Nova Chemicals makes several leadership changes

Nova Chemicals Corp., headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, has made several senior leadership changes. The company says these personnel moves are in line with its Roadmap to Sustainability Leadership initiative and will help it to remain a sustainable polyethylene (PE) producer.

Greg DeKnuder has been appointed as vice president of Nova Circular Solutions to solidify the company’s leadership in the development and transition to circular plastics. Nova Circular Solutions is one of the company’s new lines of business, focused on lower-emission, recycled solutions to drive the company’s 2030 goal of 30 percent PE sales being from recycled content. In his new role, DeKnuder will focus on expanding the company’s sustainable product offerings, such as Syndigo recycled PE, standing up the company’s mechanical recycling business and exploring advanced recycling opportunities.

DeKnuder has been with the company since 2018 and most recently served as vice president of polyethylene marketing, where he led efforts of expanding the company’s capabilities and identifying and securing growth opportunities for Nova Circular Solutions while also leading the company’s market focus to prepare for Nova’s AST2 growth project with new products and applications that support its customers.

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Nova has appointed Sarah Marshall as vice president of polyethylene marketing in DeKnuder’s place. Marshall has been with the company for more than 20 years. She most recently served as vice president of sustainability at Nova where she built the company’s sustainability team and function, operationalized the organization’s 2030 Roadmap to Sustainability Leadership and is an expert on the plastics circular economy and industry decarbonization efforts.

In her new role, Marshall will be responsible for driving the company’s market leadership strategy through its technology platform. She also will help leverage business opportunities throughout the value chain that will guide the company’s growth as a sustainable PE producer.

Jennifer Woolfsmith has taken on the role of vice president of sustainability at Nova Chemicals, following Marshall’s transition. Woolfsmith also has been with the company for more than 20 years and most recently served as chief of staff to the CEO. In her new position, she will leverage her background in finance and governance as well as her business leadership capabilities to lead the development of Nova’s sustainability strategy. She will also lead internal and external engagement and reporting, while implementing strategies required to meet the organization’s goal of reducing its Scope 1 and Scope 2 absolute CO₂ emissions by 30 percent by 2030, and achieving net-zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 2050.