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With interests ranging from new technology development to marketing strategy, Eric Casebolt spent much of his career with large, multinational raw materials suppliers. Always learning and evolving, he enjoys digging into clients’ problem areas and helping to develop innovative solutions.
Eric joined ChemQuest in 2023 and currently serves as a vice president working on ChemQuest’s business development team. I spoke with him recently about his career, why he was drawn to ChemQuest, and how his accumulated knowledge and experience help support his work with our clients today.
Could you please share some of the highlights of your career before joining ChemQuest?
I began my career at Johnson Polymer as a technician in the applications lab, formulating powder coatings using our raw materials and evaluating them against competitive benchmarks. While at Johnson Polymer, I earned a master’s degree in chemistry and expanded beyond powder coatings into a variety of other coating applications, eventually moving into a chemist role.
In 2006, when Johnson Polymer was acquired by BASF, I transitioned with the acquisition, moving from my hometown in Wisconsin to Michigan. At that time, I had become heavily involved in innovation, supporting the development of acrylic resins and latexes for use in industrial coatings, with my focus being concrete coatings and metal coatings.
After a couple years in Michigan, I decided to pursue warmer weather and explore new opportunities within BASF and joined a different division in North Carolina. I eventually became the technical manager for BASF’s formulation additives group, a role that offered a unique opportunity to help build a new global business unit from the ground up. This included assembling a strong technical team, shaping lab processes, and supporting our customers. It was a great experience. I worked with a lot of great people and really enjoyed my time in that role.
Somewhere along the way, I realized I wanted to do more, so I pursued an MBA from Wake Forest. Shortly after earning my MBA, I left BASF to join Eastman Chemical Company, where I gained deeper experience in strategic marketing and innovation frameworks. I initially worked in market development leading innovation projects before transitioning into the corporate strategy group, which functioned as an internal consulting team supporting Eastman’s business units.
To sum up, I’ve worked at the intersection of technical innovation and business strategy and have been involved in bringing numerous raw materials to market for the coatings industry. I’ve had the privilege of working with and learning from a lot of great people in those companies, as well as from our customers.
Why did you decide to join ChemQuest?
My passion has always been in innovation and strategy – that’s what I know, and that’s what I enjoy doing. However, when you work on these types of projects within large corporations, your exposure is naturally limited. Strategy and innovation projects take time, and you’re often working on just one or two major initiatives at a time. Bottom line, they tend to be very slow and methodical. For me, it’s the front-end work that’s the most engaging, where you’re framing the problem and developing a path to success. However, the later stages of these projects involve a much more tactical approach, which typically involves long implementation timelines and driving adoption.
I realized I get restless in these long project timelines and thrive in fast-moving environments where I can continuously tackle new challenges. I enjoy diving into complex problems, setting up projects for success, and then moving on to the next big challenge. I wanted to be part of an organization that moves quickly, encourages entrepreneurial thinking, and allows me to work across a variety of projects while learning from talented colleagues.
ChemQuest checks all those boxes. It gives me the opportunity to focus on what I consider the most exciting parts of innovation, solving strategic challenges and positioning projects for success, over and over again.
How have your past experiences informed the work that you do on behalf of our clients?
My background gives me a unique perspective because I’ve worked on both the technical and marketing strategy sides of the business. That combination is especially valuable since many of our projects involve both aspects – helping clients bridge the gap between product development and market success.
Having firsthand experience of the challenges raw material suppliers face is also a big advantage. Many of our clients are looking to expand into new markets, and having been through that process myself, I understand their goals, obstacles, and what it takes to succeed.
One of the great things about ChemQuest is the diversity of expertise on our team. We have people who come from coating manufacturers, while I bring the perspective of a raw material supplier. Those different viewpoints allow us to challenge ideas, refine strategies, and provide well-rounded insights to our clients.
In large corporations, launching a product isn’t just about technical feasibility or market potential, it also involves navigating internal stakeholders and complex decision-making processes. My experience in that environment helps me recognize the challenges our clients face and offer guidance on how to move their initiatives forward successfully.
What types of projects or activities do you really enjoy?
I love learning about what our clients are trying to achieve, where they are today, and where they want to be at some point in the future. That’s a great benefit of working at ChemQuest, because of the nature of the consulting business, I can gain a broader perspective than I would get working for just one company. At ChemQuest, we have access to a wide range of industries and challenges, which makes every project an opportunity to learn something new.
The projects I find most exciting are those that span multiple ChemQuest pillars, especially those with a strong strategic component and a technical component, like identifying new applications for an existing technology. For example, a company might have a raw material currently used in adhesives or oil and gas and want to explore whether it could have potential in coatings or personal care.
These types of projects are especially rewarding because we can provide insights that few others can. Not only can we identify opportunities and define the value proposition based on our industry knowledge, but we can also validate those ideas through our technical pillar. With our labs in Ohio and Virginia, we can take a product, test its viability in a new application, and generate real data to support or refine our recommendations. On top of that, we conduct voice-of-customer outreach to ensure the opportunity aligns with real market needs.
What are some of the trends you’re seeing that are impacting our clients?
Many of the trends I’m seeing tie back to the growing availability of information. Consumers, businesses, and regulators have access to more data than ever, particularly around environmental and sustainability issues. In the past, sustainability was more of a broad talking point, but now there’s real data behind it, allowing for deeper scrutiny of raw materials. However, this flood of information can sometimes lead to misconceptions or oversimplified conclusions.
The most prominent example right now is PFAS. I’ve never seen a material of concern gain visibility as quickly as PFAS. It’s gone from a niche regulatory topic to mainstream awareness almost overnight. It’s even showing up in commercials, and as people dig into the issue, they’re realizing just how widespread PFAS is across different products and industries.
Alongside the push to eliminate materials of concern, there’s a major shift toward bio-based alternatives. This creates significant opportunities for raw material suppliers to develop innovative, sustainable solutions – whether for coatings, adhesives, home care products, or beyond.
What’s interesting is the cyclical nature of these changes. When a material that is considered a PFAS is phased out, companies replace it with an alternative, which typically has some trade-offs in performance. This makes sense, because if a perfect substitute already existed then the PFAS material wouldn’t have been so widely used in the first place. But over time, companies refine and improve these alternatives, leading to iterative performance gains. Meanwhile, the cycle continues as another material comes under scrutiny – and the process starts all over again in a different set of products.
Right now, there’s an intense focus on making products and processes more sustainable, and that pressure is only increasing. Companies that can anticipate these shifts and stay ahead of regulatory and consumer expectations will be best positioned for success.
Reach out to Eric at ecasebolt@chemquest.com.
How can we help you? Let’s start talking: https://chemquest.com/lets-start-talking/
