OREANDA-NEWS. David Jukes has been named Executive Vice President, and President of Univar USA and Latin America, effective June 1, 2016. The announcement was made by Erik Fyrwald, President and Chief Executive Officer, to whom Jukes continues to report.

In addition to his current leadership role for Latin America, Jukes will now have overall responsibility for managing Univar's commercial and supply chain operations in the U.S. He will be responsible for further strengthening the company's capabilities to serve customers and suppliers by focusing on organic growth opportunities in target end markets and driving operational excellence initiatives across the organization. He will relocate to Univar's corporate headquarters in Downers Grove later this year. 

"David has proven himself a strong people-, customer- and supplier-focused leader," said Fyrwald. "He brings over 35 years of international chemical distribution experience, and most recently has successfully led the turnaround of our businesses in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. We look forward to leveraging his experience and leadership as we focus on growth within our largest geographic operating segment."

In a related move, Chris Oversby has been named to a new role as President, Univar Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Oversby continues to report to Fyrwald and will relocate to Univar's main European office in Chertsey, Surrey, U.K., later this year.

"Chris has a long successful history in the chemical industry and has helped step-change our position in the oil and gas market," said Fyrwald. "Chris' deep commercial knowledge and global experience gives him the right perspective and abilities to focus on growth while continuing to drive execution with our EMEA leadership team."

Jukes joined Univar in 2002 and has served as President of Univar EMEA since January 2011, and President of Latin America and Asia Pacific since September 2015. Previously, he served in numerous leadership roles within the organization, including Vice President, Sales and Marketing, EMEA; and Regional Director of Univar UK, Ireland, the Nordics, and Distrupol. Prior to joining Univar, Jukes was Senior Vice President of Global Sales, Marketing, and Industry Relations, for Omnexus, a plastics industry consortium e-commerce platform. He is a graduate of the London Business School.

Oversby joined Univar in November 2012 as President, Global Oil, Gas and Mining. Prior to joining Univar, he served as Vice President and General Manager for the Oil and Mining Services division at Clariant AG., a leading global specialty chemical company, and also spent 25 years with Baker Hughes Incorporated, where he served in several senior leadership positions, including Vice President, Marketing, Technology, and Business Development, for the Baker Petrolite Division. Oversby holds an M.B.A. with Merit from Leeds University Business School, and has completed executive programs at Stanford University and Harvard Business School. He is a Chartered Chemist, Member Royal Society of Chemistry.