Smithers' hire brings expertise to Latin American clients

AKRON—Smithers is enhancing its support for clients throughout Latin America with the addition of Luis Felipe Juarez to the North American consultancy team.

Juarez—who brings 26 years of experience working with multinational companies to his new role—will provide commercial support for all laboratories in the Smithers Materials Science and Engineering Division. He will be based in Mexico City and will focus on supporting clients throughout Central and South America.

"Smithers has served valued clients in Latin America for many years, and we are committed to increasing our ability to deliver accurate data, on time, with high touch in this region," Josh Guilliams, vice president of consultancy for the Materials Science and Engineering Division, said in a news release. "Luis is bilingual and has a strong background in both business development and the technical aspects of the key industries we serve. He will be an incredibly valuable asset to our clients throughout Latin America."

Prior to joining Smithers, Juarez held key leadership roles in sales, marketing and product management at Lanxess, Bayer and Globe Chemicals.

Juarez's experience, combined with Smithers global network of laboratories and operations—the company maintains a presence in North America, Europe and Asia—positions Smithers to meet the needs of clients in Latin America.

"Each Smithers laboratory brings a range of services to clients in the region covering material chemistry and physical properties testing, component level validation, as well as a broad selection of tire, wheel and on-vehicle testing," the company said in a statement. "Working closely with the Smithers consultancy team, (Juarez) will have the ability to call upon various technical experts with many years of technical experience to support clients' toughest development challenges."

Akron-based Smithers provides testing, consulting, information and compliance services through its laboratories and operations across three continents. It serves customers in the transportation, life science, packaging, materials, components, consumer, dry commodities and energy industries.