This month's newsmakers to watch.

HALOX, Hammond, Ind., a worldwide provider of nontoxic corrosion and tannin stain inhibitors to the paint and coatings industry, recently added project chemist Andy Balgeman to its chemistry team. Balgeman will work on customer projects and with company co-suppliers to implement HALOX products into customer and co-supplier formulations. Prior to his employment with HALOX, Balgeman worked for Ace Hardware's Paint Division.

Ciba Specialty Chemicals Corp. has appointed Gary Barber as NAFTA Region vice president, Water Treatment, within the company's Water & Paper Treatment business segment, Suffolk, Va. Barber will assume responsibility for the strategic and tactical business operations and performance of the company's Agriculture, Extractive & Process Technologies, Performance Intermediates, and Water & Wastewater Services market centers in the NAFTA region.

Malvern Instruments,Worcestershire, UK, has announced that Jeff de Nigris will take up the role of regional sales manager for the U.S. Process Systems team. de Nigris will oversee eight manufacturers' representative organizations in the Eastern United States, and will be responsible for supporting process representatives in Puerto Rico and Eastern Canada. He will work from Malvern's Southborough, Mass., office.

Atlas Material Testing Technology LLC, Chicago, a leading manufacturer of weathering testing instruments and services, has hired Timothy Lederle as an authorized technical sales representative for the Northwest U.S. region. Based in Bellevue, Wash., Lederle formerly represented ESPEC Corp. as an independent sales representative.

Global specialty chemicals manufacturer Sartomer Company has expanded its operations in the Asia/Pacific region with the formation of the Sartomer Asia division. David Long, the company's former vice president of finance and Asia, will lead the new division as general manager. Long will be based in Hong Kong and is responsible for the division's business-development operations. Previously, the company's Asian activities were coordinated from its world headquarters in Exton, Pa.

Sartomer has also opened Sartomer Japan in Tokyo. The Japan office, led by general manager Masaru Fukuda, will report to the newly created Sartomer Asia Division in Hong Kong.

Fitz Chem Corp., Itasca, Ill., a leading Midwest distributor/sales agent of raw materials to the coatings, plastics, ink, construction, adhesives, I & I, and personal-care industries, has named Blair Oldfield to technical industry manager for the construction industry. Oldfield has more than 20 years of construction sales experience in the Midwest.

Ace Hardware Corp., Oak Brook, Ill., has named Jack Wickham to director of the Ace Paint Division for the retailer-owned hardware cooperative. Wickham, 47, will oversee all operations at the two Ace Paint manufacturing plants in Matteson and Chicago Heights, Ill., and sales of Ace Paint and related sundries to retailers.