Speakers

Sandy leads Ashland’s engagement with the investment community, communicating the company’s financial performance, strategic priorities, and value-creation opportunities while providing insight into investor perspectives and capital markets trends.

Sandy brings more than two decades of experience spanning investor relations, equity research, and investment management and is a CFA charterholder. Prior to joining Ashland, Sandy served as Senior Vice President, Investor Relations at ICR Strategic Communications and Advisory, where responsibilities included advising industrial technology, basic materials, and sustainability companies on investor relations strategy, financial communications, and capital markets positioning.

Earlier in Sandy’s career, roles included sell-side equity research positions at Susquehanna Financial Group, Vertical Research Partners, UBS Securities, and Credit Suisse, primarily covering the agriculture and chemicals sectors. Sandy also served as a buy-side equity analyst at Charter Oak Partners and Millgate Capital.

Sandy earned an MBA in Finance and Accounting from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a Bachelor of Science in Communication from Cornell University.

Guillermo Novo joined the Ashland Board of Directors in May 2019, and he became Chief Executive Officer of Ashland December 31, 2019. Previously he was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Versum Materials and a member of its Board of Directors. 

Novo also served as Executive Vice President, Materials Technologies of Air Products. He joined Air Products in 2012 as Senior Vice President Electronics, Performance Materials, Strategy and Technology. Prior to Air Products, he was employed by Dow Chemical Company where he most recently served as group vice president, Dow Coating Materials. 

Novo began his career in 1986 with Rohm and Haas Company (which merged with Dow in 2009) and over the next 24 years progressed through a variety of commercial, marketing, and general management positions, living in South America, the U.S. and Asia. In 1998, he was named a vice president at Rohm and Haas, and in 2006 he became a corporate officer and one of five group executives on the corporate leadership team. 

He holds an industrial engineering degree from the University of Central Florida and an MBA from the University of Michigan. Novo also serves on the advisory board for the College of Engineering & Computer Science at the University of Central Florida.

Dr. Osama M. Musa is currently Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH). He leads Ashland’s Global Research and Development organization, focusing on consumer and industrial markets, including pharmaceutical, personal care, beverage, nutrition, agricultural, coatings, adhesives, and energy applications. Dr. Musa has overall responsibility for Ashland's global technology functions, including Applied Research, Measurement Science, Biofunctionals, Acrylates & Microencapsulation, Preservatives & Microbial Technology, as well as the R&D Stage-Gate development process. In addition to these technical responsibilities, he has commercial and technical responsibility for Ashland’s Advanced Materials business.

Dr. Musa is a strategic senior executive with broad experience in the specialty chemicals sector. He leverages an extensive network of industry and academic partners to drive innovation and collaboration. Dr. Musa joined Ashland in 2011 following the company’s acquisition of International Specialty Products (ISP) Incorporated. Prior to joining Ashland, he held various technical and leadership positions with the National Starch and Chemical Company.

As a passionate leader, Dr. Musa is committed to addressing customer needs through innovative chemistry and scientific advancement. Through Ashland’s Open Innovation platform, he supports student scholarship and fosters collaboration with universities, providing mentorship and encouragement to the next generation of scientists. He serves on the Advisory Board of Manhattan College’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Chemists' Club of New York City. In addition, he serves on the Advisory Board of the International Journal of Humanitarian Technology (IJHT).

Dago Caceres is Senior Vice President and General Manager, Specialty Additives, Ashland, a position he has held since April 2024.

Prior to joining Ashland, Dago served as Global Strategy Director, IFF Pharma Solutions, from February 2021 to April 2024. Before that, he served as Global Strategic Marketing Leader at DuPont from August 2019 to February 2021. He has also held a variety of leadership positions and brings extensive experience working with chemical and science-driven companies, including Dow Chemical, FMC BioPolymer, and Rohm and Haas.

Dago holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the National University of Colombia and a Master of Business Administration in International Business and Marketing from the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina.

Alessandra Faccin Assis is Senior Vice President and General Manager, Life Sciences and Intermediates, Ashland.

Alessandra is a dynamic and results-oriented business leader with a strong track record of accelerating growth, driving execution discipline, expanding emerging markets, and building high-performing teams. She brings extensive multicultural experience, having lived and worked in the United States, Singapore, and Brazil.

Prior to joining Ashland, Alessandra served as President, Asia Pacific at Sealed Air Corporation. During her tenure, she also held leadership roles as Vice President of the North America Protective Packaging business, Corporate Treasurer, and leader of Corporate Financial Planning and Analysis. Earlier in her career, she held leadership positions at Dow Chemical and Rohm and Haas.

Alessandra earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Fundação Getúlio Vargas in Brazil and an Executive Master of Business Administration from Universidade de São Paulo in Brazil. She is fluent in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Jim Minicucci is Senior Vice President and General Manager, Personal Care, Ashland.

Jim is an accomplished global business leader with demonstrated success in delivering both top- and bottom-line results. He has a proven track record of leading organizations across sales, marketing, operations, and technology. His commercial and operational expertise extends beyond business management and includes extensive experience in developing and implementing corporate and business unit strategies, as well as mergers and acquisitions (M&A). He also brings significant international experience, having lived and worked in Asia, including Taiwan and South Korea, for nearly a decade.

Prior to joining Ashland, Jim served as Senior Vice President, Global Specialty Gases at MERCK KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. Before that, he led businesses at Versum Materials and was responsible for Corporate Strategy and M&A at Air Products. Jim was a leader in the Chemicals and Industrial Practice at Marakon Associates (a Charles River Associates company). Earlier in his career, he held positions with Rohm and Haas and The Gillette Company.

Jim is a graduate of Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, where he earned both a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Science degree in Chemical Engineering.

William C. Whitaker is Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Ashland.

William C. Whitaker was named Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Ashland on July 18, 2025. Whitaker joined Ashland in 2015 and has held several positions of increasing responsibility in corporate development, treasury, financial planning and analysis (FP&A), and investor relations.

Prior to joining Ashland, Whitaker held roles in private equity and transaction advisory services. He earned a Bachelor's degree in Finance from The Ohio State University and holds a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

Dr. Seán McMahon is Business Director, Injectables, Bioprocessing and Medical Devices at Ashland, where he leads global business development and strategic marketing activities for a growing portfolio of pharmaceutical excipients, polymers and advanced materials used across injectable drug delivery, biologics manufacturing and medical device applications.

His responsibilities include Ashland's viatel™ bioresorbable polymers, pharmasolve™ NMP, cavitron™ cyclodextrins, vialose™ high-purity sugars, blanose™ carboxymethyl cellulose BET grades, plasdone™ C-grades, diagnostic film technologies including gafchromic™, radsure™ and sterin™, as well as custom polymer solutions. He works with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies worldwide to develop innovative solutions for long-acting injectables, complex parenteral formulations, drug solubilization, biologics production/stabilization and advanced drug delivery systems.

Seán joined Ashland through the acquisition of Vornia Biomaterials in 2018, where he served as Chief Executive Officer and led the development and commercialization of advanced bioresorbable polymer technologies for pharmaceutical, medical device and regenerative medicine applications. Prior to becoming CEO, he held senior leadership roles across R&D, manufacturing and quality, helping transform the company from an early-stage university spinout into a GMP and ISO 13485-certified biomaterials business.

Widely recognized as a subject matter expert in long-acting injectables and bioresorbable polymer technologies, Seán has worked with many of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies supporting the development of extended-release therapeutics, medical devices and emerging drug delivery platforms. He has authored numerous scientific publications, review articles and invited industry presentations, including a 2025 book with Novartis and Janssen teams on biodegradable long-acting injectables and implants (Biodegradable Long Acting Injectables and Implants: An Industry View | SpringerLink).

Seán holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Biomedical Engineering and a Master of Science from the University of Galway, graduating first in his engineering class. He received several prestigious academic and industry awards, including the Medtronic Prize, Ryan Hanley Award and Irish Research Council (IRCSET) Fellowship. He earned his Ph.D. in Medical Science from Institute of Dermatology, University College Dublin and later completed an MBA with Distinction at Trinity Business School, where he was awarded the Seamus McDermott Scholarship for Entrepreneurship.

Kapish Karan is the Senior Global R&D Leader, Ashland Life Sciences, where he leads the oral solid dosage portfolio. He oversees innovation strategy, drives new product commercialization, and partners directly with strategic customers.

With more than 15 years in the field, he specializes in immediate- and modified-release product design, film-coating technology, and the unit operations behind oral solid dosage forms.

He holds several patents in excipient technology, dosage form design for pharmaceuticals and nutritional supplements, and film-coating systems, and is a frequent author and conference speaker on granulation, coating systems, and taste masking.

Kapish earned a Bachelor of Pharmacy from Osmania University and an M.S. in Pharmaceutics, Industrial Pharmacy from Long Island University's Arnold & Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.

Ling Li is Senior Global R&D Director, Specialty Additives, Ashland, a position he has held since May 2024.

Prior to joining Ashland, Ling served as Global R&D Director, Sartomer BU, Arkema, from January 2019 to May 2024. Before that, he served as APAC regional R&D leader at Dow Chemical from September 2011 to December 2018. He has also held a variety of leadership positions and brings extensive experience with Coating resin/additive, Plastic additive and Textile companies, including Dow Chemical, Rohm and Haas, and Milliken.

Ling holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Peking University in China, and a Ph.D. in Polymer Chemistry from Georgia Institute of Technology.