FMC Corporation announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Pierre Brondeau to be chief executive officer in addition to his role as board chairman. He succeeds current president and CEO Mark Douglas, who has stepped down from FMC following more than 14 years with the company.  In addition, the Board of Directors has appointed Ronaldo Pereira as president of FMC Corporation.  Brondeau and Pereira assume their new roles effective immediately. Douglas will serve as an executive advisor to the senior management team through September 1.

Brondeau was chairman and CEO of FMC from 2010 until his retirement in June 2020, and has continued to serve as chairman of the board during the last four years.  He presided over a period of significant growth at FMC, transforming the company into an agricultural sciences leader. During Brondeau's prior tenure as CEO, FMC embarked on significant M&A transactions, increased R&D investments and expanded into new geographies, delivering total shareholder return of more than 325 percent from 2010 to 2020.

"Pierre is a respected executive in the chemical and specialty materials industries with a track record of delivering strong, consistent earnings performance," said C. Scott Greer, lead independent director of the FMC board. "Furthermore, he is highly regarded and well known by FMC's executive management team, many who worked closely with Pierre when he previously served as CEO. The board is confident that the transition will be seamless, and that Pierre is the right leader to drive FMC forward."

Pereira has been with FMC for nearly 28 years, most recently serving as executive vice president and president of the Americas region. As FMC president, Pereira will have expanded responsibilities, including executive oversight for all commercial, sales and marketing globally, as well as overseeing the Sustainability, External Affairs, Regulatory and Marketing functions. He will also retain oversight of the Plant Health business. 

"Ronaldo is a highly respected crop protection industry veteran with broad commercial experience and a successful track record of building and growing our business throughout Latin America and North America," said Brondeau. "He is passionate about this industry and our customers. I look forward to working closely with him to aggressively drive profitable growth this year while continuing to execute on our longer-term growth strategy."

"Mark Douglas' leadership, vision and commitment to bring the best technologies and products to the agricultural industry have left a lasting, positive mark on FMC," said Greer. "During his tenure, he transformed what had been a solid FMC business segment into a global crop protection leader driven by innovation, operational agility and a customer-first model.  In an industry that values and needs advanced products to protect crops from destructive pests and disease, Mark dramatically strengthened FMC's technology pipeline, launched novel precision agriculture technologies and built a new Plant Health business featuring the latest biological and pheromone solutions. Mark led FMC during a time of significant challenges in the industry. Under his leadership as CEO, the company successfully navigated the impacts of an unprecedented pandemic, delivered industry-leading safety performance and announced aggressive new sustainability targets. The board extends its gratitude and appreciation to Mark for his 14 years of unwavering commitment and leadership to FMC."