NEXT EVENTS

(for additional future events, see Calendar in menu above)

February 7 - Personal Care Innovation

The fascinating personal care product market is expected to reach USD 650 billion globally by 2024 and is growing due to rising awareness of health and hygiene as well as scientific advancements. There are 4 highly notable trends occurring in the personal care space: Sustainability, Beauty within, Holistic microbiome, and Customized / Personalized beauty on demand.

Ingredients, sourcing and even packaging are becoming important to consumers. Younger consumers place growing importance on sustainable supply chains, traceability, and generally, trust in a product, trust in a company.

Consumers are starting to realize that beauty doesn’t start with what they put on their bodies, but what they put into their bodies. The microbiome, gut and skin have been one of the hottest topics in Personal Care. Advances in data analysis and AI are bridging our understanding of how genes translate into microbiome chemistry and how that chemistry can promote “a better you.”

Join us on February 7 to learn what trends will help shape the face of Personal Care Innovation for the coming years.

Jaime Ferreira Executive R&D Director at Estée Lauder since April 2016. Previously, he led research teams at PDI, Takasago USA and the Ungerer & Company. PhD in Chemistry from Seton Hall University. Member of the ACS and Biophysical Society.

Auroni Majumdar Director of R&D Strategy and Technology Scouting at International Flavors & Fragrances' Taste, Scent, and Nutrition businesses. 10 years at PepsiCo working across their food and beverage brands. Led R&D platform for Starbucks Ready-to-Drink. BE in Biomedical Engineering and a MS in Innovation Management from Stevens Institute of Technology.

March 7 - Transforming the Industry Landscape

Join us on March 7 to hear the insights of the leader of the largest M&A transaction ($130 Billion) in the history of the chemical industry and the fourth largest of all time. .

Edward Breen CEO of DowDuPont. Key architect of the largest merger in the chemical industry. He became the chair of the board and CEO of DuPont on Nov. 9, 2015. He joined the DuPont Board of directors in Feb. 2015. He served as chairman and CEO of Tyco International from 2002 until 2012. He transformed Tyco into a strong market leader, reviving the company from near bankruptcy and overseeing successful spin-offs including Covidien and ADT. He worked at Motorola from 2000 to 2002, including as president and COO leading the company back to profitability. From 1994 to 2000, he held senior positions at General Instrument. He serves as a director of Comcast and in the advisory board of New Mountain Capital. Ethisphere named him one of the "100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics."

PAST MEETINGS

January 9 - The Upcoming Digital Leap to AI

AI technologies could lead to a substantial performance gap between the front runners and slow adopters/ nonadopters.

Kevin McGowan is an Associate Partner with McKinsey from the Cleveland office. Leader in Chemicals & Agriculture Practice on Digital and AA/AI-enabled functional excellence applying Digital and AA. PhD in Chemistry – Inorganic Catalysis, U. Florida; MBA, Duke.

Sam Samdani , PhD, is a Senior Expert at McKinsey’s Chemicals & Agriculture Practice. He helps clients across complex knowledge domains in the various segments of advanced materials and downstream specialty chemicals markets.

 Webcast recording registration

Dec 4, 2018 - Seventh STEM Leadership Awards

Honored the following leaders: for Lifetime Achievement KKR Co-Founder Henry Kravis; and for Corporate Reinvention DowDuPont CEO Ed Breenfor STEM Philanthropy Simons Foundation Co-founders Marilyn and James Simons. Event Co-Chairs included the Chairman and CEO of Air Products Seifi Ghasemi and the President of Dow Chemical Jim Fitterling. Math for America President John Ewing gave remarks. This award-winning event was held at the historic NY Metropolitan Club.

Video - Photos

Jim Fitterling, Ed Breen, Henry Kravis, Seifi Ghasemi.

Ava Della Pietra with honorees Jim and Marilyn Simons.

Metropolitan Club Great Hall Reception.

November 6 - Am. Securities/Prince Corp. M&A Strategy: Delivering Engineered Solutions Globally

Through a global acquisition strategy, the Am. Securities portfolio company Prince now serves over 2,000 customers and has become one of the world’s largest manufacturers of specialty mineral additives and inorganic chemicals with locations across six continents having closed 20 add-on acquisitions since 2003.

Willson Ropp, is Chairman and President at Prince Corporation. He joined Prince in January 2004. Previously, he worked at Horeshead Industries, private equity, and investment banking industries. Holds a BS in Economics and an MBA from Wharton. 

Scott Wolff, is Managing Director at American Securities. He joined the firm in 2002 and is Chairman of Chromaflo, Emerald Perform., Henry Co.and Prince. He worked previously at Merrill Lynch and holds an MBA from Wharton and a BS in Finance from Indiana University.

October 4 - Deloitte VIce Chairman: Chemical Industry Digitalization, Innovation and Growth

Duane Dickson, is a Vice Chairman and principal in Deloitte Consulting LLP’s Energy Resources & Industrials Industry group, as well as the US Oil, Gas & Chemicals Sector Leader and the Global Oil, Gas & Chemicals Consulting leader. Additionally, he is the former Global Chemicals & Specialty Materials Sector Leader for Deloitte Global. Duane served as a World Economic Forum’s Chemical Community Lead, Chemistry and Advanced Materials.

Aug 21: 2nd ACS NASA Symposium - Boston

STEM Innovations for Humanity's Next Big Step.

ACS President Peter Dorhout recommended this Symposium. The Westin Boston Waterfront was the venue for the 2nd ACS NASA space symposium organized by CME with PMSE . The CME Lectures Session featured some of the world's leading scientists.

CME Lecturers from left: Dr. Robert Langer, MIT, the world's most cited engineer, 1,300+ patents; Dr. Emily Carter, Dean, College of Engineering, Princeton; and Dr. James Green, NASA Chief Scientist. Organizers: PMSE Past Chair Qinghuan Lin; CME Past Chair George Rodriguez and CME Vice Chair Charles Brumlik.

CME 30-sec 2nd ACS NASA Symposium Promo Video

June 7 - Olin: A New Game in the Epoxy World

Pat Dawson, is Executive Vice President of Olin Corporation and President, Epoxy and Olin International. In October 2015, Pat D. Dawson was appointed Executive Vice President of Olin Corporation and President, Epoxy and Olin International.

May 3 - Latin American Outlook - CME SyncMeet NY Penn Club-Dusseldorf/Evonik Essen Campus

Rina Quijada, PhD, Vice President, Oil Markets, Midstream, Downstream, Chemicals for IHS Markit. Formerly CEO of IntelliChem. She worked for CMAI and Pequiven. Holds a degree in Organic Chemistry and attended Oxford's master's management program.

April 5 - Economic Outlook and Leveraging Exciting Consumer Trends - Hot Topic: Trade with China

Kathy Bostjancic, Chief US Financial Economist at Oxford Economics, Formerly, Director for Macroeconomic Analysis at The Conference Board. Worked at Citicorp Investment Bank, Union Bank of Switzerland, and Merrill Lynch. Cited in WSJ, NYT, CNBC.

Ash Bhumbla, is Director of Corporate Strategy at International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF). Previously, Director of R&D Finance and Strategy. Worked at the consulting firm Marakon in Consumer Packaged Goods, Biotech, Medical Nutrition, and Private Equity.

Mar 1 - Bioscience Research in the Digital Age

Peter Eckes, President of BASF bioscience Research, drives innovative sustainable solutions for agricultural, food and industrial applications for a better life and improved environment. PhD in organic chemistry from the U Frankfurt and post-doctoral at Harvard.

Jan 15, 2018 - CME supports ACS International Chapter on K-12 STEM Festivals & Symposia

For the fisrt anniversary of ACS Peru Chapter, CME organized event in Lima and invited members and friends of ACS Peru to celebrate the first 2018 meeting and grow STEM education (Science Technology Engineering & Mathematics) in which Chemistry is the central pillar. CME Past Chair George Rodriguez was keynote speaker at the event that kicks off a year focused on STEM educational institutions, industry and government.

Showing the magic of chemistry has inspired over 6,000 students.

Jan 10 - McKinsey - Digital Meets Chemical: Innovate or Evaporate?

Johnathan Ablett is an expert with the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI). He studies the macroeconomic forces and risks driving the global economy and translate these insights into actionable business strategies. Jonathan was an economist with the World Bank . MBA from Babson College, MA in Economics from McGill.

Sam Samdani , PhD, is a senior industry knowledge expert at McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm. His responsibilities include leading the firm’s Chemicals & Agriculture Practice. Prior to joining McKinsey in 1995, Sam worked at McGraw-Hill He holds a BS and PhD in chemical engineering.

2017 Leadership Awards

Rodriguez, Skorton, Navarro, Benavides, Kroh, Keller, Susan Pappas, Chris Pappas and Brumlik.

West Lounge Award Presentation.

Leadership Awards: Insightful. Warm. Inspirational.

2017 Awards Program

2017 Awards Photo Album

Nov 2 - Bain: M&A Lessons from Private Equity

Tom Shannon, is partner in Bain’s Chicago office and leads Bain’s Global Industrial Goods & Services practice. Tom has deep experience with all aspects of portfolio and transformational growth strategies. He has supported private equity and corporate buyers on the diligence of more than 200 businesses.

Jason McLinn, partner in Bain’s Chicago office and leads Bain’s Chemicals practice in North America. He has experience in polymers, plastics, specialty chemicals, transportation, and chemical distribution. Focus on corporate growth strategy, commercial excellence, acquisitions and post-merger integration.

Oct 5 - ACC: Economic Outlook in Turbulent TImes

Dr. Kevin Swift, Chief Economist at the American Chemistry Council. The business of chemistry supports 25 percent of the US GDP. It is vital to continued expansion, job creation, and the return of a strong domestic manufacturing sector. He has provided us in the past with an accurate view of the energy and housing markets.

Aug 22-23, 2017 - Journey to Mars Symposium

Event created by CME in collaboration with POLY and ACS Publications and the endorsement of 18 ACS Technical Divisions. Over 800 people attended the first ACS NASA Journey to Mars Symposium, among the highest attendance for a new topical symposium at the ACS national meeting in recent history. Marriott Marquis in Washington, DC. Event focused on cutting-edge developments to advance space travel and translate them into new practical knowledge for the benefit of humanity.

Mars Program

ACS 1-min Mars Symposium Promo Video

C&EN 5-min Video ACS Symposium: How chemistry will help put humans on Mars (interviews w NASA's Kavandi and Siochi, Clemson's Blenner, MIT's Swager)

DAY 1 (Tue 8/22, Industry): Technology & Jobs. Marquis Shaw

New Materials, Polymers, CNT composites. Industry Session: featuring speakers from NASA, Lockheed Martin, Aerospace Corporation, Orbital ATK, Aerojet Rocketdyne and GWU.

4:00 pm – 5:30 pm CME Lectures. Marquis Independence D/E

Dr. J. Craig Venter, PhD, Co-Founder, Executive Chairman, Head of Scientific Strategy, Human Longevity, Inc. Founder of Celera Genomics, key contributor to the groundbreaking 2001 Science publication of the human genome. .

Janet L. Kavandi, PhD, Director of NASA’s John H. Glenn Research Center. Manages propulsion, communications, power, microgravity sciences and materials development. Astronaut. 535 Earth Orbits. 13.1 million miles. PhD in analytical chem.

Harry B. Gray, PhD, Arnold O. Beckman Professor of Chemistry at Caltech. Developed ligand field theory to interpret the electronic structures and reactions of transition metal complexes. Using cutting-edge chemistry to make oxygen from CO2 for space missions.

6:30 pm – 10:30 pm CME Leadership Awards Reception at the National Air & Space Museum (NASM). Awards Presentation honoring the lecturers. IMAX 3D film Journey to Space.

DAY 2 (Wed 8/23): Technology Innovation. Marquis Shaw.     Energy Storage, Sensors. Aerogels, MOFs, In-situ Utilization of Martian Soil, Extraordinary control of Mars Environment.

Symposium Organizers: Michael Meador (NASA), George Rodriguez (CME), Charles Brumlik (CME)

June 1 - Use of Renewables in Specialty Chemicals

Specialty chemicals market estimate is USD 1,3 Trillion by 2024. .

James Virosco, is Vice President in Nexant's Energy and Chemicals Advisory consulting practice including basic petrochemicals, polymers, and specialty chemicals. He was a Research Engineer at Union Carbide. B.S. degrees in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering from MIT, and an MBA from the University of Michigan.

Ron Cascone, is a Principal in the Energy and Chemicals Advisory at Nexant, Inc. and a leader in bio-renewables, waste disposal and bio-based processing including by gasification, fermentation, pyrolysis and chemical conversion. BS in chemical engineering at Manhattan College and Columbia University.

May 4 - Latinamerican Outlook

Latin American population to reach one billion people by 2050.

Lourdes Cassanova, PhD, Academic Director of the Emerging Markets Institute at the Johnson School at Cornell. Ranked as one of the 50 most influential Iberoamerican intellectuals by Esglobal. A Fulbright Scholar, she worked at UC Berkeley, Cambridge, Oxford, and Zurich. Executive programs at INSEAD. Author of ‘Global Latinas: Latin America’s emerging multinationals.’

Marcos Troyjo, PhD, co-founder of BRICLab at Columbia University, where he teaches international affairs. Op-ed columnist for Folha de S. Paulo and a regular commentator for CNN en Español, Huffington Post and Financial Times. He authored the books Trading Nation: Power & Prosperity in the 21st Century.

Danil Kerimi, Director of the Center for Global Agenda at World Economic Forum USA. Prior to joining the WEF in 2008, Worked with the United Nations, governments and business leaders in Europe and Central Asia. Since 2011, he has been in charge of data, digital ecosystem, ICT and competitiveness, and hyperconnectivity.

George Rodriguez (moderator), a growth and innovation advisor. Worked at Nagase America,, Asahi Glass, Pfizer. Past Chair of CME made it the largest topical group at ACS. Founder of ACS Peru, CME Leadership Awards and the ACS NASA Space Symposia. Highest honors in B.S. Chemical Engineering, and M.S. Ind. Mgt.

March 2 - CVC: Manufacturing Reinvention

Tom Kichler, Partner and US Head of Industrials and Energy at CVC. Previously, worked at One Equity Partners (JP Morgan), Citigroup CIB (Salomon). Board of Directors at Anchor Glass, and he served at the Boards of East Balt, PeroxyChem, Sonneborn Refined Products, Columbian Chemicals. BSE, Wharton School.

February 2 - Loreal, IFF: Cosmetics Innovation

Michael White, Assistant Vice President of Creative Fragrance Development at L’Oreal USA, .has 30 years in the personal care industry in quality, formulation, and creative fragrance development. Mike has worked for Gillette and has created fragrances for nearly every personal care category in body application.

Dennis Maroney, Perfumer at International Flavors and Fragrances which he joined in 2001. Previously, he was Perfumer at Shaw Mudge and Co. and Kato Worldwide Ltd. He was President of the American Society of Perfumers. BS in Psychology and Chemisty.

November 3 - Royal Adhesives M&A for Growth

Theodore Clark is the Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Royal Adhesives & Sealants LLC, a global top six manufacturer of adhesives and sealants for the transportation, assembly and construction industries and is also Board member of MPD Laboratories and Nusil a silicone manufacturer. He has been President and Chief Executive of PRC-Desoto , Burke Industries.

October 6 - WR Grace Sharp Strategic Focus

Fred Festa joined Grace as President and COO in 2003, became CEO in 2005, and Chairman in 2008. He completed 22 acquisitions and guided Grace through the longest Chapter 11 process.  Festa served in senior positions at Morgenthaler Private Equity Partners, ICG Commerce, AlliedSignal and GE.

September 8 - Sustainable Packaging: What's Next?

Emile Homsi, Ph.D., LLM, is currently the SABIC Global leader for The Polymer Application Technology Group. Emile has worked for Honeywell, BASF and DSM. He was Americas VP of Research and Technology for DSM.

Matt Morrison, DFES, MBA, is the SABIC Americas leader for Corporate Sustainability. He worked as a research scientist and team lead at the U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development. He has a PhD Forestry and Environment, MS in Chemistry, and an MBA.

Tamal Ghosh , PhD, is an expert in polymer engineering for Sustainable Packaging, Bio-derived Polymers, Polymer Composites, and Barrier Coatings. He has two decades of global industry experience at Engelhard, Ciba Specialty Chemicals and PepsiCo.

June 2 - NNI 2.0 The Future of USA Nanotechnology

Michael A. Meador, PhD, is Director of the National Nanotechnology coordination Office (NNCO). NASA Glenn Research Center Chief of the Polymers Branch (1988 to 2011). He led a NASA-industry-academia project under the Space Technology Mission Program.

Rajiv Banavali, PhD, is Chief Technology Officer for Honeywell Advanced Materials. He has worked with new low-global-warming-potential Solstice refrigerants, blowing agents, solvents and aerosols as part of Performance Materials and Technologies.

Qinghuang Lin, PhD, Research senior manager at IBM Watson Research Center. He is an IBM Master Inventor with over 80 granted patents with 70 patents pending. He is the editor of 6 books and the author of over 60 technical papers. He is the Chair of the ACS Polymeric Materials Science and Engineering (PMSE) division.

May 5 - 2016 Latin America Outlook

Federico Mennella, Managing Director & Head of Lincoln’s International Global Chemical practice. Led Chase's Chemical and Industrial M&A advisory . Worked at Peter J. Solomon, Deutsche Bank, McKinsey, Lazard, Oppenheimer and Arthur Andersen.

Renzo Merino, Analyst, Moody’s Sovereign Risk Group. Has covered the credit of the Inter-American Development Bank, Panama, Ecuador, USA, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, South Africa, Brazil, Peru, and Venezuela. Country Risk Analyst at BMI.

Moderators: George Rodriguez and James S. Rosenstein, Executive Director, Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce.

April 7 - 2016 Biotech Outlook

Michael King, PhD, is Michael King Jr is a Managing Director and senior research analyst in biotechnology . Prior to joining JMP, he worked at Dawson James Securities, Rodman & Renshaw, Ziopharm Oncology and Wedbush Securities.

Nathan Tinker PhD, has been Executive Director of New York BIO since 2007. He has worked at Sabin Vaccine Institute Cancer Vaccine Consortium and Antenna Group.  Dr. Tinker was Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of the NanoBusiness Alliance. 

Paul Pospisil, PhD, is a Senior Client Partner, Global Life Sciences at Korn Ferry. He recruits CEOs, CFOs, CTOs and other key executives. Co-founder of Aduro Capital LLC. He has worked at Atlas Venture, Millennium Pharmaceuticals and Altus Biologics.

Mar 9 - Accelerating Growth through Distribution

Growth in the $3.4 trillion global chemical value chain .

J. Erik Fyrwald Univar CEO since May 2012. He was President of Ecolab; CEO of Nalco, and Group Vice President of the Agriculture and Nutrition Division of DuPont. Serves on the board of Eli Lilly, Amsted Industries, The SCI, and The Field Museum. BS ChE.

Feb 4 - Sparking the Senses: From Flavor to Table

Ken Gilbert, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Voss of Norway ASA. Ken has over 35 years experience with companies such as A&W Brands, G. Heileman Brewing, Cadbury Schweppes, and Mystic Beverages. Ken was CMO of the Snapple Beverage Group. 

Kay Murano, PhD, Flavorist at International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF). She is a member of the Creative and Applications team. Dr. Murano holds a B.S. and M.S. in Chemistry from St. John's University and a Ph.D. in Food Science from Rutgers.

January 7 - 2016 Economic Outlook, ACC, R. Fry

Kevin Swift, PhD, is a Managing Director and Chief Economist at the American Chemistry Council in Arlington, VA, where he is responsible for economic and other analyses dealing with markets, raw materials, trade, tax, energy, and competition and innovation. 

Robert Fry, PhD, is Principal at Robert Fry Economics where he analyzes the global economy to help decision-makers at manufacturing companies and wealth management firms. He was an award-winning Senior Economist at DuPont. 

December 8 - CME ACS Awards

November 5 - DB: Driving Growth through M&A

Adam Abramson, is a Managing Director at Deutsche Bank. $75 billion of advisory and capital transactions. Involved in the acquisition of Celanese by Blackstone, and the JV of Americas Styrenics by Dow and ChevronPhillips Chemical. Sell-side: OM Group to Apollo and Platform Specialty Products, Rockwood's Pigment business to Huntsman, Ocean Nutrition Canada to DSM, Solutia to Eastman Chemical, Lyondell Chemical to Basell, Ashland’s Electronic Materials to Air Products.

October 1 - What is Next in Crop Science

Jay Vroom, has been president and CEO of CropLife America (CLA) since 1989. CLA lobbies for the benefits of crop technology in enhancing food, fiber and renewable fuel production, and advocates for science-based regulations.  He brings agency experience, plus environmental science knowledge from the U. of Illinois. 

Iain Kelly, Ph.D. is Research Fellow and Director of Regulatory Policy at Bayer CropScience in RTP.  With more than 30 years' experience, his primary responsibility has been coordinating a range of bee health related topics.  He is the immediate past chair of CropLife America's Pollinator Team.

September 9 - Shaping the Future at Chemours

Mark Vergnano is CEO of Chemours, arguably the most significant spinoff of the legendary DuPont in the last half century. The Chemours is in a unique position to re-invent the nature of the formerly known Chemicals & Fluoroproducts and Titanium Technologies businesses of DuPont. Speech Audio/PPT and Press Release

June 4, 2015 - Specialty Chemicals: A New Paradigm for Consumers, Naterials and Life Science

Speaker: James Mish leads Ashland’s global Consumer Specialties business, a leading provider of personal and household care, pharmaceutical, and nutritional specialty chemicals. Mish has integrated the International Specialties Products (ISP) and Ashland consumer businesses to achieve improved growth, innovation and customer experience.

May 7, 2015 - Latin American Outlook

Mauro Leos, Vice President and Sr. Credit Officer, Moody’s Sovereign Risk Group. He is the Regional Credit officer for Latin America. He was Managing Director for Latam at Wharton Econometrics. Graduate in finance from U. of Wisconsin and ITES de Monterrey.

Christian Perlingiere, Associate Director, Latin America, Veracity Worlwide. He analyzed political, social, environmental, and reputational risks linked to major mining projects. Graduate from Georgetown and U. of Chicago's Booth School of Business.

Alberto Ramos, is head of the Latin America Economic Research team in the Global Investment Research Division. He joined Goldman Sachs in 2003. He worked at the IMF for six years.He earned an MA and PhD in Economics and taought at the U. of Chicago.

Mark Gross is a Managing Director at Dominick & Dickerman, an investment bank.  He was Head of Corporate & Investment Banking, Brazil at Standard Chartered Bank and Country Officer for the American Express Bank International.  He holds an MBA from the Stern School of Business.

April 2, 2015 - Japan-USA: Regenerating the World of Medicine

Hiromichi Kumagai, PhD, – Fellow, Head Biotech Lab, Asahi Glass Central Research. Former Managing Director of the ASPEX Division of AGC. Received the 2011 Award of the Japan Bio-industry Association. Shinya Yamanaka, the 2012 Nobel Prize winner found that induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC's) could be derived from normal adult cells..

Speaker: Stephen Chang, PhD, , Vice President for R&D at NYSCF. Since 2005, the New York Stem Cell Foundation has created the first patient-specific stem cell lines for ALS and reprogrammed pancreatic cells. Genetic models of diabetes, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases of human stem cells are being developed at the NYSCF Lab .

October 2, 2014 - Huntsman: Transforming the World of Advanced Materials

James Huntsman, President, Huntsman Advanced Materials. $1.3 billion in epoxy and polyurethane-based polymer products, focus: aerospace, adhesives, high-performance coatings, power generation, green electronics and large-scale projects.

September 10, 2014 - Evonik: Capturing Growth in Specialty Chemicals

Speaker: John Rolando, President of Evonik North America. With more than €12.5 billion in sales in 2012, Evonik is in the midst of an ambitious €6 billion investment program focused to grow its specialty chemicals businesses around the world.

July 12, 2013 - Sustainability Symposium at JFK. Solar Impulse: An Energy Revolution!

The Symposium was organized by Solvay in association with CME and ACS. Solar Impulse is the first solar-powered aircraft to fly across America day and night without any fuel. This amazing machine of 63 meters (208 ft) in wingspan that weighs only 1600 kg (3520 lb) is a marvel of engineering, chemistry, physics, and most importantly, the human passion for perseverance and making the impossible dreams come true.