Merck announced that, as of April 1, Michael Heckmeier, currently Head of the Pigments & Functional Materials business unit, will become Head of the Display Materials business unit within Performance Materials. Display Materials includes the Liquid Crystals business. Friedhelm Felten, who previously headed Group Procurement, will succeed Heckmeier on April 1 as Head of the Pigments & Functional Materials business unit. Felten will be succeeded as Chief Procurement Officer by Joachim Christ, currently Head of Group Controlling & Risk Management. Michael Heckmeier joined the company in 1998 and has served as Head of Liquid Crystals R&D, among other things. As Head of the Pigments business, he successfully restructured the cosmetics activities.