SI Group Continues to Advance with Additions to the Global Executive Team

SCHENECTADY, New York, July 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

SI Group, Inc., a leading chemical manufacturer, announced the appointment of Traci Hockstra as Vice President, Global Human Resources and Milan Knezevic as Executive Director, Global Research and Development.  SI Group continues to build its leadership team to align with its strategic direction in the advancement of seven key global market segments and global growth.  

Owing to the evolving strategic direction, the company's goal is to add diversity of experience and further increase organizational capabilities. In 2010, the company re-designed several positions, changed the scope of selected functions to further advance the company's strategy and re-positioned its key talent for enhanced alignment. This resulted in approximately 150 new hires for current and new positions between 2010 and 2011 at SI Group.

SI Group has been investing significant time and resources to obtain the right talent and continues to utilize a recruitment process that entails comprehensive interviews and extensive testing.

"We base our recruitment effort on finding candidates that are an overall fit with the culture of our company. We take into account whether the candidate is a good personality match and could work well within our culture and make valuable contributions to our team," said Stephen J. Large, President and CEO, SI Group. "Our primary goal is to ensure that we hire people who are aligned with our core values."

"The proof that this approach has been successful is the exceptional talent we have been able to obtain over time. Employees choose SI Group due to our strong Brand reputation and the essence of our culture," continued Stephen J. Large, President and CEO, SI Group. "SI Group is proud of its long standing employment record. In 2011, 49 of our global employees have reached the milestone of being with our organization for 35 years."  

Getting a skilled global HR professional was a critical task as the company places great emphasis on integrating new team members into its organizational framework after being hired.  One of Hockstra's main objectives is the development of a robust Onboarding and Training program to enable new hires to elevate the synergy of the entire team.  Testament to the importance of Human Resources at SI Group is that Traci Hockstra will report directly to the CEO and therefore serves as a vital piece of SI Group's decision making process.  Prior to joining SI Group, Hockstra spent 25 years with Dow Chemical where she held various positions in Engineering and Production Management before joining the Human Resources Organization in 1999. 

Milan Knezevic, who has taken on the role of Executive Director of Research & Development, will lead the global R&D efforts.  In 2010 SI Group has developed a strategic process to take all new opportunities from an idea to commercialization, and Milan's leadership will serve as the key component to bring this process to life.  To enable the effective utilization of this process, SI Group invested in a new programming tool that will allow global uniformity of all business opportunities. Another significant step made to progress global R&D efforts is the recent investment in an application testing lab for Rubber and Industrial Resin compounds in China.  The opening of the new lab is set to move SI Group closer to the goal of attaining first place in the Asia Pacific region. Knezevic's keen understanding of market needs and his ability to relate to SI Group's customer base will further advance the company's R&D initiatives.   

Prior to taking on this role at SI Group, Knezevic worked in Crios Resinas, Brazil, as the R&D Director. After incorporating Crios into the SI Group family, Knezevic assumed the position of R&D Director for the South America region.

About SI Group

SI Group is a family-owned company founded in 1906 and headquartered in Schenectady, New York.  A leading global developer and manufacturer of phenolic resins, alkylphenolic resins, alkylated phenols and other chemical intermediates, SI Group operates 20 facilities in 12 countries around the world.  For more information about SI Group, visit http://www.siigroup.com.

Contact:
Juliana Lam
Manager - Global Brand and Communications
Office: +1-518-347-4110
Cell: +1-518-248-4178
Juliana.Lam@siigroup.com