FRANKFURT, Germany - Thomas Hermann has been named to head Degussa AG's Coatings & Colorants Business Unit. He succeeds Klaus Burzin, who has retired after holding a series of high-ranking positions with H¿ls AG and Degussa AG, including president of H¿ls America Inc.

Hermann joined the former H¿ls AG in 1997 and has held engineering and management positions, and most recently directed the Coatings & Colorants Resins Business Line.

Burzin joined Chemische Werke H¿ls AG in 1971 in an R&D position. He later held manufacturing-management, corporate-management and marketing positions. He was president of H¿ls America Inc. from 1993-1997. He directed Degussa's Coatings and Colorants Business Unit from February of this year until his retirement on July 1.

Degussa also has named Werner Freitag director of the Coatings and Colorant unit's Resins Business Line, succeeding Hermann. Freitag joined Huls AG in 1990 as group leader, FEA (R&D, Applications Technology) in Coatings Raw Materials. He later became director of Technical Services.