Rubber Division workshop spotlights women

AKRON—It's no secret that the rubber industry continues to be a male-dominated business, not unlike other industrial sectors.

But it's also clear that women are playing an increasingly larger role in all areas of the rubber business, from the board room to technical, sales and marketing roles, among others.

And to demonstrate this trend, the ACS Rubber Division is holding a Women's Pre-conference Workshop on the afternoon of Oct. 7, the day prior to the opening of the Oct. 8-10 International Elastomer Conference at the Huntington Convention Center in Cleveland.

The title of the workshop is "WORDs Matter: How the Women of the Rubber Division can Connect, Collaborate & Communicate with Confidence."

WORD is an acronym for "Women of the Rubber Division," said Gretchen Cermak, the Rubber Division's director of marketing and communications. She quipped that around the division's office in Akron, they often refer to the staff members as the "Women of the Rubber Division—and Chuck," referring to Chuck Brady, the lone male of the association's eight staff members.

Cermak said the idea for the workshop originated back when Terry DeLapa of Alpha Technologies was the first woman chair of the association back in 2015. The division put out a call for photos of women in the rubber industry, and at the next IEC made a large sign featuring all the pictures. It also was turned into a PowerPoint presentation that ran in the Expo Theater for the week.

"When the women saw it, they loved it," Cermak said. "The response to the photos and the PowerPoint just sat with us. We do need to embrace the women of this industry even more. It's very apparent this is a male-dominated industry. But let's celebrate the women. So we decided, let's offer a workshop."

The structure of the inaugural half-day session will be simple. There will be a panel discussion that will include: DeLapa; Kim Dempsey-Miller of Pilot Products, who will be division chair in 2021; Tina Darnell of Struktol Co. of America; Krista Toutant of R.D. Abbott Co. Inc.; and a representative from Smithers, which is the presenting sponsor of the workshop.

The workshop will be facilitated by Leslie Ungar, a communications specialist based in the Cleveland area. And it will be capped by a wine and cheese reception for the final hour.

This year the workshop is being offered exclusively to women, but that could change in the future. "That's not to say once we do this first one, we may see the benefits of allowing men to come, or having them sit on a panel for another perspective," Cermak said.

In addition, the Rubber Division will be launching a Young Professional Group, headed by Gabrielle Daniel, during the IEC in October.

This past spring the Rubber Division opened the doors of its new Elastomer Training Center at its headquarters in Akron. The biggest upgrade with the new center, Cermak said, is that with the new technology it is a "smart classroom that provides an interactive capability and technology that we can now bring the courses to anybody remotely in their home, office, on a personal computer or tablet."

The first class was conducted by Bill Stahl of Rainbow Master Mixing L.L.C., a former Rubber Division chair. Cermak said the technology worked well in its debut, and the center has been host to a number of courses since then.

The new training and development manager is Nicole Neila, who will coordinate the center's offerings. Cermak said Neila was promoted earlier this year and has shown great enthusiasm for the job. "It's good for some of us who have been there for so long to have that fresh perspective," Cermak said. "It even gets you thinking in your role. It's contagious and it's been refreshing to have her."

Mike Morrow, Rubber Division chair for 2019, said the training center can be used to promote the capabilities of the association, which is part of the larger American Chemical Society.

"I want people to look at the Rubber Division as the go-to source," he said. "If you're thinking about rubber in North America I want you to think about the Rubber Division. But I also want the global community to also recognize us as someone they could think about. That's how we have a student chapter in Poland and now one in Brazil."

Whether the majority of the division's training will now be online is not decided yet, Morrow and Cermak said. The room itself can seat 16 for a session.

"It opens up the doors to having more participation," Cermak said. "It gives more opportunities for companies who couldn't justify the travel expense of having to send someone from another state."

But with the rubber industry having such a strong base in the Ohio region, she believes there will be plenty of demand for in-person training as well.