Avient CEO and leadership

Arts, Technology, and Lifelong Learning Consultant, University of South Florida | President, Taste of the Classics, Inc.

Jamie A. Beggs is senior vice president and chief financial officer of Avient Corporation, a premier provider of specialized and sustainable material solutions and services. Ms. Beggs joined Avient in August 2020 and has responsibility for the finance, investor relations, information technology and corporate communications organizations. Ms. Beggs has more than 20 years of experience in finance and business leadership roles in both public and private organizations with an emphasis on specialty materials and diverse end markets. She previously served as chief financial officer of Hunt Consolidated, Inc., a diversified holding company whose businesses served many industries including energy, real estate and private investments. Prior to Hunt, she worked for Celanese Corporation, where she served in a variety of finance and business positions, including vice president and corporate treasurer, and earlier as chief financial officer of the materials solutions business. Ms. Beggs began her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers after earning her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin. Subsequently, she joined the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board before joining Celanese. She holds a CPA certificate from the state of Texas.

João José San Martin Neto (“Joka”) serves as senior vice president and Chief Human

Resources Officer of Avient Corporation, a premier provider of specialized and sustainable

material solutions and services. He has global responsibility for the human resources

function, including performance management, succession planning, compensation, benefits

administration, recruiting, labor relations and talent development.

He joined Avient in 2013 as director of human resources for Color, Additive & Inks, and

also served the Finance, Information Technology and Legal functions with HR strategy and

support.

Prior to joining Avient, Joka spent nearly 30 years with Alcoa. Among his many roles was vice

president of human resources for the Alcoa Power and Propulsion and the Alcoa Electrical and

Electronic Systems businesses, which served the aerospace, defense, energy, industrial and

automotive markets.

Joka holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a post-graduate degree in human resources

management, both from the Universidade de Taubaté, in Taubaté, Brazil. In addition he holds

a post-graduate degree in social and labor psychology from Instituto Sedes Sapientiae in São

Paulo, Brazil.

With nearly 20 years of experience in R&D and scientific leadership, Dr. Purayath joined Avient in June 2021 to lead the development of emerging, next-generation and sustainable technologies globally for the company.

A business leader with a technical, entrepreneurial mindset, Dr. Purayath has achieved global success in materials development, with a particular emphasis on semiconductor and digital memory applications. At SanDisk Corporation, he held technical and engineering leadership positions over an eight-year period, building and leading a global team of engineers, whose success underpinned the growth of the company. Dr. Purayath later joined Applied Materials, as the technology leader for its new Selective Removal Products business, and most recently served as Vice President, Process Technology for SunRise Memory.

Dr. Purayath's academic credentials are extensive, including a PhD in Quantum Engineering and Science Systems, University of Tokyo; a Master's of Business Administration, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); a Master's Degree in Materials Science in Engineering, PSG College of Technology; and a Bachelor's of Science in Physics, Bharathiar University. A continual and passionate innovator, Dr. Purayath has been named as an inventor in more than 150 patents.

Experienced Chief Human Resources Officer and legal professional with a demonstrated history of working in specialty chemicals, global manufacturing, hospital & health care industries. Strong business partner skilled in business development, strategic planning, organizational design and development, leadership development, global compensation and benefits, employee relations, labor and employment, M&A, compliance and corporate governance.

Arts, Technology, and Lifelong Learning Consultant, University of South Florida | President, Taste of the Classics, Inc.