Chemours places top executives on leave amid internal probe

Wilmington, Delaware – Chemours Co. has placed some of its top executives on ‘administrative leave’ amid an ongoing internal review at the US chemicals supplier.

The 28 Feb management action affects president and CEO Mark Newman, SVP and CFO Jonathan Lock and VP, controller and principal accounting officer Camela Wisel, Chemours announced.

The leave, it said, is “pending the completion of an internal review being overseen by the audit committee of the board of directors with the assistance of independent outside counsel.”

The scope of the review covers “processes for reviewing reports made to the Chemours Ethics Hotline”, as well as the company’s “practices for managing working capital”.

Such practices, Chemours said, include certain non-generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) metrics included in filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission or otherwise publicly released, and related disclosures.

“As a result, the company is evaluating one or more potential material weaknesses in its internal control over financial reporting as of 31 Dec 2023,” it added.

The company has named Denise Dignam as the interim CEO, and Matt Abbott as the interim CFO (principal financial and accounting officer).

Dignam joined Chemours in 2015 and has served as president – titanium technologies since March 2023.

Previously, she served as our president – advanced performance materials from 2021 to 2023 and VP global operations – fluoroproducts, from 2019 to 2021.

Abbott most recently served as Chemour’s SPV and & chief enterprise transformation officer.

His responsibilities included enterprise capital projects and engineering technology, information technology, cyber security, digital and data analytics, and procurement.

He joined Chemours in 2017 and was prior to that, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC).