New Euro Chlor Executive Director announced at 2018 General Assembly

Euro Chlor, the European association of chlor-alkali manufacturers, announced at its 2018 General Assembly (GA) held today in Bordeaux, France, that Marleen Pauwels, Euro Chlor’s Science & Regulatory Affairs Director, will succeed Dolf van Wijk as Executive Director at the end of this year.

Marleen joined Euro Chlor in 2011 and has been Science & Regulatory Affairs Director since 1st September 2016. In this role, she manages the Health Working Group, dealing with a variety of health- and toxicity-related topics, including occupational exposure to chlorine, caustic soda and mercury, chlorine and asthma. On the regulatory side, she deals with the complex European energy dossier and the issue of temporary storage options for liquid mercury. Marleen is active in several horizontal groups within Cefic and started off as Science Manager managing the safety of workers, toxicological issues, biocides active substance dossiers and defended the use of sound science in decision making. Before that, she worked for 18 years as Scientific Collaborator at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

Marleen obtained her doctorate in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, with a special focus on human toxicology and regulatory issues. She also gained industry experience as Senior Regulatory Affairs and Toxicology Analyst for Albemarle Europe. “I am honoured to follow in Dolf’s distinguished footsteps and continue our drive to focus on safety and our efforts to strive for affordable and reliable clean energy solutions for Europe”, she remarked.

Dolf, who will retire at the end of this year, joined Euro Chlor in 2001 and has been Executive Director since 1st July 2015. In this role, he has been successful in driving the phase-out of mercury in production processes, due as of 11th December 2017, which represents a big structural change for the sector and another step forward in modernising technologies and improving sustainability. “The great strength of Euro Chlor has always been the combination of two worlds. One is the deep knowledge of the science, technology and factual foundations of the industry; the other is constructive relationships with regulators. I am confident that Marleen can rely on the strong team in Brussels to continue supporting a safe, sustainable and successful chlor-alkali industry for Europe”.

Dolf started as Science Manager at Euro Chlor and served as Science and Regulatory Affairs Director since 2010 before becoming Executive Director. Since 2014, Dolf has been acting as the Managing Director of the World Chlorine Council, a global co-operation of chlor-alkali industries representing over 90% of the world’s chlorine production capacity.

As Executive Director of Euro Chlor, Marleen will join the Cefic Leadership Team as Dolf did.

For more information and for photographs of Dr Pauwels, please contact Euro Chlor Communications Manager Catherine Birkner - cab [at] cefic.be.