LONDON and NEW YORK, UK and USA, 22 July 2024: Independent Commodity Intelligence Services (ICIS) has announced Thierry Le Henaff, chairman and CEO (France), Arkema, as the winner of the 2024 ICIS CEO of the Year Award for outstanding achievement.

Making the announcement through a Press Release, ICIS said the winner of the award is selected based on a vote among industry CEOs in the ICIS Top 40 Power. Each of the ICIS Top 40 Power Players was asked to vote for three individuals based on achievements in Profitability/Shareholder value; Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG); and Innovation and Success in M&A/portfolio management, ICIS said.

ICIS said the ranking is published in ICIS Chemical Business. Le Henaff will receive the ICIS CEO of the Year Award in a video Q&A interview with ICIS later this year, ICIS added.

Le Henaff has been chairman and CEO of Arkema since the company’s stock market listing in 2006, when it was spun off from Total, ICIS said.

Le Henaff said: “It is a great honour to receive this prestigious award. It is all the more invaluable for me, as it reflects the choice of my peers, the CEOs of other chemical groups around the world. I share it with the Arkema teams. This award is first and foremost theirs.

“Through their unwavering commitment, professionalism and spirit of conquest, they have enabled Arkema’s transformation towards specialty materials. This award recognises our strategy, focused on innovative and high-performance materials that help deliver solutions developed with and by our customers for a more sustainable world.”

Jeff Skelton, CEO, ICIS, said, “Arkema’s Thierry Le Henaff is engineering one of the most ambitious transformations in the chemical industry through M&A and innovation, positioning the company as a leader in higher margin and growth specialty chemicals and materials.”

Joseph Chang, Global Editor, ICIS Chemical Business, said, “Arkema is also on the cutting edge of sustainability, investing in technologies and businesses enabling e-mobility, decarbonisation, renewable energy, and the production of biofuels and bio-based polymers.”

ICIS said Le Henaff has made key acquisitions to boost the company’s growth profile, including the US-based Dow’s flexible packaging laminating adhesives business (2024, close pending), and a majority stake in South Korea-based PI Advanced Materials, serving advanced electronics and e-mobility (December 2023).

Arkema is also investing in start-ups with potentially disruptive technology, ICIS said. In April, ICIS said, the company agreed to acquire a majority stake in Austria-based Proionic, which is developing ionic liquids to enable the next generation of solid lithium-ion batteries.

According to ICIS, previous winners of ICIS CEO awards, as voted on by the ICIS Top 40 Power Players include Karen McKee, President, ExxonMobil Product Solutions, (2023); Jim Fitterling, CEO, Dow (2022); Martin Brudermuller, former CEO, BASF (2021); Amin Nasser, CEO, Saudi Aramco (2020); Bob Patel, former CEO, LyondellBasell (2019, 2018); Kurt Bock, former CEO, BASF (2017); Jim Ratcliffe, Chairman, INEOS (2016); Andrew Liveris, former CEO, Dow (2015); Jim Gallogly, former CEO, LyondellBasell (2014) and Charles Bunch, former CEO, PPG (2013).