Jai Nagarkatti, president and chief executive at Sigma-Aldrich Corp, has been elected chairman at the St. Louis-based maker of fine chemicals. He takes over the job held by David R. Harvey, who retired from that position on Tuesday. Harvey remains a member of the board of directors at Sigma-Aldrich.
Harvey, who joined the company in 1974, served as chief executive from 1999 to 2005, and he had been chairman since 2001.
Harvey’s “exceptional leadership drove continued growth at Sigma-Aldrich and enabled it to retain its position as one of the world leaders in science, key to the Company’s growth and returns over many years,” Nagarkatti said in a Tuesday press release.
Nagarkatti, who joined Sigma-Aldrich in 1976, became chief executive in 2006.