ATLANTA—Huber Engineered Materials, a division of J.M. Huber Corp., has selected Chuck Herak to succeed Andy Trott as president of the unit. Trott will retire effective Jan. 1.
Herak previously was vice president and general manager of Huber Engineered's silica business. Prior to joining Huber in 2009, Herak was with Hercules in positions of increasing responsibility, including general manager of coatings adhesives.
“We will greatly miss Andy and his terrific leadership impact on Huber, as he's been a tremendous asset,” Huber CEO Mike Marberry said in a statement. “After learning of Andy's plans to retire, he and I worked closely on developing a succession plan for HEM and shared a common ambition of filling positions that would open as a result of his retirement from within, drawing from our successful leadership development programs across the company. Under Chuck's leadership, Huber's global silica business has been a very strong performer that's shown substantial profit improvements and we're looking forward to have him now lead the HEM business.”
David Riley will fill Herak's role as vice president and general manager of HEM's silica business. Previously, he held the position of vice president and general manager of HEM's ground calcium carbonate business, a role he held for four years. He also worked in the silica business as director of global marketing from 2008 until 2010.
Matt O'Brien will take Riley's position as general manager of the GCC business. He has spent the last nine years with Huber Engineered Woods L.L.C., serving as chief financial officer and chief commercial officer during that time.
“We're extremely pleased we were able draw upon the outstanding leadership talent we currently have in the Huber organization to position us for the future,” Marberry said. “We knew a challenging aspect of the promoting from within philosophy is that it can create a domino effect across the organization. Fortunately, we're able to draw upon an outstanding pool of leaders who position us for continued growth.”
Huber Engineered Materials is headquartered in Atlanta and develops engineered specialty ingredients that enhance the performance, appeal and processing of a broad range of products used in industrial, paper and consumer-based applications.