Avantor Appoints New Chief Executive Officer


Avantor Performance Materials recently announced the appointment of Michael Stubblefield as its new Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Stubblefield assumes the role of CEO from Richard White, who had been serving as the company’s Chief Operating Officer and interim CEO since September 2013.

Mr. Stubblefield brings more than 20 years of global chemical industry leadership experience to his new role at Avantor. Most recently, he served as a senior expert for the Chemicals Practice of McKinsey & Company. Prior to that time, he had a long tenure with Celanese, a global technology and specialty materials company. At Celanese, Mr. Stubblefield held various global leadership positions over the years, including Vice President and General Manager – Advanced Engineered Materials, Chief Marketing Officer, Vice President and General Manager – EVA Performance Polymers, Global Supply Chain Director – Acetyl Intermediates, and Asia Commercial Director – Emulsion Polymers. He holds an MBA from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Utah.

“We are happy to welcome Michael to Avantor,” said Raj Gupta, Executive Chairman of Avantor. “Michael has extensive global leadership experience in the chemicals field, and his proven record of driving excellence across global commercial and operations functions will serve Avantor well.”

“We have made tremendous progress through an aggressive business-building strategy, including geographic expansion, investment in the core business, support of quality systems and enhancements to the product portfolio,” said Matt Holt, Managing Director of New Mountain Capital, which owns Avantor. “Given these investments to date, the company is very well set up for execution from here, and we are excited to support Michael Stubblefield as our CEO. We are confident in Michael’s ability to lead the company to great success. Given the abundance of opportunities that we see for Avantor, the future is very bright for all stakeholders.”

In his role as CEO, Mr. Stubblefield will oversee all aspects of Avantor’s global operations in its four business areas: Laboratory Products, Pharmaceuticals, Electronic Materials, and Diagnostics. He will be based at Avantor’s global corporate headquarters in Center Valley, PA. For more information, visit www.avantormaterials.com.