The Board of Air Products South Africa is pleased to announce that effective February 1, 2024, Charles Dos Santos will succeed Rob Richardson as managing director of the company. Richardson has led the company since 2016 but intends to retire at the end of March 2024, which will allow for a smooth leadership transition.
Dos Santos joined Air Products in 1994 and has served the company in various senior management positions. Since 2016 he has held the position of general manager on-sites. In this role, he has successfully led Air Products’ largest business division which comprises the ASU, hydrogen and CO2 production operations. This division supplies tonnage gases by pipeline to major industrial consumers and also supplies liquefied gases to Air Products’ downstream bulk and packaged gases businesses.
Before 2016, Dos Santos held the position of sales manager on-sites, in which he was instrumental in the development of various key projects and strategic initiatives, resulting in the company’s successful growth in the platinum group metals (PGM) and petrochemical sectors.
Dos Santos has a B.Sc. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand and a B.Com degree from the University of South Africa. With his deep knowledge of the industry and the local market Air Products South Africa is confident that the company will continue to flourish under Dos Santos’ leadership.
