Shell said Wednesday it has appointed the head of its chemicals division, Ben van Beurden, to succeed Mark Williams as its new downstream director from January 1, 2013.
Van Beurden, Shell's executive vice president for chemicals since December 2006, will become a member of Shell's executive committee in his new role, the company said.
Van Beurden joined Shell in 1983 and has held various engineering, plant management and operations and commercial roles in the Netherlands, Africa, Malaysia, the UK and the US.
A Dutch national, van Beurden holds a masters degree in Chemical Engineering from Delft University in the Netherlands.
Shell said Mark Williams will be returning to the US next year and will leave the company after 33 years.
Williams took over as Shell's director of downstream in January 2009.
