DeLapa makes history as Rubber Division chair

AKRON—Terry DeLapa chose one word as the theme for her tenure as chair of ACS Rubber Division.

Vitality.

“We're an energetic group,” she said of the 2,130-member organization, “but we have to stay vital if we're going to survive.”

Now, thanks to DeLapa, the group can call itself diverse, too.

When she succeeded Doug Ruch at the end of 2014, DeLapa, the sales manager for the Eastern region for Alpha Technologies Inc., became the first female chair in the 106-year history of the Akron-based Rubber Division.

That fact was difficult for DeLapa to comprehend. When Ed Miller, executive director of the organization, informed DeLapa of her place in history, she didn't believe it. She asked that it be verified.

“They brought me a list,” she said. “I was surprised ... I thought something got missed over the years.”

Breaking a gender barrier in a male-dominated industry was not in her thought process when she first joined the Rubber Division in 1989, nor in 2010, when she was elected to the Steering Committee and began her ascent up the organizational ladder.

“I'm honored,” she said, “but I didn't want to do this just because I'll be the first woman (chair). It's just a passion I have for participating in the division. So I'm proud, but I want to make sure it doesn't end there.”

“When I first came into the division 15 years ago, the industry was pretty much a (male-dominated) outfit,” Miller said. “Over the last 15 years, I've seen that change. You see a lot of younger people, both young men and women. And you start to see a lot more female leaders emerge. It's important for us as a division to recognize that.

“As the industry changes, the division needs to change.”

DeLapa has set some aggressive goals as she enters the Rubber Division's first major event of her year-long tenure, the 187th Technical Meeting, to be held April 27-29 at the Hyatt Regency in Greenville, S.C. There, DeLapa and the rest of the strategic plan working group—which comprises members of the Steering Committee, Rubber Division staff and membership—will continue to review and refine the group's strategic plan, which lays out the future of the organization for the next five years.

The initiative began to take shape earlier this year at a retreat, guided by the American Chemical Society, where the group targeted goals. The plan will be shaped in time to be voted on at the Rubber Division's International Rubber Expo, set for Oct. 12-15 in Cleveland.

“We've got a lot of work to do in the next few months,” she said.

Besides establishing a strategic plan, DeLapa has identified three other goals: Use technology to enhance the division's reach; develop educational partnerships; and drive programs to build a strong industry work force.

“I challenged the staff to look for ways to use technology more and more to our benefit for more efficiencies, better communication, all those things,” she said. The group has begun to digitize some of the old papers on microfilm, making them more accessible for membership.

In addition, the group is trying to determine whether it is more efficient to judge papers electronically at technical sessions, and it is in the early stages of redesigning the Rubber Division's website, www.rub-ber-.-org.

“The challenge is what else, what else, all the time,” DeLapa said.

The last two goals seem to dovetail perfectly. She wants to intensify the industry's outreach to schoolchildren, thus planting the seed early that the rubber industry is a viable career option.

“Over the years, we've done some interfacing with universities and things like that,” DeLapa said. “Now we're starting to look at outreach, starting at kindergarten and going forward. We're currently involved with some groups here in Summit County that are looking for partnerships with industries that want to draw in the youth and get them interested.”

She said that could mean providing a poster as a teaching tool that illustrates all of the everyday goods, including shoes, tires and automobiles, in which rubber plays an integral role.

“(The rubber industry) is not glamorous. It's not flashy. The image isn't always great. So it's a challenge,” she said.

“Terry is extremely energetic,” Miller said. “She's got some great ideas and is doing great things for the division.”

DeLapa took an unconventional route to the industry. She graduated from the University of Akron in 1976 with a teaching degree in special education.

She began her professional career as a teacher in Norton, Ohio, and Painesville, Ohio, but soon entered the business world by selling copy machines out of the back of a station wagon.

“There's not much difference between selling and teaching if you think about it,” she said. “The best way to sell something is to educate your customer about it. What it brings to them, what it offers to them. That's the same way you have to handle students. You can't just present something and say, "Buy it, learn it.' It's all the same.”

DeLapa enjoyed sales, and her role began to expand. And when a recruiter approached her about a sales job at the Harwick Chemical Corp.—”my understanding was that it was suggested if she could find a woman, it would be a plus,” DeLapa said—her career in the rubber industry officially began.

She had misgivings initially about the industry. Her father had to uproot their family several times as he worked in various positions at B.F. Goodrich. “With all that moving around as a child, I said, "I'm never going to be in the rubber industry. They don't treat families nicely. They make them move.'

“And here I am.”

She began selling rubber chemicals, polymers and additives at Harwick, then started the direct marketing department, before moving into product management and marketing. She ultimately became vice president of marketing, with customer service, pricing and product managers under her supervision.

“I never considered getting out (of the rubber industry),” DeLapa said. “Once I got into the industry, that was it.”

She left the company, now Harwick Standard Distribution Corp., in 2009 after more than two decades. She then joined SunBoss Chemicals Corp., spending two years there developing sales and branding strategies.

When she saw a job posting in mid-2012 from Alpha Technologies, a manufacturer of rubber and polymer laboratory equipment and software, DeLapa said she pursued the position hard because of the firm's reputation. “Being at Harwick, I felt like I was at the best. Coming here was another chance to be with a company that is the best at what they do,” she said.

Her responsibilities include non-tire accounts in the Eastern U.S. and Canada, while she coordinates with agents in the Western U.S. She handles quotes, follows up with customers, handles demonstrations and oversees marketing efforts globally, including advertising, brochures and product launches.

“I've been dealing with a lot of my customers for many, many years,” she said. “That's one thing about the rubber industry. People come in and they rarely leave. They move, but that don't leave.”

DeLapa said she is extremely fortunate that Harwick and Alpha are both strong advocates of the Rubber Division.

Harwick, in fact, encouraged her to participate in the organization after she attended her first division expo in Detroit in 1989. She initially became involved in the marketing committee, eventually serving as an area director, on the local arrangements committee and chair of the Marketing Committee.

“When I first came in 2001, it was basically she and me on the Marketing Committee,” Miller said. “She is so dynamic. She is the reason we got a marketing manager (at the Rubber Division). She helped to drive that.”

DeLapa later was approached about running for the Steering Committee, but it took several years for her to decide to seek, and then win a position. She was elected as secretary in 2010, beginning her five-year journey that culminates this year.

She said the organization offers members from the sales side a great opportunity to network, and it offers those from the technical side educational opportunities with the papers. The expos, she said, offer attendees a valuable experience.

“The atmosphere, it's almost like going to a high school reunion,” she said. “You're excited to go because you get to see everybody again.”

Once her term expires, DeLapa doesn't know what she will do next; she only knows she will perform some role within the Rubber Division.

And she is doing her part to ensure other females follow her trail to the top of the Rubber Division.

“The first few Ohio Rubber Groups I went to, I didn't meet too many women,” she said. “It's been an evolution over the last 20 years. There's been a much bigger growth.

“I've been encouraging more of my female colleagues to get involved. It's going OK. We have interest, so that's a good thing.”

DeLapa hopes her term as chair is remembered as much for her accomplishments as her gender. “Maybe that I did a good job at setting this up for the next five years,” she said. “I hope they feel I contributed something lasting.”