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With a background in chemistry and chemical engineering, Julie Vaughn Biege began her dynamic specialty chemicals career in R&D. This solid technical foundation served her well as she progressed into roles ranging from operations and product management to marketing.
Julie joined ChemQuest in 2022, quickly contributing her expertise in support of a number of clients. Today, she continues to play a key role in many projects while also working as part of our business development team. I had the opportunity to chat with Julie recently to learn more about her background, what types of projects she finds most engaging, and some key trends she’s keeping her eye on.
What was your background before joining ChemQuest?
I had been in the chemical industry for about 39 years prior to joining ChemQuest. I had very broad experiences over that time involving a range of polymers — rubber, plastics and latex — as well as additives for a whole range of industrial and consumer applications.
While my career began in R&D, I transferred into manufacturing for about 10 years as a process engineer responsible for troubleshooting, efficiency improvement projects, and scale-up of new products, as well as manufacturing manager in one of our operations. Subsequent to this, I held roles in product line management, business development, and marketing to shape and support our growth initiatives.
During that time, I was involved in a carve-out divestiture from a much larger company. I was responsible for standing up the marketing function of the new enterprise, and that was quite a fun assignment.
Why did you decide to join ChemQuest?
Later in my career, I was looking for an opportunity to stay engaged in the industry and support others in their goals for growth. I had worked with ChemQuest a number of times over my career, including in technology development, business strategy, and M&A projects. ChemQuest had had advisory roles on several deals, and I was really impressed with the team.
While we had our own internal resources, we would outsource certain projects due to accelerated timeframes, specific expertise, and the ability to focus a large number of diverse experts with fresh eyes on a project. The ChemQuest team had a deep knowledge of the technologies, applications, trends, and competitive landscape, and they provided valuable insights to guide our strategy moving forward. I was incredibly impressed with their expertise and professionalism, qualities that appealed to me as I explored the next phase of my career.
How have your past experiences informed the work you do to support our clients now?
My prior companies had innovation processes of various flavors over the years to address improvement goals for effective new product development, manufacturing and business process improvement, M&A, and so forth. As a result, I was able to develop some good insights regarding things that went well and things that could have been done better.
I recognized that the ChemQuest model really looked to do things thoroughly and correctly from the onset — assessing the business situation holistically from an inside look at capabilities to an external view of the market. This approach had informed my work within my prior company, but it also influenced why I joined ChemQuest and how I strive to support our clients today.
What sorts of projects do you find to be the most interesting and engaging?
I work primarily on M&A and strategy development projects at ChemQuest. Our team assesses clients’ portfolios, as well as the competitive and market landscape, which serves as the basis of the strategy development process. Synthesizing these insights into growth scenarios and their potential for value creation for our clients is especially gratifying.
Some clients may opt to see a Monte Carlo-type quantitative analysis, which is a probability curve of net present values of these scenarios. This additional analysis is especially valuable when there is a high level of investment or significant restructuring involved, and it can optimize and de-risk the strategy.
What are some trends you’ve got your eye on, and how might they impact our clients?
In general, a lot of technology and regulatory shifts are going on — issues related to certain chemicals of concern and of course AI. These impact the selection and deselection of ingredients, the ways of doing things, and what companies choose to make and sell in the future. In this evolving landscape, our clients seek to proactively evaluate their portfolio and reconsider their strategy.
For example, packaging is an area that’s seeing a lot of shifts driven by sustainability initiatives. This leads to the exploration of different packaging designs and materials, as well as lightweighting while maintaining durability and brand appearance. Coatings, adhesives, and other treatments also play a big role in achieving these goals as well as impacting recyclability. It’s a balancing act among a lot of different factors; new products are introduced all the time to take advantage of new technologies.
Another example is laundry care. From a sustainability standpoint, laundry care has been seeing a big push toward cold-water wash and reduced water consumption in newer appliance models. There’s much less energy consumption compared to hot-water wash without sacrificing stain removal. Laundry care formulations have changed to step up and address this challenge. We’ve seen shifts from powder to liquid to pods — and now, even laundry sheets as a new format, which is gaining some traction.
Certainly laundry sheets are very lightweight vs. a plastic jug of liquid detergent — so the weight savings is significant. Weight reduction and package volume are big factors in transportation costs, and they offer a convenience that some consumers value. On the flip side, the sheet size may not deliver the same level of cleaning power as other formats, an important factor in more heavily soiled laundry. Expect more innovation here!
Reach out to Julie at jvaughnbiege@chemquest.com.
How can we help you? Let’s start talking: https://chemquest.com/lets-start-talking/
