Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. announced that Jan Bertsch, automotive industry veteran and former Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Owens-Illinois Inc., now O-I Glass Inc., has been appointed to the company's Board of Directors as an independent director, effective September 13, 2022. She will serve on the Axalta Audit Committee. The Company also announced that Elizabeth Lempres is stepping down as a member of the Board, effective September 15, 2022.

With the appointment of Bertsch and the departure of Lempres, Axalta's Board will be composed of eight directors, four of whom were appointed to the Board since the beginning of 2020. Axalta's directors bring unique backgrounds and experience in areas important to Axalta's business, including executive leadership, finance, audit, information technology and global operations, and in relevant industries, including specialty chemicals and Axalta's end markets. Prior to her retirement in 2019, Bertsch was SVP and CFO of O-I Glass, where she was responsible for the global finance and IT functions, delivering solutions that enabled collaboration across the enterprise.

She previously served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Sigma Aldrich. Prior to joining Sigma Aldrich in 2012, Bertsch spent more than 30 years in a variety of finance and IT leadership roles for notable companies in the automotive industry, including as SVP, Treasurer and Chief Information Officer of Chrysler, as well as leadership positions at BorgWarner, Visteon and Ford. Bertsch currently serves as independent chair of the Board of BWX Technologies, an aerospace and defense company, and as a director on the Board of Regal Rexnord, a manufacturer of industrial and powertrain solutions.

She previously served as a member of the Board and chair of the audit committee at Meritor, a manufacturer of construction machinery and heavy truck components, now a part of Cummins. Bertsch has served as a member of the Cisco Board of Advisors, Microsoft Advisory Board and CIO Executive Board. She was named to the Top 100 Most Influential Women in the Automotive Industry by Automotive News twice in her career.

Bertsch earned a B.A. in Finance from Wayne State University and an M.B.A. from Eastern Michigan University.