James L. Bero, Sr.

James Bero is a native of Uniontown, Pennsylvania. He graduated in 1976 from West Virginia University with a BS in chemical engineering and earned an MBA from Louisiana State University in 1997.

Following graduation, Bero joined BASF as a member of their personnel development program. After one year in the program, he took his first permanent assignment as a manufacturing supervisor. His manufacturing experience includes: inorganic chemicals, polyurethanes, automotive resins/coatings and plant utilities. Over the course of his manufacturing career, he has held the positions of production supervisor, production engineer, operations manager, plant manager and vice president. His early experience also includes the position of corporate capital planning manager.

In 2004, Bero was named senior vice president of environment, health, safety and security. In this role, he was responsible for development, implementation and governance of BASF’s EHS standards. He also served as chairman of BASF’s manufacturing community steering committee, crisis management team, sustainability council and industry issues management team. He led post-merger business integration activities for three major acquisitions. Bero was the chairman of the American Chemistry Council’s Responsible Care® Committee and was an active member of the International Council of Chemical Associations. He served on the corporate advisory board of Wharton School’s Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership and was an active member of the conference board’s chief EHS officer’s panel.

Bero retired from BASF in November 2014. He and his wife, Susan, have three children and four grandchildren.