Stephan Sielaff has taken over as Chief Executive Officer of the Schill+Seilacher Group on 1 October 2026 as the specialty chemicals company begins its next phase of development.
Sielaff is a chemical engineer and brings around 30 years of experience in specialty chemicals and related industries. His career has included senior roles at Unilever, Symrise, Archroma and Lenzing AG as well as most recently serving as CEO of SSI SCHAFER Plastics.
He takes over at a challenging time for Europe’s chemical industry with international competitive pressure, rising costs and weak industrial demand affecting the sector.
Sielaff said he believes the response should go beyond cost reduction with greater customer proximity, operational excellence, international collaboration and successful commercialisation of innovation becoming increasingly important.
“European specialty chemicals continue to have strong prospects. But we need to move faster, work more closely with our customers and make better use of our strengths internationally”
– Stephan Sielaff, CEO, Schill+Seilacher Group
For Schill+Seilacher he aims to strengthen collaboration across its international locations and business areas by connecting expertise, technologies and market knowledge more effectively.
