Charlotte cleaning products company names a new CEO

Diversey, the cleaning and hygiene products company spun off Charlotte-based Sealed Air last year, has hired Mark Burgess as its new CEO.

Burgess previously was the CEO of the industrial packaging manufacturer Signode Industrial Group, according to a statement Wednesday from Diversey. In April, Signode was acquired by Crown Holdings. Before Signode, Burgess was CEO of Graham Packaging Company, which he led through an IPO in 2010 and its sale to Reynolds Group Holdings in 2011.

Burgess assumes the new position Dec. 17, according to the company.

Diversey has its corporate offices in Charlotte, where it employs about 400. Last year, Diversey announced plans to relocate its headquarters to Lakemont Business Park in York County, which is just over the state line near Carowinds.

The relocation hasn’t happened yet, however. The company told the Observer Wednesday that it will have an update regarding the move sometime in early 2019. Diversey was headquartered in Wisconsin before Sealed Air bought it in 2011.

Burgess succeeds Ilham Kadri, who announced in October her decision to leave Diversey by the end of the year. Sealed Air moved Kadri to Charlotte from the Netherlands in 2015. She became Diversey’s CEO in August 2017, just before Sealed Air completed the sale of its Diversey unit to Bain Capital Private Equity.

Last month, Kadri was named the new CEO of Brussels-based Solvay, effective in March.

Burgess, a graduate of Dickinson College, has an MBA from The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.

“Mark emerged as the best person to lead Diversey into the future because of his experience successfully transforming complicated multinational businesses by building strong organizations, seizing attractive growth opportunities, and effectively integrating acquisitions,” said Ken Hanau, Diversey’s board chairman.