Salinas enjoying new role as IISRP leader

HOUSTON—The International Institute of Synthetic Rubbers Producers didn't have to search very far to find its new managing director.

The Houston-based institute that advocates for the interests of SR producing firms and others affiliated to the industry chose as its new leader Juan Ramon Salinas. He has been based in Houston since 2001 for his job with Dynasol Elastomers S.A., the past seven years as worldwide commercial and marketing director.

Salinas took over the post July 1 from James McGraw, who retired after leading the IISRP since 1999. McGraw is working closely with Salinas during a three-month transition period and also is serving as an adviser to the group's Executive Committee for a year.

Dynasol was formed in 1999 as a joint venture between Repsol S.A. and Mexico's Grupo Kuo S.A.B. de C.V. (formerly Negromex). It makes SSBR, ESBR, SBS, SEBS and nitrile rubber.

Salinas has been in the rubber and plastics industry for more than 35 years, the past 17 years in rubber. He was with Negromex when the JV was formed and then was transferred to Dynasol.

Salinas vividly remembers his start day in Houston as Sept. 27, 2001. He was supposed to arrive in the city on Sept. 13, two days after the tragic events of 9-11. It was two weeks before the airports reopened and he finally was able to take over his position as logistics and customer service manager.

The new director of the IISRP has a technical background, but his career has spanned all areas of the rubber business. His degrees are in chemical engineering, with his career starting on the technical side in quality control. He then moved into plant operations, became a plant director and entered Dynasol in the technical service department for customers.

His career with Dynasol then moved more into the management and commercial areas, with much more dealings with customers worldwide.

Salinas started becoming active in the IISRP about a decade ago. At first, he just attended meetings of the statistical committee, not as a representative but as an observer.

Then in 2007 he was named Dynasol's representative with the IISRP in the Americas section. He then served as vice president of the section in 2013-14 and as president in 2014-15, which brought with it a two-year stint on the Executive Committee.

From this perspective, he was able to see first-hand the value of the IISRP to its members. “I think the role of the institute is as the promoter/advocator/organizer of the interests of the synthetic rubber producers,” Salinas said in an interview at IISRP headquarters in Houston.

This also allowed him to see the impact of the rubber industry in the global economy through relationships with other sectors such as automotive and transportation.

“Really in numbers of producers, it's not a big amount, but it has an important impact in your life,” he said. “If you don't participate in this type of institute, you can't really see the scope of the impact.”

Salinas believed the IISRP, founded in 1960, has done a good job in representing its members. “One of the things I really appreciate for the institute is the statistical information that we receive,” he said. “The key factor is that the information is provided by the producers themselves. They provide it, and the IISRP organizes it, taking into account the secrecy of the information.”

McGraw first told the Executive Committee in 2013 that he was looking to retire in 2014. He was asked to stay around because the IISRP was well into its last strategic plan, and the group wanted him to follow through on certain key elements.

At the IISRP Annual General Meeting in Japan in 2014, he said he definitely was planning to retire. Normally, the Finance Committee would be tasked with recruiting a new director, but members instead asked him to lead the search.

“That's not always fair to the incumbent, because inevitably you're going to look for someone to do the job just like you did it,” McGraw said. “And that's really not fair (to the incoming leader), because you need to give them a chance to look at it from a different perspective.”

Many people expressed interest, some of whom he didn't feel were serious about the job. Two or three were serious, but none really fit the bill.

One was brought in from Asia to interview, but soon it was clear it wouldn't work out. Another expressed interest late in the process, but McGraw said this candidate didn't want to commit to give the position the six- to eight-year commitment the IISRP sought from its new director.

At the same time, Salinas was taking stock of his career as he was approaching 60. At the Japan meeting, he was talking with another IISRP member and said he might find the job interesting, but he'd have to think about it carefully. A couple of months later, another member contacted him to gauge his interest.

Salinas felt his experience across the technical, plant operations and commercial sides of the rubber industry would help him in this position.

McGraw heard of Salinas' interest and asked that they meet. After Salinas told him he was serious about pursuing the post, the official process started. Salinas said he had the full support of Dynasol in seeking the post, as McGraw required him to tell his employer of his interest to avoid a conflict with an IISRP member company.

“I did a formal interview with him,” McGraw said. “I set up an interview with some of the board members to get their feedback, and it was positive. We decided to make him the job offer.”

He said that Salinas' exposure to all parts of the business were beneficial. “Him having commercial experience was a big plus,” McGraw said. “He also knew the industry. There are a lot of people and players. He just kind of seemed to be the right candidate.”

He also was impressed by Salinas' businesslike approach. “All of the board members who interviewed him came back to me that he was certainly business-oriented in the way he approached certain aspects of the position,” McGraw said.

The former IISRP director knew Salinas through his activities with the IISRP as a member. “When he took over as president, before we had any meetings, he would come out to the office, and we'd go over the agenda,” McGraw said. “We'd talk about what the expectations were from the committee reports. He wasn't going through the motions. He was sincerely wanting to lead the discussion at the meeting.”

McGraw wanted to ensure there was no confusion about who was in charge during the three-month transition period that runs through the end of September. To that end, he moved out of his office and set up shop in a corner of the conference room at IISRP headquarters, complete with a new phone number.

“I'm here as a resource,” McGraw said. “I'm not here to tell him how to do things. I'll say, "Here are things that need to be accomplished.' Then he basically develops them and does it himself.”

He had each of the four full-time staffers for the institute prepare a list of their activities so Salinas could become familiar with them and be clear on what their duties were. Much of the first three weeks also were spent on such nuts-and-bolts tasks as going around to the different banks the institute does business with and changing signatures on accounts.

Salinas views McGraw not as a resource but more of a “guardian angel.”

“He has extensive experience in the institute,” Salinas said. “The key parts are in the sensitivity of the critical issues of the institute. Jim has that sensitivity.”

McGraw is allowing him to develop his own style, Salinas said. “He provides me information, of course, but he gives me the space to do the job,” the new managing director said. “It's a "take-the-bull-by-the-horns' concept. I know if I need something, he is there.”

Salinas is learning to view the IISRP and synthetic rubber business from a different perspective. “Here I'm not going to sell rubber,” he said. “I have to keep the membership and increase the membership. I also have to keep and increase the quality of the services and promote common projects.”

Things will happen in a hurry for the new leader.

September starts with the Americas Section meetings in Louisiana, followed by the Europe Middle East and Africa group in Milan, Italy, and then the Asia Section in Tokyo. McGraw said the schedule is set up to get all the meetings handled in the same time frame, with the mid-year meeting the last part of October, where all the committee chairs come to Houston.

During this period, Salinas will be helping to develop the association's strategic plan for 2015-20, and planning already has started for next year's Annual General Meeting in New Orleans, the institute's most important event of each year.

Going forward, Salinas knows that one key measure of his success will be membership maintenance and growth. The IISRP currently boasts 31 full SR making members, accounting for about 80 percent of global synthetic rubber production, along with 40 affiliated members.

He realizes it will be a difficult task, as some producers still are hesitant dating back to a price fixing scandal that hit the industry early this century.

“I think we have to do it,” Salinas said. “We have to insist to them to be part. My responsibility is to try to do it. I think if we explain to them the value of the institute and all the benefits they can obtain, I don't know if we can get 100 percent, but I think we can get some.”