Ed Breen reappointed as DuPont CEO amid leadership shakeup

After a year of decreased earnings, Marc Doyle and Jeanmarie Desmond, DuPont’s chief executive officer and chief financial officer, respectively, are leaving the company, Bloomberg reports.

Doyle, who had been CEO for less than a year, has been replaced with executive chairman Ed Breen, who served as CEO before Doyle. Lori Koch, VP of investor relations and financial planning, will replace Desmond.

“After careful consideration, the board concluded now is the right time to make these leadership changes, including restoring Ed to the chief executive role to draw more directly on his substantial operating experience,” said Alexander Cutler, DuPont’s lead independent director, in a statement.

DuPont had its Delaware “rebirth” day last June, when DowDuPont officially split into three companies — DuPont and agriscience company Corteva, which are both headquartered in Delaware, and Dow. The DuPont company as Delaware once knew it nearly left with the DowDuPont merger, which was finalized in 2017 after a year of layoffs and new ownership for Wilmington landmarks such as the DuPont Theatre (now back to its old name, The Playhouse on Rodney Square), The Hotel DuPont and The DuPont Country Club. In January, it was announced that part of the ex-DuPont business complex Chestnut Run would be redeveloped as a mixed-use project.

In December, International Flavors & Fragrances bought the DuPont Nutritional Unit for $26.3 billion.