New vice president to lead DuPont investor relations

Carl Lukach is set to take over DuPont’s investor relations department from February 1, as predecessor Karen Fletcher moves to a new department.

Lukach, who joined the firm in 1980, previously led the company’s operations in Japan, Korea, ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand as president of DuPont East Asia. In addition to several business and corporate leadership positions at the company, Lukach also headed up the investor relations department for four years from 2004 to 2008.

He replaces Fletcher, who has led the IR department since 2008. The chemical engineering graduate joined the company in 1982 in Teflon research and development through DuPont’s Engineering Field Program. After ‘a range of technical and leadership roles’, she will now take up a new position as chief engineer and vice president of engineering.

DuPont revealed a 57 percent fall in Q4 2012 profits today, blamed on a weaker return from its performance chemicals division. Overall, earnings fell 6 percent last year. Agriculture was its strongest performer over the quarter, with revenues up 18 percent.

‘DuPont stands stronger today than it did a year ago,’ says DuPont chair and CEO Ellen Kullman in the company’s financial statement, though she adds that ‘weakness in markets served by performance chemicals and electronics & communications provided significant challenges in 2012. We’ve adjusted our plans to meet the changing market environment and grow our businesses in a slow-growth world economy.’