Geon names Wendy Herbst as new chief commercial officer

Geon Performance Solutions has a new chief commercial officer.

Materials veteran Larry Shaw is retiring from Westlake, Ohio-based Geon, with Wendy Herbst taking over CCO duties. Shaw had been with Geon and predecessor firm PolyOne Corp., now Avient Corp., since 2015, following a 28-year career with Dow Inc.

Herbst is joining Geon from Emerald Performance Materials of Vancouver, Wash., where she served as vice president and general manager of consumer specialties. Her previous industry experience includes roles at Eastman Chemical Co.

In a news release, Geon CEO Tracy Garrison said that Herbst "will continue to build on our growth strategies by leveraging her expertise in sales, marketing strategy, and business development."

In the release, officials said that Shaw "played an instrumental leadership role to transition Geon from PolyOne to the current stand-alone company."

"During his time at Geon, Larry has been instrumental in helping to establish commercial discipline and processes to drive growth, sustainability and innovation," Garrison said. "His vision and passion will be greatly missed, and we wish him the very best in this next phase of his journey."

Geon is owned by investment firm SK Capital Partners. The 1,000-employee firm has annual sales of around $1.2 billion and includes one of North America's largest PVC compounding businesses.