AkzoNobel and Axalta Complete New Board of Directors

AkzoNobel and Axalta Coating Systems are moving forward with preparations for their planned merger of equals. Stephan B. Tanda, Denise C. Johnson, and Robert Schuchna are expected to join the board of directors of the combined company as non-executive members following the completion of the merger. The appointments are to be submitted for approval at an extraordinary general meeting later this year. Rakesh Sachdev, the current chairman of Axalta, is set to assume the chairmanship of the board of directors, while Ben Noteboom, chairman of AkzoNobel’s supervisory board, is slated to serve as vice chairman. The 11-member board will also include Greg Poux-Guillaume as CEO, Chris Villavarayan as Deputy CEO, as well as Jaska de Bakker, Jan Bertsch, Wouter Kolk, Kevin Stein, and the three newly appointed members.

Leadership Team for AkzoNobel/Axalta Merger Finalized

Denise C. Johnson is Group President at Caterpillar, where she is responsible for the Resource Industries division. She also serves on the Board of Directors of ABB. Previously, she held various leadership positions at General Motors. Robert Schuchna is a partner at Cevian Capital and has investment experience in the chemical and industrial sectors, among others. He already serves on the Supervisory Board of AkzoNobel and the Board of Directors of Rexel. Stephan B. Tanda was President and CEO of AptarGroup until September 1, 2026. Prior to that, he served on the Executive Managing Board of Royal DSM for ten years and held leadership positions at DuPont and Freudenberg Nonwovens. According to the companies, the experience of the three new board members is expected to help implement the strategic goals of the merged coatings company and support long-term growth.