader.
Most recently, Mr. Lucas was the founder and CEO of OpenWebs Corporation, based in Pittsburgh, PA. In July 2001, he successfully merged OpenWebs with BTN to create a leading provider of peer-to-peer software for private networks and industry exchanges. He resigned from OpenWebs in July 2001 and joined Sun Chemical in August 2001.
Mr. Lucas holds a Bachelor's degree in both Finance and Accounting from the University of California at Berkeley, as well as a Master's degree in Business Administration from the Harvard Business School.
About Sun Chemical
Sun Chemical, the world's largest producer of printing inks and pigments, is a leading provider of materials to packaging, publication, coatings, plastics, cosmetics, and other industrial markets. With annual sales of more than $3 billion, Sun Chemical has over 12,500 employees supporting customers around the world. The Sun Chemical Group of companies includes such well-known names as Vivitek, Coates Lorilleux, Gibbon, Hartmann, Kohl & Madden, Swale, Usher-Walker and US Ink. In addition, Sun Chemical has many joint ventures, with the largest being its $1.5 billion Kodak Polychrome Graphics (KPG) joint venture with Eastman Kodak. KPG is a world leader in prepress products, services and equipment.
Sun Chemical Corporation in the United States of America and Sun Chemical Limited in England are subsidiaries of Sun Chemical Group B.V., the Netherlands. Sun Chemical has headquarters in Fort Lee, New Jersey, U.S.A.; Watford, England; and Weesp, the Netherlands. For more information, please visit our Web site at www.sunchemical.com.
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