Alan E. Barton heads the company's worldwide Coatings business. This business includes a wide array of technologies used to make key ingredients for interior and exterior paints, industrial coatings, specialty finishes for leather, textiles and nonwovens, automotive paints and powder coatings for use in both industrial and furniture applications. Dr. Barton joined Rohm and Haas in 1984 as a senior research scientist in the Agricultural Chemicals business. Over the next six years, he held positions of increasing responsibility in Agricultural Chemicals, Industrial Coatings and Architectural Coatings. In 1991, he accepted the position of Business Development manager, Polymers and Resins, and moved to the Rohm and Haas location in Frankfurt, Germany. While in Europe, Dr. Barton took on increasing leadership roles in Industrial and Architectural Coatings. Returning to the United States in 1997, he was named business manager, North America and worldwide business director for Coatings. He was elected a vice president of Rohm and Haas in 1999, and named to the Executive Council in 2001. Dr. Barton holds a B.A. degree in Chemistry from Oxford University in the United Kingdom (1978), and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Harvard University (1984).