Dr. Andreas Meier to Become New Chairman of the Executive Board at H.C. Starck

GOSLAR, Germany, Jan. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- The H.C. Starck Group will complete the team of its Executive Board as of February 1, 2010, when Dr. Andreas Meier becomes Chairman of the Board of H.C. Starck GmbH and Chief Executive Officer of the international H.C. Starck Group. Among other things he will be responsible for the strategic direction and further development of the Group. Dr. Andreas Meier joins the two current Executive Board members Dr. Uwe Salzer and Dr. Axel Westerhaus.

After studying chemical engineering at the University of Graz, Andreas Meier obtained his doctorate at the Montan University of Leoben in Austria. In 1985 Dr. Meier started his professional career with the Austrian public company RHI AG, a leading manufacturer of refractory products with 8,000 employees and a sales volume of 1.6 billion euros. Dr. Meier held various positions in research, production and marketing with global responsibility and became a Board member of RHI AG in 1999. In 2007 he was appointed Chairman of the Board of RHI AG.

Dr. Meier is 47 years old. He is married and has three children.

"We are very pleased to welcome Dr. Meier as Chairman of the Executive Board of H.C. Starck," says Dr. Engelbert Heimes, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of H.C. Starck. "With his successful professional career, Dr. Meier has the broad industrial competence and valuable experience that will serve him well in his position at H.C. Starck. We wish him and his two colleagues, Dr. Salzer and Dr. Westerhaus, much success for their mutual tasks."

"I am looking forward to my new responsibilities at H.C. Starck," says Dr. Andreas Meier. "The company has a very wide and technologically sophisticated product portfolio, a strong international market position and is therefore well-positioned for profitable growth in the long term."

SOURCE H.C. Starck GmbH