BANGKOK—Zhuang Yi, chief specialist in synthetic materials for China Petroleum and Chemical Group (Sinopec), will serve as the 2024-25 president-international of the International Institute of Synthetic Rubber Producers.
Zhuang was elected to the post May 8 during the IISRP's 64th Annual General Meeting in Bangkok. He replaces Kazuyoshi Matsuura of Zeon Elastomers Corp., who will be the institute's past president-international for the next year.
Zhuang has been engaged in scientific research and management in the field of petrochemical and synthetic polymer materials, according to a news release from the IISRP. In 1988, he joined the Liaoyang branch of PetroChina Co. Ltd. In 1997, he joined Sinopec and worked in the Science and Technology Department. In 2022, he was appointed Sinopec's chief specialist in the field of synthetic materials.
He currently serves as vice president of the China Synthetic Rubber Industry Association and director of the Chemical New Materials Professional Committee of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation.
Zhuang will serve as IISRP president-international until the close of next year's Annual General Meeting in Dublin, Ireland, over which he will proceed.
Besides Zhuang and Matsuura, other members elected to the IISRP's Executive Committee for 2024-25 are:
- Kevin Liu of TSRC Corp.—president of the institute's Asia-Pacific Section and member of the Finance Pension & Audit Committee (FPAC);
- Giovanni Cassuti of Versalis—EMEA Section vice president;
- Brian Chapman of Kuraray Americas—member of the FPAC;
- Masayoshi Iwasa of Asahi Kasei Corp.—vice president of the Asia-Pacific Section;
- Robert Rikhoff of Lion Elastomers—president of the Americas Section; and
- Juan Ramon Salinas of the IISRP—managing director, assistant treasurer and recording secretary.
The Houston-based IISRP was founded in 1960 and has corporate members in more than 20 countries that collectively produce more than 75 percent of the world's synthetic rubber supply. The non-profit trade association also has regional offices in Milan, Tokyo and Beijing.
