09-07-2021

New head of Evonik’s Catalysts business line

Sanjeev Taneja has taken over the management of Evonik’s business line Catalysts from July 1, 2020. On the same date, the Catalysts business line became part of the newly created Smart Materials division. He most recently successfully headed Evonik India as President and Managing Director for more than two years. For his new role, he will return to Hanau Germany, where he takes over the function from Steffen Hasenzahl who has been named as the Managing Director of Evonik Creavis GmbH.

Mr. Taneja, who holds a process engineering degree and an MBA began his professional career in 1987 at what was then Degussa AG. After various positions in production & technology, he went to Mobile, AL (USA), where he was initially responsible for the hydrogen peroxide manufacturing operations and later as head of the technical site services. In 2000, he was appointed Head of Technical Controlling & Investments for the global Fine Chemicals business and subsequently took over responsibility for the development and implementation of the Asia strategy of what was then Exclusive Synthesis & Catalysts business unit.

In 2005, he moved to New Jersey and assumed responsibility for integrating CYRO Industries from New Jersey (USA) into the global Methacrylate business. In 2007, he took over responsibility for managing CYRO’s monomer business for the Americas region.

After his return to Germany in 2008, he took over the role of managing strategic projects in the High Performance Polymers business line and subsequently as head of the high-temperature polymer growth line in 2011. Since 2016, Mr. Taneja has worked in Asia, initially as Head of the Resource Efficiency Segment in the Asia-Pacific South region in Singapore and since 2018 he has served as President & Managing Director of India region with head office in Mumbai.

Sanjeev Taneja has extensive experience in technical, commercial and strategic areas in his previous professional positions. He has a track record of driving growth and transformation projects as well as post M&A initiatives at an international level. Customer satisfaction, joint value creation and employee development are equally important to him, whereas the motto "Think Global, Act Local" is imperative for him for further business growth.