Dr. Utz Tillmann is now director general of the German Chemical Industry Assn. (VCI; Frankfurt, Germany; www.vci.de). He is starting in his new role on June 1. Tillmann has an industry background, combined with wide experience in association work in Brussels and Frankfurt. Now at VCI, Tillmann wants to help strengthen the position of the German chemical industry as one of the mainstays of growth and prosperity. Tillmann: "Products and innovations from the German chemical industry are major contributions to a sound future. We need competitive framework conditions in Germany as a basis for our efforts. Decisive points for our international competitiveness are energy and raw material costs, environmental and climate protection, innovation and company taxation."
Tillmann was born on October 10, 1953 in Berlin. After completing studies of biology and a doctorate, he began his career in 1985 as head of laboratory at the heavy-ion research institute Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI) in Darmstadt, followed by further positions as head of laboratory at Henkel KGaA (Düsseldorf) and scientist at the technical university TH Darmstadt. In 1990 Tillmann moved on to BASF SE (Ludwigshafen) where he assumed several executive positions in the environmental field. From January 2001 to March 2004, BASF sent Tillmann for a three-year term to the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic; Brussels, Belgium; www.cefic.be), in order to run the Cefic environmental department as executive director. From his return to BASF to September 2006, Tillmann was senior vice president in charge of BASF relations with associations and governments in environmental matters. From September 2006 to April 2008 Tillmann — again senior vice president — was in charge of the department safety and emergency response, with global responsibility. He changed to VCI on 1 May 2008.
Tillmann succeeds Dr. Wilfried Sahm who held this position from 1992 to his retirement on May 31, 2008.