Chemical & Process Industries

We help Chemical & Process Industries’ companies identify CEOs and senior executives, combining global reach with deep sector expertise, from petrochemicals to downstream specialty chemicals and materials; ingredients, packaging to building materials and agro chemicals.

• 50+ dedicated consultants worldwide, each with 15+ years of industry experience
• 550+ assignments closed every year
• 80+ Board consulting engagements completed annually
• 50+ CEO searches and succession plans delivered every year
• Trusted by companies ranging from diversified multi-billion global companies to family-owned regional companies to PE backed portfolio companies

At Egon Zehnder, we help companies in the Chemical & Process Industries (CPI) align leadership with the realities facing the sector:

• Decarbonization and low-carbon transition
• Need for resilient, transparent, tech-enabled supply chains
• Digitalization
• Increasingly complex global regulation
• Portfolio reinvention
• Growing sustainability expectations
• New opportunities across green chemicals, circularity, and low-carbon feedstocks

This moment demands leaders who can bring clarity amid uncertainty, balancing resilience with innovation and long‑term sustainable value creation, and as the only dedicated, global CPI practice among executive search and leadership advisory firms, this is where Egon Zehnder can help.

For more than 14 years, our global forums have created a trusted space where leaders from across the Chemical & Process Industries discuss the most pressing issues shaping the sector’s future. Today, our forums have become the gathering point of industry leaders, influencers and experts around the world, and a source of early visibility into emerging priorities, leadership and talent needs and market shifts.

We are trusted CPI advisors to global enterprises, private equity firms and portfolio companies, state-owned companies, family-owned businesses, and emerging growth companies, grounded in decades of partnership across the sector.

• Petrochemicals & Derivatives 
• Specialty Chemicals and Advanced Materials 
• Food & Nutrition, Home & Personal Care Ingredients  
• Packaging & Paper 
• Building Materials & Components 
• Agrochemicals & Fertilizers, Agro Commodities, Ag-Tech  
• Chemical Trading & Distribution

We understand your leadership needs because we are part of the industry. We offer: 

• A dedicated Global Chemical & Process Industries Practice— the only one of its kind in executive search and leadership advisory firms 
• Consultants with deep industry and operating experience, who have led, built and transformed businesses across the sector  
• Deep connections to the industry and exclusive access to emerging insights from annual CPI forums around the world 
• Seamless global collaboration combined with local market understanding 
• A world-class, integrated search process with a rigorous, tailored methodology—covering every stage: from creating the role specification, to onboarding and integration, drawing on proven expertise in CEO succession, leadership assessment, and benchmarking management teams to the market 
• Strong focus on long-term leadership impact, ensuring successful transitions and lasting organizational value

We support Chemical & Process companies with a full suite of leadership advisory services built for complexity, scale, and long-term value creation. 

1. CEO & Senior Executive Succession Planning  
2. Executive & Board Search for Critical Roles 
3. Leadership Assessment & Development 
4. Board Performance & Governance Advisory 
5. Organizational & Cultural Transformation 
6. Individual & Team Appraisal