CFO succession
Umicore announces the appointment of Lily Liu as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer effective August 1st, 2026. Mrs. Liu succeeds current CFO Wannes Peferoen who will leave the Company after twenty years of dedicated service. Post handover on August 1st, Mr. Peferoen will serve in a special advisory capacity until February 28th, 2027 to ensure a seamless transition.
Mrs. Liu joins Umicore from Synthomer, a specialty chemicals company listed on the London Stock Exchange, where she serves as CFO since July 2022. Holding both British and Australian citizenship, she brings more than twenty years of financial leadership experience across the chemicals, manufacturing, and engineering industries. Before her time at Synthomer, Mrs. Liu was CFO at Essentra plc, and previously held CFO positions with Xaar plc and Smiths Detection. She is also a non-executive director and audit committee member at DCC plc.
On behalf of Umicore, I would like to express our gratitude to Wannes for his twenty years of dedicated service to the Company and his leadership as CFO for the past four years. His commitment to our CORE strategy, particularly in enhancing capital discipline and operational efficiency, has been instrumental in positioning Umicore for continued success. I wish Wannes the very best in his future endeavors.
At the same time, we are delighted to welcome Lily Liu to Umicore as our new CFO. Lily’s track record in leading finance teams at listed companies, combined with her expertise spanning chemicals, manufacturing and engineering, makes her well suited to advance Umicore’s strategic direction. Her proven resilience and ability to lead teams through complexity and change will be a strong asset for Umicore.
“It is a profound privilege to take up the CFO role at Umicore, a company distinguished by its enduring commitment to innovation and sustainability. I look forward to working closely with Bart, the Executive Leadership Team and colleagues to advance our CORE strategy, with a clear focus on cash generation and capital discipline, supported by a strong performance culture.” Lily Liu, Umicore CFO effective August 1st, 2026.
Appointment of Chief Digital & Transformation Officer
Umicore is establishing the Chief Digital & Transformation Officer role within its Executive Leadership Team. This new role underscores the Group’s commitment to disciplined and coherent execution of its long‑term transformation and digitalization roadmap, embedding a sustainable performance culture and ensuring a future-proof organizational set-up. In response to the increasingly fast-paced and complex business environment, the Chief Digital & Transformation Officer will drive focus and alignment across the Group. The role will assume responsibility for Operational Excellence and Digitalization & Information Systems, with the objective to further advance synergies across processes, data, and digital technology, including accelerating the adoption of artificial intelligence.
Marten Zieris has been appointed as Chief Digital & Transformation Officer, effective August 1st 2026. Marten brings over 15 years of experience in transforming organizations, driving operational excellence and managing change across a wide range of industries. Before joining Umicore, he was a Partner and Head of Growth & Transformation Practice for Central Europe at Arthur D. Little. Marten holds a degree in Business Administration from the University of Bayreuth.
In establishing the Chief Digital & Transformation Officer role, we are strengthening our leadership and accelerating Umicore’s transformation to deliver sustainable long‑term value. I am pleased to welcome Marten Zieris to the Executive Leadership Team. Marten’s proven expertise will be instrumental in driving our transformation agenda and unlocking new levels of impact and excellence across the Group.
Q1 Update and Conference Call
Today at 5.40 PM CEST Umicore will publish an Update on Q1 trading conditions, along with more perspective on the Group’s expectations for the remainder of 2026. At 7.00 PM CEST today, Umicore will host an audio call for analysts and investors with Bart Sap, CEO and Wannes Peferoen, CFO. The audio call is accessible via the following link. Media can direct their questions to Umicore Media Relations.
