EAST WINDSOR, NJ – Specialty chemicals provider Elementis has appointed Huibin Zhao as Vice President of Coatings Asia and General Manager of China operations. Zhao joined Elementis in March 2019. He is based in Shanghai, China.

Zhao, who brings almost 30 years of experience to Elementis, previously held leadership roles with Evonik Specialty Chemicals and BYK Chemie. In his current role, Zhao is responsible for Elementis’ Coatings business units throughout most of Asia. Zhao will further reinforce Elementis’ global strategy and promote Elementis’ positioning as a global specialty chemical company offering solutions together with high-performance additives to customers in this market.

“Elementis is proud to appoint Mr. Huibin Zhao to this leadership role in an important and exciting market for our continued growth,” said Luc van Ravenstein, Senior Vice President of the Elementis Global Coatings business segment.

Zhao is a member of the Waterborne China Platform, a non-profit collective formed by coating players in China nearly a decade ago with the aim of helping the container industry migrate to waterborne coatings. Zhao is also the auditor for Shanghai Coating magazine.

Zhao has authored numerous technical papers and articles on waterborne coatings, functional additives in waterborne industrial coatings, and epoxy modified silicone resin solutions for anti-corrosion coating in Paint and Ink Industry magazine and Shanghai Coating magazine.