A coach, mentor and hands-on team player, who motivates and inspires her teams to drive for results and achieve more, Kayla Williams is known to have a passion for people and their wellbeing.
Williams is a chemical engineer and an innovative leader in Silicone Rubber Process Research & Development at Dow Inc. She leads a global team to develop and commercialize the next generation of silicone rubber products and processes.
She uses her diverse career background and leadership skills to solve technical problems related to silicone elastomer processing, product commercialization, and most recently, the recyclability of end-of-life silicone materials.
"The first 10 years of my career I changed roles and work locations regularly spanning Tennessee, Michigan, and an assignment in Zhangjiagang, PRC," Williams said. "These moves gave me frequent opportunities to learn about regional and cultural differences and above all taught me to approach new opportunities and interactions from a place of curiosity and respect. A two-year assignment in China taught me the most and challenged my understanding of working with diverse teams."
Williams graduated from the Michigan State University Honors College and the College of Engineering with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 2010 where she was also a four-year varsity athlete in springboard diving.
Williams' career began in a manufacturing/start-up role for CVD reactors in 2010 and transitioned into process research and development (PR&D) for CVD technology in 2012. Her impact on the silicone rubber business began in 2015 when her husband was offered a work assignment with Dow Corning in China. Five years later she joined the silicone elastomers process R&D team in Zhangjiagang, China.
She led multiple projects and safely completed a challenging new product scale-up. She became a role model for her team in project management and root cause analysis following the six-sigma methodology she had learned in her previous roles.
Williams returned to the U.S. in 2017 and remained in silicone elastomers process R&D. She led a technology development platform for a new sealant material supporting the building and Infrastructure market.
Next, she explored various intermediate and finished material processing routes to build a comprehensive picture of the trade-offs associated with each route. Williams recently led a lab safety investigation for a commonly used chemical in the silicone rubber chemistry set with H302/H332 (harmful if swallowed or inhaled) hazards and a 5ppm OEL.
She has met many young aspiring engineers and had an opportunity to answer career-related questions and share her passion for innovation when she presented at Michigan State University's Engineering Symposium Day on Dow Corning's sustainability.
Williams pursued a department-wide inclusion and diversity (I&D) initiative. Employee feedback leading into 2020 indicated there was a disparity in perceived feelings of inclusion and belonging which are critical to professional excellence, collaboration and value generation.
Williams joined the Consumer Solutions I&D team, and she supported and led various inclusion initiatives across Dow. This included piloting a mentoring program in 2021 with Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, a historically black college or university to support minority students with an interest in research explore advanced degree opportunities.
Williams mentored students and early career engineers looking for insight into career progression opportunities. Additionally, her work supported new mothers/parents as they navigate raising a family while working full time. A mother of three, Kayla was an advocate for adding a second lactation room to the PR&D building due to high demand. She established three peer mentoring relationships with newer female leaders both locally and globally.
Another community activity Williams has participated in for many years is coaching diving for a local high school.
"My diving career was somewhat opportunistic in that I walked onto the team at MSU and worked my way up to a scholarship," Williams said. "My initial goal was to increase the degree of difficulty of my dive list to become more competitive and push the limits of what I could do. In my last collegiate competition, I completely changed the order of my 3-meter dive list to reframe how I viewed my more difficult dives.
"Instead of putting them at the beginning, I moved them to the end of my list. This was a major mindset breakthrough for me, and it earned me a spot in the Zone C Finals for the first time in this event—the last step before NCAA Championships. My goal was to push the boundaries of what I was capable of physically."
Williams challenges athletes to overcome their own perceived limitations. Sometimes this requires breaking down skill progression into smaller steps, other times she uses goal setting and expectation management to help inspire athletes to challenge themselves in pursuit of a specific outcome.
"Coaching has taught me a lot about realistic goal setting and motivating and challenging others to put in the work they need to be successful," Williams said. "I've found it is important to balance learning new skills with having fun and that creating an atmosphere where it's ok to fail is critical to encourage people to step outside their comfort zone and truly understand their limits.
"For athletes with specific performance aspirations, such as making the state meet or finals, I do my best to lay out the dives required to achieve their goals early in the season so they can clearly understand the work ahead of them as well as track their progress throughout the season. Ultimately, every athlete has different strengths and needs, and I've found there is no one-size-fits-all approach. This comes through in my approach to my role as an R&D leader in that I try to understand individuals' strengths and motivations to best help the group achieve collective goals. My favorite part about coaching is no matter how much experience you have, people can always surprise you."
Williams has also enjoyed giving back through different Dow-sponsored volunteer activities such as bringing hands-on science experiments to elementary school students; judging an all-day first robotics competition at Dow High; and volunteering at the local recycling center and at Habitat for Humanity through numerous employer-sponsored events.
She has also engaged with the local SWE and AIChE chapters at different social events and seminars over the years.
"I have had some incredible coaches and mentors over the years and I would not be where I am today without their help and guidance," Williams said. "More recently I've enjoyed doing some STEM outreach for local schools and sharing my excitement for the scientific method with the next generation. I hope sharing some of my time and talents in this manner can help encourage more girls to pursue a career in STEM in the future."
Years with company: 14
Years in rubber industry: 9