Albemarle Promotes Niomi Krzystowczyk to Division Vice President, Health, Safety and Environment

BATON ROUGE, La., March 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Albemarle Corporation has promoted Dr. Niomi Krzystowczyk to Division Vice President, Health, Safety and Environment ("HS&E"). In her new role, Krzystowczyk will have global responsibility for all of Albemarle's HS&E activities, working to enhance current programs while identifying and implementing new initiatives designed to maximize the company's safety performance and environmental stewardship efforts. Krzystowczyk will also continue her focus on establishing Albemarle as a leader in providing value-added and consultative services to clients and partners along the supply chain to support their environmental stewardship goals.

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With more than 17 years experience in the specialty chemicals industry, Krzystowczyk most recently served as Director of Corporate Product Stewardship, Corporate Risk Management and Sustainability for Albemarle's HS&E Group. In these roles, she led many global projects including Albemarle's work with the Voluntary Emissions Control Action Program ("VECAP"). VECAP is a major commitment from brominated flame retardant manufacturers that actively works to reduce emissions, ensure the safety and security of operations, and preserve health and safety along the supply chain.

Krzystowczyk has directed the company's sustainability reporting activities and was instrumental in creating and leading Albemarle's Process Safety Technology Center, a "virtual" group of employees and outside research affiliates focused on deepening the company's knowledge and expanding its practice of process safety. Krzystowczyk also has managed a team of people that is leading Albemarle's efforts with REACH, a new European Community regulation that oversees the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemical substances.

"We are proud of the success Niomi has achieved in creating and driving comprehensive sustainability initiatives that support our mission as a socially and environmentally responsible company and in promoting these values along the supply chain," said Mark C. Rohr, Albemarle President and Chief Executive Officer. "Niomi will bring this same level of focus and creativity to her new role as we continue to position Albemarle as a leader in setting and achieving premier HS&E standards in the specialty chemicals industry."

Krzystowczyk has a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Alabama, and a master's degree and doctorate from Vanderbilt University. She joined Albemarle as a Senior R&D Engineer at the company's Process Development Center in Baton Rouge. She was later transferred to Orangeburg, S.C. and promoted to Process Technology Specialist. She held numerous Process Technology roles, including Process Technology Manager, where she worked on cost productivity, expansion, and quality initiatives for products such as Ibuprofen and ETHANOX(R) 330 polymer antioxidants, and aluminum alkyls operations. She became one of the first Process Safety Advisors for Albemarle in Orangeburg before she returned to Baton Rouge to work as Risk Manager for the HS&E group in 2003.

Albemarle Corporation, headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, is a leading global developer, manufacturer and marketer of highly engineered specialty chemicals for consumer electronics; petroleum and petrochemical processing; transportation and industrial products; pharmaceuticals; agricultural products; and construction and packaging materials. The Company operates in three business segments-Polymer Additives, Catalysts and Fine Chemicals, and serves customers in approximately 100 countries. Learn more about Albemarle at http://www.albemarle.com/.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding Albemarle Corporation's business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K.