CAPE TOWN, South Africa—Gregory Nelson, president and CEO of East West Copolymers L.L.C., has been elected as the president of the International Institute of Synthetic Rubber Producers for the 2015-16 year.
He received the honor during the group's Annual General Meeting, held last week in Cape Town. He succeeds Abraham Brink of Karbochem, who becomes past president—international.
Nelson is the founder, chairman and CEO of East West Copolymer. Prior to existing ownership, Greg served as CEO, president and director of Lion Copolymer, a leading global chemical producer of EPDM and SBR rubber, for the last five years.
Nelson started his career at ExxonMobil Chemical, where he held various management and leadership positions during a nearly 20-year career. The then joined Union Carbide, which was later acquired by Dow Chemical.
From there he spent time at Sun Chemical and most recently at Nalco, as president of Nalco Europe and group president of the firm's Equipment and Services Business.
Nelson will also serve as president of the Americas Section for the coming year. Other members elected to the IISRP Executive Committee for 2015-16 were:
• Asia Pacific Section, Yoshimasa Fushimi of Zeon, president, and Hendrik Lam of TSRC, vice president.
• EMEA Section: Thierry Hombert of ExxonMobil, president, and Ralf Irmert of Trinseo, vice president.
• Americas Section: Peter Herzog of TSRC Dexco Polymers, vice president, and John Lyon of ExxonMobil, treasurer.
Continuing to serve on the Executive Committee are Brink and James L. McGraw, IISRP's managing director and CEO. McGraw last year announced his retirement plans for this year and is leading the search to find his own successor.
The Houston-based IISRP includes 60 corporate members from 22 countries that produce 80 percent of the world's supply of synthetic rubber.