Rubber Division passes torch, names Lakisha Miller-Barclay executive director

AKRON—Lakisha Miller-Barclay wants to use technology and outreach to bring the rubber industry to a wider audience and young professionals in her new position as ACS Rubber Division executive director.

Miller-Barclay will take on the new role when Ed Miller, who has been executive director for about 19 years and the only individual to hold the title, retires on Jan. 15. She is currently director of finance and administration and has already started the transition with Miller's help, she said.

"I think with every new position, there's going to be things that you don't know until you know them. But Ed has done a great job of being transparent and giving me opportunities to learn things, and continuously push me and challenge me," Miller-Barclay said. "I think that's definitely helped me in getting prepared for this and feeling confident that the transition's going to go well."

Miller-Barclay officially begins the new role Jan. 1, and she's already shifting into taking on the day-to-day responsibilities, she said. She's already comfortable working with the established Rubber Division leadership. She's looking to travel to meet with members, sponsors, exhibitors and supporters to get a ground-level view of what's happening in the rubber industry right now while building new relationships.

"I know a lot of them just from my time here, but it'll be a different aspect of the relationship," Miller-Barclay said. "I want to get out there in front of as many people as possible and find out what the division can do to better their experience and be of assistance to them in the industry."

Research is one of the most important tasks going forward, both to further expand current Rubber Division initiatives and develop new ones, she said. While the Rubber Division conference is well-known, she wants to maintain a focus on education and networking. Connecting with the industry community as the executive director will help her find gaps to fill in the organization's education offerings.

"My main mission right now is to find out what we don't know, then fill that need," Miller-Barclay said. "We're not going to build it and hope they come. We want to know what they need us to build, so that they do come. I think that's a better strategy there."

Experience and growth

Miller-Barclay came to Rubber Division through accounting in 2007, when she was teaching software as a freelancer and the previous financial director left the organization, she said. She had gone to school for accounting and had a background in programming and networking as well. She took the job as a temporary fill-in, even though she had never heard of the Rubber Division before the freelance gig.

"I stumbled into the Rubber Division and fell in love with it," she said. "Honestly, I never thought I would've been here 12 years or grown into this position."

Her varied experience prepared her for other work assignments within the Rubber Division as well. She's worked with Summit County Children Services, served in the U.S. Air Force and operated her own tax and accounting service specializing in non-profits. She currently sits on the boards for Harmony House Inc. and Greenleaf Financial Services, and is a part of Leadership Akron's Diversity on Board program. Because of her background, Miller asked her to take on even more responsibility within Rubber Division, first managing IT and then human resources.

"At a small association, you have to make use of all of the assets that you have, and your humans are your biggest asset," Miller-Barclay said. "You utilize all the skills that you have and the best economical way that you can in order to keep your costs low and provide more services to your members."

Preparing for the move to executive director, Miller-Barclay said she is excited about the challenges ahead.

"For me, my biggest asset is that I'm a forever learner," she said. "I love to implement new technologies and things that are going to make life easier for people, working smarter, not harder."

Having worked at the Rubber Division for 12 years, she's seen both the organization and the wider industry from multiple angles and roles, she said. She's looking for opportunities to pick up new skills and strategies to take the Rubber Division forward, and is keeping an open mind about what the future looks like for the rubber industry. When she joined the Rubber Division in 2007, the industry was near a high point. With the recession, shifting markets and mergers and acquisitions, the landscape looks different than before.

"I think that most people who have been with the industry a long time, they can see the industry is changing over even the last decade," Miller-Barclay said. "People had to start looking at different ways to stay alive, asking 'How do we compete? How do we attract younger people to come into the industry and stay in the industry to progress through those chains?' We have to all kind of stand back and take a holistic view and see what we can do to keep this industry vital."

Increase exposure

Exposure for the Rubber Division and the wider rubber industry is a top priority for Miller-Barclay, she said. She pointed to the Not Just Tires video campaign from earlier this year as an example showcasing opportunities in rubber for scientists and chemists in other fields, who might never have otherwise thought of a career in the rubber industry.

"I think education and exposure are going to be vital to bring in new blood into this industry," Miller-Barclay said. "Economically, all manufacturing, all jobs in the country are changing, just because of the dynamics of time. We have to be able to mold and move with that, or we're going to continue to struggle a little bit."

One project that will assist toward that goal is the Rubber Division Rubber Zone platform, which is planned for rollout later this year, she said. Along with discussion boards and technical references, it will include a mentor match program to give younger workers more inroads into the industry. Like a more specialized version of LinkedIn, it will allow workers to exchange ideas and take advantage of technology to connect with others as in-person meetings are declining.

"That's the biggest thing for me, having a technology background. I want to bring in more technology friendly options for people," Miller-Barclay said.

With projects like the mentor match, she hopes to also encourage more young people to take a look at the rubber industry as a possible career option, she said. One of the main obstacles for a younger generation is that rubber isn't as attractive as others. Industry careers and the Rubber Division overall need to be more visible as students start to solidify future job plans.

"I think the biggest thing for us is to get out there not just at the college level, but at the high school level, the middle school level," Miller-Barclay said. "We need to start implementing and bringing in programs so that people actually know we exist, and they don't stumble upon us like I did. They actually know we're out there."

She has proof that student outreach works from within her own family. Miller-Barclay's daughter was part of a Rubber Division program in 2015, when she was in high school. While she had always enjoyed chemistry, the program opened her eyes to the possibility of using chemistry in a career in the rubber industry, Miller-Barclay said. Now, she's a chemical engineering major in her second year at Ohio University.

"I like to take a little credit for her actually looking into it, and actually Rubber Division should," Miller-Barclay said. "But this is one of the main points, getting the right people exposed to the industry."

She's also passionate about encouraging more women to be a part of the industry and helped develop the Women Of Rubber Division Workshop. In its first year, the additional workshop will bring industry women together for a session before this year's International Elastomer Conference in Cleveland to help them learn how to deal with obstacles. The session includes a speaker and a wine-and-cheese networking event only for women.

She said she was inspired when she saw the work done by Beth Berkheimer, exposition and future sites director at Rubber Division, when she put together a board recognizing industry women at the 2015 conference.

"What I learned at that moment was one, how few women we have, but two, the importance of those women being showcased," Miller-Barclay said. "What was wonderful was this huge, huge, huge board, and it just had pictures and titles and women could actually see, 'It's not just me.' If we're going to reach a different generation and different people, we have to be able to show them that there's representation here.

"The people who have been in this industry, the women who have been around, Maria Ellul, Judith Puskas, they have to be able to be known so that other women and young girls know that this is a path that is doable for them."

The Rubber Division plans to name Miller-Barclay as the official successor to the executive director position during the Welcoming Reception on the first night of the IEC. She will be formally announced at the Business & Awards Luncheon on the final day of the event, according to Mike Morrow, Rubber Division chair for 2019.