Business
Ascent Industries Appoints J. Bryan Kitchen as President of Ascent Chemicals
OAK BROOK, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Ascent Industries Co. (Nasdaq: ACNT) (“Ascent” or the “Company”), an industrials company focused on the production and
About this update from Ascent Industries Co.
[{"type":"text","content":" OAK BROOK, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--\nAscent Industries Co. (Nasdaq: ACNT) (“Ascent” or the “Company”), an industrials company focused on the production and distribution of industrial tubular products and specialty chemicals, has appointed J. Bryan Kitchen as president of Ascent Chemicals, effective September 18, 2023.\n\n\nMr. Kitchen joins Ascent with nearly two decades of senior leadership experience in the chemicals industry, having held management roles for several global industry leaders. Most recently, he served as president, CEO and chairman of the board for Clearon Corp., a leading specialty chemicals manufacturer of essential sanitizers and disinfectants for household, industrial, institutional and water treatment applications. While in this role, Mr. Kitchen crafted and led a transformational strategy to unlock earnings growth and significantly improve cash flow, resulting in the sale of the company for a significant premium.\n\n\nPrior to Clearon, Mr. Kitchen served as the president of Xingfa USA, a division of Hubei Xingfa Chemicals Ltd, a global leader in specialty phosphates manufacturing, where he built an agriculture segment from scratch while more than doubling the profitability of the core business. He also served as vice president of business operations at ANGUS Chemical Company, which was carved-out from The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW). During his tenure, he successfully led the carve-out transition from Dow and later assumed additional responsibilities for commercial leadership in both China and Latin America. During his time as business operations director for Dow Microbial Control, he drove a number of transformational initiatives that resulted in significant earnings growth. Mr. Kitchen previously spent over a decade in various management roles at Dow AgroSciences and later, Dow Chemical, one of the world’s largest chemical manufacturers.\n\n\n“As we continue to execute transformational changes across our organization and improve the Company’s operational rigor, we are excited to have a leader like Bryan taking the helm of our specialty chemicals segment,” said Chris Hutter, president and CEO of Ascent Industries. “Over the course of his career, Bryan has proven time and time again he has what it takes to implement and execute upon transformational strategies that result in significant improvements i...