09. May 2026
Hexion repositions itself as an AI-driven "chemistry-as-a-service" company
Hexion has expanded its senior leadership team as the company accelerates a shift towards what it describes as a “performance outcomes” model for the wood panel industry, including manufacturers of OSB, MDF and other engineered wood products.
The company said the appointments are intended to strengthen its AI-driven Chemistry-as-a-Service (CaaS) strategy, which combines chemical formulations, process optimisation and digital tools to improve manufacturing efficiency and reduce variability in wood panel production.
Hexion supplies adhesives, resins and performance materials used in engineered wood manufacturing, including technologies for oriented strand board, particleboard and MDF production. The company has increasingly focused on automation, AI and process optimisation systems for panel producers through its SmartSystems and Smartech businesses.
“Selling chemicals is no longer enough. Customers are buying performance,” said Michael Lefenfeld, president and CEO of Hexion. “We introduced our new performance-driven model at WPC and we have built the leadership team to execute it. This is a different way of operating, working alongside customers to continuously improve their operational performance and, in turn, strengthen ours.”
According to Hexion, its CaaS model integrates expertise in cellulose materials with process data, environmental inputs and AI-based modelling to create a “closed-loop system” capable of continuously optimising resin usage, throughput, uptime and energy efficiency. The company claimed this approach can deliver resin consumption reductions of more than 10%, uptime improvements exceeding 5%, and double-digit reductions in energy use and waste.
Among the appointments is Pedro Lopes as chief commercial officer. Lopes joins from Kraton and previously held leadership roles at Arizona Chemical. Hexion said he will oversee its commercial organisation and support adoption of performance-based customer offerings.
Gaël De Martelaere has been named chief procurement officer after more than two decades at Dow, where he most recently served as vice president of direct procurement.
The company also appointed Sambit Dutta as senior vice president of AI transformation. Dutta previously worked at Nestlé and Ecolab, focusing on AI and digital transformation programmes. Chandradev Mehta joins as senior vice president for strategy and business development after leadership roles at Honeywell and LyondellBasell.
Further appointments include Ann Lindsey as head of enterprise operational integrity and EHS, and Arash Nejad as vice president and commercial leader for SmartSystems.
Hexion said the leadership changes follow an 18% year-on-year increase in EBITDA despite challenging market conditions. The company added that it intends to continue investing in technologies aimed at improving consistency, reducing operational variability and increasing efficiency across wood panel manufacturing operations.