Meet the Presenters Chris Allemang,
Lead TS&D Specialist, Dow
Christian Allemang has been working in the chemical industry for 8 years in both Sales and TS&D capacities. In his current role, he provides front-line technical support for coating and adhesives customers as well as product specific support for Dow’s Solvents and Amines portfolios. Christian graduated from the Pennsylvania State University with bachelor’s degrees in Chemistry and History.
William (Bill) Arendt, Technical Director, Velsicol Chemical LLC
William (Bill) D. Arendt is currently the President and Technical Director of Arendt Consulting, Inc. Bill has worked for Emerald Kalama Chemical, Genovique and Velsicol in developing new plasticizers, tech service and others. His primary focus at these companies was new plasticizer design and development, technical service and support to sales, business development and marketing. Bill has expertise in adhesives, sealants, caulks, PVC, polyurethanes, alkyds, unsaturated polyesters, epoxy, coatings and other applications. Bill has received the Distinguished Contributor Award at ASC and is an honored Fellow of the SPE, and member of ASTM C24 and D01.
T.J. Huang,
Development Associate, Henkel Corporation
Dr. TJ Huang is a Senior Scientific Principal at Henkel Corp. He has been working as a product development chemist at National Starch & Henkel’s Bridgewater New Jersey site since 1998. Dr. Huang’s professional interest and expertise have been exclusively on waterborne adhesives’ design, formulation, testing, and adhesive’s composition - property relationship study. TJ is a graduate of Peking University in China (BSc, Chemistry) and University of Bristol in England (PhD, Colloid Science & Rheology).
Jake Jacobs, Sr. Group
Leader, Microbiology, Troy Corporation
Dr. Jacobs is the head of the microbiology R&D and technical service departments at Troy Corporation, a biocide manufacturer based in Florham Park, NJ. Dr. Jacobs has been with Troy for 3 years. His research areas of interest include novel preservation technologies and applications, novel test methods, and experiments focused on bridging the gap between laboratory and field data. Prior to Troy, Jake earned his bachelors in Biology from Cornell University, a masters in Microbiology from New York University, and a PhD in Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry from Rutgers University.
Laura James,
Scientist, Kraton Chemical Company, LLC
Laura has nearly 10 years of experience with adhesive tackifiers, most of which is focused on waterbased materials. Her experience includes synthesis of pine chemical tackifiers, dispersions, scale-up, formulation, and coating. She obtained her BS in Chemistry from Georgia Southern University in 2011 and joined Arizona Chemical (later purchased by Kraton) after graduation.
Raj Hariharan, Senior Group Leader, Mapei Corporation USA
Dr. Raj Hariharan is a Sr. Group Leader with MAPEI Corporation, where he works on research, development, production and application of products for floor coverings such as PSA, coatings, primers and sealants. Before joining MAPEI, Raj worked for Rohm and Haas/ Dow Chemical. Raj has a Ph.D. in Polymers from Baylor University, TX. He has authored several United States and International patents and published several articles in peer reviewed journals. Raj teaches courses on Polymers for University system of Georgia.
Dennis Sagl,
R&D Lab Manager Wacker Polymers L.P.
Dennis received a B.S. degree in chemistry from Lehigh University in 1981 and a Ph.D.in organic chemistry from the University of Illinois in 1986. He began working at Air Products
and Chemicals in 1986, where he worked on various organic and polymer chemistry projects. He has been researching various aspects of polymer emulsions since 1996. In 2008, Dennis joined Wacker Chemical Corp. when Wacker bought the Air Products share of the APP/WPS joint venture. At Wacker, Dennis continued his research on vinyl acetate/ethylene (VAE) polymer dispersions. His primary focus is on product development, but he also has responsibility for preservation of Wacker’s aqueous VAE dispersions.
Mital Shah, Associate Applications Chemist, Munzing North America
Mital Shah is currently working as an Applications Chemist for the PCA Technical Service Group at Münzing. She has been with Münzing for 8 years.Her work at Münzing consists of providing technical solutions for various coatings customers and technical support to sales.Her background includes a Master’s in Chemistry along with previous experience in the coatings field.
Jeff Weilage,
Senior Scientist I, HB Fuller
Jeff graduated from the University of Minnesota Duluth in 2010 with a BS degree in Chemistry and joined H.B. Fuller in 2012 as part of the Waterbase/Polymer Group. Jeff’s role at H.B.Fuller involves waterbased compounding, formulation and scale up including atmospheric emulsion polymers and high pressure VAE (vinylacetate ethylene) polymers.
Ray Zeliznik,
Senior Associate Scientist Covestro LLC
Ray joined Covestro, LLC in 2015 and is currently the Technical Manager of the Industrial Adhesives group focusing on packaging, furniture, footwear and general industrial applications. He has been in the coatings and adhesives industry for almost 20 years with responsibilities ranging from medical and pharmaceutical PSA’s, rigid and flexible packaging, and application technology development with polyurethane and polychloroprene dispersions.