2020 STEP Ahead Chair

Erika Peterman
Senior Vice President, Chemical Intermediates North America
BASF Corporation

Erika joined BASF in 1997 and held a variety of technical and commercial roles throughout her career. She began as a manufacturing process engineer in BASF TOTAL’s joint venture petrochemicals facility in Port Arthur, TX. After roles of progressively more responsibility at that facility and in Houston, she relocated to Florham Park, New Jersey, to work in product management for BASF’s Performance Chemicals business in 2007.

After BASF’s 2008 acquisition of Ciba, Erika accepted an international strategic marketing assignment in Germany. Her four and a half years in Europe were split between the company’s world headquarters in Ludwigshafen, Germany, and Basel, Switzerland. She was appointed Vice President of Global Marketing for Pigments and Performance Additives in 2011.

Erika joined Performance Materials North America as Vice President of Business Management in January 2014. In that role, she managed sales, marketing, and technical service activities for Performance Materials Construction’s polyurethanes and engineering plastics portfolio across the region. In this role, Erika focused on the importance of resiliency in construction through the education of stakeholders and fostering partnerships in the industry.

She most recently took over general management of the North American Chemical Intermediates business in July 2019, based in Florham Park, NJ.

Erika holds a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, and a MBA from the University of Houston. She resides in New Jersey, is married and has two sons. In her spare time, she enjoys the outdoors, fitness, and travelling to visit family in various parts of the world.