Executive Leadership Team

John E. Panichella has been chief executive officer of Solenis since the company’s inception in 2014. Under his guidance, Solenis has grown to approximately 23,000  employees and 78 manufacturing sites in over 160 countries from 3,500 employees and 30 manufacturing sites in 118 countries.

Through organic growth and a series of mergers and acquisitions, including NCH Corporation in November 2025, Diversey Holdings in July 2023 and the paper and water chemicals business of BASF in 2019, Panichella has steered Solenis to global leadership in water and hygiene solutions that build a safer and healthier world. The company has been recognized multiple times for its environmental efforts and safety record. 

Panichella has held leadership roles in the global water industry for nearly 40 years and is a member of the board of directors of Ball Corporation, the American Chemistry Council and the European Chemical Industry Council. In 2016, he received the Winthrop-Sears Medal for Entrepreneurial Achievement from The Chemists Club of New York.

He is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, and holds a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix, in Tempe, Arizona, and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh.

Professional career

• President, Ashland Water Technologies and Senior Vice President, Ashland, Inc., 2013-2014.
• Group Operating Officer, Ashland Specialty Ingredients and Ashland Water Technologies, and Senior Vice President, Ashland, Inc., 2012-2013.
• President, Ashland Specialty Ingredients and Senior Vice President, Ashland, Inc., 2008-2012.
• President, Ashland Aqualon Functional Ingredients, Ashland, Inc., 2006-2008.
• Vice President, General Electric Water and Process Technologies, 2001-2006.
• Vice President, Global Hydrocarbon Processing, BetzDearborn, 2000-2001.

Philip M. Patterson Jr. has been senior vice president and chief financial officer for Solenis since 2018. He is responsible for all financial activities of the company, including accounting, treasury, tax, controllership and financial planning and analysis, as well as information technology, shared services, and the global consulting and analytics group.

Patterson led the completion of a comprehensive refinancing of the company in 2019, substantially improving its liquidity and financial flexibility. He also secured financing which enabled the transaction bringing the BASF Paper and Water Chemicals business to Solenis. The same year, he successfully negotiated the relocation and build-out of the company’s world headquarters.

Patterson is a native of Delaware and holds an executive master’s degree in business administration in finance and a bachelor’s degree in accounting, both from the University of Delaware. He has also completed coursework in strategy at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Patterson is a Certified Public Accountant, a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Delaware Society of Certified Public Accountants and the CFO Advisory Board.

Professional career

• Senior Vice President, Strategy, and CFO, CP Kelco division of the J.M. Huber Corp., 2011-2018.
• CFO, Engineered Materials Division, CP Kelco division of the J.M. Huber Corp., 2010-2011.
• CFO, Aqualon Group, Hercules, Inc., 2007-2010.
• Various management and financial and reporting responsibilities for divisions within Hercules, Campbell Soup Co. and Associated British Foods, 1995-2007.
• Senior auditor/manager, Price Waterhouse LLP, 1991-1995.

Michael Valente was named senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary in June 2026. He is responsible for the company’s global legal and governance activities, including ethics and compliance; intellectual property; mergers and acquisitions; litigation; and data privacy. Valente joined Solenis in August 2025 as vice president and assistant general counsel.

He has more than 20 years of senior leadership and business experience with specialty chemicals, advanced materials and building materials companies. Valente served in strategic senior leadership roles, focusing on acquisitions and divestitures, corporate governance, ethics and compliance, capital markets, organizational change and transformation, and value creation. He also advised a venture fund on due diligence for potential investments, explored exit strategies and advised start-ups on business and governance matters.

A native of New Jersey, he is a graduate of the Seton Hall University School of Law in Newark, New Jersey, and holds a master’s degree in business administration from Seton Hall, and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Rider University, also in New Jersey. He has been admitted to the bar in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. Valente was named to The Legal 500 United States GC Powerlist in 2019.

Professional Career

• Independent business consultant, 2022-2025.
• Vice president, general counsel and secretary, GCP Applied Technologies, Inc., 2021-2022.
• Senior vice president, general counsel and secretary, human resources and communications, Versum Materials, Inc., 2016-2019.
• Vice president, legal, human resources and communications, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., 2015-2016.
• Vice president and general counsel and other positions, Rockwood Holdings, Inc., 2002-2015.

David Nocek has been senior vice president and chief human resources and communications officer for Solenis since the company’s inception in 2014. He is responsible for all aspects of global human resources and corporate communications.

From the first days of Solenis through the present, Nocek has driven the establishment of a company culture built on people, performance and results. Key to this was the development of talented, diverse leaders and teams worldwide; regular generation of metrics about employee attitudes and action items drawn from the data, and a continuous improvement mentality striving toward excellence in human resources and corporate communications operations. Survey ratings from employees have been both high and improving, even as the company experiences significant growth.

Nocek holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial/organizational psychology from Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and a master’s degree in human resource development from Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania. He completed the Strategic Business Leadership Program at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, and Solenis Executive Leadership Program at Wharton Business School.  He is also a Certified Senior Professional in Human Resources and Human Capital Strategies. He and his family live in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, USA.

Professional career

• Global leader, Talent Management, Ashland, Inc., 2012-2014.
• Global HR leader, Ashland Specialty Ingredients and Ashland Water Technologies, Ashland, Inc., 2010-2011.
• Global HR business director, Dow Chemical Company, 2009-2010.
• Various HR leadership roles of increasing responsibility, Rohm and Haas Company, 1998-2009.

Ed Connors has led our business in the Americas since 2019. He is responsible for all sales, marketing and technology operations in North America and Latin America, in addition to global strategy for the company’s Consumer Solutions business.  

His strong technical background and acumen in strategy, development and product innovation in advanced chemistries have been invaluable in restructuring research and development teams to align with vertical markets, creation of centers of excellence around key growth platforms, and aligning objectives with business outcomes.

A co-inventor on six U.S. patents, Connors is a native of New Jersey and holds a doctorate and a master’s degree in polymer chemistry from Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from St. Joseph’s University and has completed the Executive Education Program at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, both in Philadelphia. He is Six Sigma certified. Connors volunteers for the Fresh Air Fund, an organization supporting underprivileged children.

Professional career

• Senior Vice President, Industrial Water Technologies, Solenis, 2014-2018.
• Group Vice President, Ashland Specialty Ingredients, Ashland, Inc., 2013-2014.
• Group Vice President, Coatings and Construction Specialties, Ashland, Inc. 2011-2013.
• Vice President, Research and Development and Marketing, Hercules, Inc., 2007-2011.
• Multiple leadership positions, General Electric, Hercules, Inc. and BetzDearborn, 1988-2006.

Jacques Herber has led our business in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia since 2022. He is responsible for all sales, marketing and technology operations in the regions, in addition to global strategy for the company’s Industrial Solutions business. His executive leadership skills include demonstrated success in profit and loss, turnaround of underperforming assets and operations excellence, and a broad background in European business. 

Herber holds an executive master’s of business administration degree from the London Business School in the United Kingdom and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois; a master’s in business management and marketing degree from ICN Business School in Nancy, France, and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Université de Metz, France.

Professional career

• Managing Director and CEO, BMS Building Materials Suisse, 2021-2022.
• Chief Operating Officer, Selecta, 2020-2021.
• Chief Operating Officer, Unilabs, 2019-2020.
• Senior Vice President and General Manager, Latin America; Senior Vice President and Market Head, Europe West, and other senior European positions, Ecolab, 2007-2019.
• President and General Manager, Carbone Savoie – GrafTech, 2004-2007.
  Multiple leadership and sales positions, GrafTech, Arcelor and Ekato Corp. 1992-2004.

Avin Krishnan was named senior vice president and chief operations officer in June 2026 after leading Supply Chain and Operations activities for regions across Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia since 2023. He is responsible for Global Supply Chain and Operations; Procurement; Environmental, Health and Safety; Quality Assurance; and Productivity

Krishnan came to Solenis in 2023 as part of the Diversey acquisition. During his career he managed complex supply chains across a number of industry sectors, frequently with end-to-end responsibility, for more than 20 years. His posts included Europe, Russia, Asia and Australia, including a period leading the world’s largest chocolate bar factory in the Netherlands.

Based in London, UK, he holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering, chemical and materials engineering from the University of Auckland in New Zealand.

Professional Career  

• Vice president, Supply Chain, Europe, Diversey, 2021-2023.
• Global Supply Chain director and additional supply chain roles of increasing responsibility, Mars, Inc., 2000-2021.

Lotta Kanto Öqvist has been chief sustainability officer since July 2021, leading continuous improvement in all areas of the company’s environmental, social and governance efforts, including helping our customers achieve their own goals. She has been with Solenis and its predecessor companies since 1997, working in marketing and technology roles for both the Consumer Solutions and Industrial Solutions sides of our business.

Öqvist is inventor or co-inventor on six patents for water treatment and is a recipient of our company’s highest honor, the President’s Roundtable, in the Leadership category. She holds a doctorate in applied chemistry and microbiology from Helsinki University in Finland and a master’s in chemical engineering from Chalmers University of Technology, in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Professional career

• Vice President, Global Marketing and Technology, Industrial Solutions, 2020-
• Technical Director, Biorefining research and development and EMEA Customer Applications Laboratories; global research and development lead, Biorefining, Krefeld, Germany, 2016-2020.
• Global Research and Development Lead, Biorefining (Food and Beverage), and Regional Lead, Customer Applications Laboratories, Krefeld, Germany, 2012-2016.
• Regional Lead, Customer Applications Laboratories, Krefeld, Germany, 2009-2012.
• Positions of increasing responsibility in laboratory management, marketing, sales, and new markets development, 1997-2009.

Charles Wallace has been senior vice president and chief information officer for Solenis since the company’s inception in 2014. He leads a team responsible for the company’s global information technology operations, digital security, business analytics, generative AI solutions and systems architectures, shared services and process improvement and automation. He also leads the steering committee for Solenis’ efforts in corporate social responsibility.

Drawing on more than 35 years of diverse experience, he built the Solenis IT department from one person to an independent operation in less than a year, followed by the establishment of a Global Shared Services group in less than three years.

A native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Wallace holds a master’s degree in business administration from Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania. He has participated in professional workshops and certification programs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Duke University and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Professional career

• Vice President of Information Technology and CIO, Keystone Foods, 2009-2014.
• Executive Director and Chief Technology Architect, Rohm and Haas, 1998-2009.
• Commercial Banking Systems Consultant, CoreStates Bank and First Union Bank, 1996-1998.
• Manager, Systems Programming and Global Infrastructure, Rohm and Haas, 1993-1996.
• Manager, Technical Services, American Packaging Corp., 1990-1993.

Gaetano Redaelli joined Solenis in July 2023 as part of the Diversey transaction, taking the role of global business president, Institutional Solutions and the newly created position of chief technology officer. He is responsible for profit and loss for the business, plus global innovation, digital solutions, research and development and product regulatory activities for the company.

During more than 30 years mainly in the food and beverage industry in Europe and the U.S., Redaelli has led the successful development of new business models, strategic partnerships, efficiency improvement and profitability enhancement. During his tenure as chief strategy officer, Diversey won the 2022 Profit with a Purpose Award at the World Sustainability Awards.

He holds a master’s degree in marketing from Cranfield University in the UK and a doctorate in food science from Università degli Studi di Milano in Italy.

Professional career

• Global President, Professional Division and Chief Strategic Development Officer, Diversey Holdings Ltd., 2018-2023.
• President, Europe, Diversey Holdings Ltd., 2017-2018.
• Global Vice President, Food Care Hygiene Solutions and Knowledge-based Services, Sealed Air Corp., 2015-2017.
• Vice President, Global Food and Beverage Sector, Sealed Air Corp., 2012-2013.
• Multiple leadership positions, Diversey, JohnsonDiversey, DiverseyLever and Diversey Italia, 1988-2011.

Ruud Verheul joined Solenis in July 2023 as part of the Diversey transaction, taking the role of global business president, Food and Beverage Solutions.

During more than 30 years in the food and beverage industry, he has held roles in research and development, innovation, portfolio management, sales management and marketing.

Verheul holds a master’s degree in physical and colloid chemistry from the University of Utrecht and master’s degree in chemical technology from the University of Amsterdam, both in the Netherlands. 

Professional career

• Global President, Food and Beverage Division, Diversey Holdings Ltd., 2018-2023; Vice President, 2017-2018.
• Vice President, Food Care Hygiene Solutions, EMEA, Sealed Air Corp., 2015-2017.
• Vice President, Food and Beverage, Europe, Sealed Air Corp., 2011-2015.
• Multiple leadership positions, Diversey, JohnsonDiversey, DiverseyLever, Lever Otares, Lever Industrial and Unilever, 1986-2011.

Chris Wright joined Solenis in 2025 as part of the NCH transaction, taking the role of global business president, Light Industrial Solutions. He is responsible for global strategy and profit and loss for the business, driving growth in the light industrial water, lubricants and parts-cleaning segments, and meeting customer demand for sustainable solutions to their needs.

He held continental and global leadership roles throughout more than 20 years of service at NCH, with prior experience in commercial finance at BNP Paribas and RWE Energy, professional services at Arthur Andersen and as economist for the UK government.

Wright holds a bachelor’s degree, with honors, in economics from the University of Cambridge in the UK, is a chartered accountant and a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.

Professional career

• President, Global Chemical, NCH Corporation, 2023-2025.
• Chief Operating Officer, Global Chemical, NCH Corporation, 2020-2023.
• Senior Vice President, Group Strategy and Planning, NCH Corporation, 2017-2020.
• Executive Vice President of Finance and Shared Services, and additional leadership positions, NCH Europe, 2004-2017.  

David Ryan has been global business president, Pool Solutions, since March 2024. He is responsible for profit and loss for the business, driving organic and inorganic growth, optimizing customer relationships and defining and implementing new market strategies to ensure that Solenis continues to bolster its leadership position in the pools industry.

During nine years with Sherwin-Williams, he quickly rose to senior vice president of the Lowe’s Business Unit and was a member of the Executive Leadership Team, Consumer Brands Group leadership, and Women’s Leadership Network employee resource group. He won the Sherwin-Williams Circle of Excellence Award and served in general manager, executive director and vice presidential roles.

Ryan holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business from Macquarie University in Australia.

Professional career

• Multiple executive positions, Sherwin-Williams, 2015-2024.
• Category Director, Paint, Masters Home Improvement, Woolworths Pty Ltd, Australia and New Zealand, 2012-2015.
• Match Official, Australian National Rugby League, 2006-2018.

Scott Barrett has been responsible for corporate development, mergers and acquisitions activity for Solenis since June 2020, in addition to collaborating with executive leadership on the enterprise strategy. During this time, Solenis has completed several highly strategic transactions, including the $4.6 billion acquisition of Diversey Holdings Ltd. in July 2023.

Barrett holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance, and a master’s in business administration in finance, both from Rutgers University.

Professional career

• Vice President, Corporate Development, Mergers and Acquisitions, and Tax, Atlas Energy, 2007-2019.
• Vice President, Goldman Sachs, 2003-2007.
• Director, PNC, 2001-2003.