BASF announced that effective November 1, 2009, Saori Dubourg will be appointed as the new head of BASF's division Regional Functions & Country Management Asia Pacific based in Hong Kong, while the current division president, Dr. Tilman Krauch, will assume responsibility for BASF's Construction Chemicals division.

Dr. Bernhard Hofmann, who was previously responsible for the Construction Chemicals division, will retire at the end of 2009.

Dubourg studied business management and Japanese studies in Trier. After joining BASF in 1996, she worked in strategic marketing in the Dispersions & Pigments division before gathering international experience in a variety of functions in the US, Japan and Singapore and heading the European business for acrylic monomers and superabsorbents.

Since the end of 2007, Dubourg has been responsible for BASF's global Diversity & Inclusion project as senior vice president.

Krauch studied chemistry in Freiburg and Zürich. Following post-doc positions in Russia and Japan, he joined BASF's Polymer Laboratory in 1990. After working as staff to the Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors, Krauch gained further international experience at BASF Corporation in the US before heading the global business unit Polyamides & Intermediates from 2004 until 2006. Since 2006, he has been responsible for the division Regional Functions & Country Management Asia Pacific based in Hong Kong.

BASF is the world's leading chemical company: The Chemical Company. Its portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics and performance products to agricultural products, fine chemicals as well as oil and gas.