Change of leadership on the Elbe: Dr. Rainer Bruns took over the management of the Covestro site in Brunsbüttel on July 1, 2024. The 53-year-old succeeds Victor Ortega, who is moving to the American Covestro plant in Baytown, Texas, where he will take over the management of the site. Bruns on his new role: "I am delighted to be accompanying our site in Brunsbüttel on its journey towards climate neutrality and to be able to initiate important projects together with the dedicated team here." In terms of renewable energies, the west coast of Schleswig-Holstein is an ideal region to decisively advance the transformation of the chemical industry.
From Bayer AG to Bayer MaterialScience
For Bruns, the move to Schleswig-Holstein is the next step in his almost 25-year career. After completing his doctorate at the University of Oldenburg in 2000, he began his professional career in chemical research at Bayer AG. In 2005, Bruns moved to Bayer MaterialScience, which later became Covestro. In Dormagen, he was initially the second plant manager in TDI production. From 2007, he helped to expand the TDI business in Germany and China. He managed a TDI plant in Dormagen until 2016. He then set up an environmental and approval department for Covestro in NRW. From 2019, Bruns headed the Covestros HSEQ department (Health, Safety, Environment, Quality). Bruns will be able to draw on this wealth of experience to manage the Brunsbüttel site in the future.
Victor Ortega's achievements
Bruns succeeds Victor Ortega in Brunsbüttel. Under Ortega's leadership, the Brunsbüttel site reached important milestones. The support for the infrastructure development of the floating LNG terminal at the Elbe port fell within Ortega's term of office. Dr. Daniel Koch, Head of Production Europe at Covestro: "Against the backdrop of major challenges, Ortega and the entire workforce have continued to drive the site forward on the path to climate neutrality - for example with the commissioning of a 20-bar steam pipeline, which enables us to save large amounts of energy in production."