Thomas Keating Email & Phone Number

Info.Desk@Barentz.Com, Nl

Responsible for the management of both current and future Barentz key Principal Supplier relationships serving the plastics market, working in close collaboration with the VP of Sales (plastics), Technology Manager, our sales team, marketing, and suppliers to grow our business and broaden our ability to provide value to our customers.

Columbia, Maryland, Us

Responsible for defining and executing the marketing strategy for Specialty Catalysts Business segments and sub-segments, accountable for the revenue growth and profitability of these segments in line with the global strategy, creating and implementing market strategies around product portfolios, markets, and geographies. Lead marketing organization to excellence in portfolio management, responsiveness to customer needs and market trends, growth opportunity and innovation management, customer relationship management. Steer specific R&D, Technical Service and Manufacturing resources for sustainable, profitable growth.

 Led $250 million manufacturing joint venture (JV) business with 75 employees producing specialty chemicals (chelates), accountable to governing management committee.  Delivered sustainable safe operation with zero recordable injuries and no environmental incidents over two plus years through increased employee engagement, greater near-miss reporting and investigation, advancing behavior-based safety methodologies and improvements to the process safety management system. Achieved operating and capital budgets every year, including safe execution of five year turnaround, major distributive control system (DCS) upgrade and labor union agreement negotiation.

Ludwigshafen, De

 Led team of 9 sales professionals covering North and South America to deliver sales growth over 3 year period. Organized sales territories aligned with customer needs and business strategy, created visibility and individual accountability within sales team to deliver results, and improved processes with supporting commercial and technical functions. Implemented business strategy and developed key account strategies successfully delivering increased profitability for the region.  Negotiated key contracts utilizing broad range of business models to secure sustainable win-win business relationships. Advanced customer relationships by coordinating executive level engagement with key customers at trade show events and key customer meetings.  Networked across all BASF sales organizations as a member of the North America Regional Sales Council, contributing to the development of BASF Sales Foundation, sales training, talent evaluation and sharing, cross-business sales meetings and collaborations, best practice sharing.  Led global Sales Excellence project teams driving sales improvement across topics of Roles &Responsibilities, Customer Interaction and Relationship, and Opportunity Pipeline and Management. Led the global Customer Intertaction Model implementation team for business.

Ludwigshafen, De

• Provided strategic leadership, direction and management to the commercial and business development activities, reporting to the Senior Vice President of the Global Business Unit • Responsible for full P&L, including budget planning and control processes, sales forecasting / analysis, pricing / other business terms and global key account and distributor management.• Ensured cooperation and coordination between R&D, product development & marketing, account management, manufacturing, joint venture partners, supply chain partners and other cross-functional team members. • Developed relationships with existing and prospective new key customers, target customers, process licensors and regional distributors. Reporting to the Senior Vice President of the Global Business Unit, Process Catalysts & Technologies.

Ludwigshafen, De

 Supported developed global business strategy for polyolefin catalyst portfolio. Key contributions included market growth analysis, competitor benchmarking, customer perception study, business plan with P&L, and strategic measures.  Developed and implemented annual marketing plans including coordination of trade shows, displays, conference presentations, regional customer conferences, press releases, internal communications (Pulse), and product literature. Created “Meet the Experts Video” web page and DVD designed to highlight the depth of global expertise in Sales, Technical and Business teams supporting customers. Direct supervisor of Product Management, coordinating sales forecast process including evaluation and presentation of forecast data, conducting forecast review meeting with commercial team, evaluating forecast accuracy, identifying gaps and upsides and supporting sales to meet financial commitments. Created target price setting tool with value pricing calculation supporting proprietary catalyst portfolio. The price tool was utilized by the business to evaluate different features of competitive offerings verse the product performance and service elements of BASF supporting price negotiations.  Developed polypropylene market model database tracking current and future industry capacity, catalyst demand and competitive activity. Tool used to identify sales targets for current and future catalyst products.  Supported strategic new business development initiatives including working directly with customers to enhance current business or development new business.  RBU Coordinator for SAP Reload Project supporting CCP (North America). Led multifunctional teams across 4 business and 8 manufacturing sites to identify key business processes, establish SAP test protocols and conduct test of new SAP system. Successfully resolved system configuration issues allowing trouble-free business operation immediately upon go-live April 1.

Köln, De

 Developed global business strategy for $250MM PVC additives portfolio, identifying focal market segments, sales/service channels, competitive positioning, technology pipeline objectives and resource allocation. The strategy plotted a 5-year course for sustainable step-change margin improvement with detailed execution and risk mitigation plan.  Responsible for developing and delivering annual sales budget and monthly financial/production forecast. Implemented demand planning process/software which significantly improved input from sales team and improved analytical capability to predict future financial performance, optimize production, and identify/address sources of forecast error. Initiatives resulted in 20% improvement in forecast accuracy.  Responsible for setting prices globally for portfolio. Worked closely with sales, technical service and R&D to drive price premiums through value selling. Worked closely with procurement, logistics and manufacturing to reduce cost and respond quickly to changes. Implemented software to facilitate price administration, approvals and financial analysis.  Developed and implemented price increase strategies in 2006 which successfully recovered $6MM in raw material inflation while maintaining market share initiatives.  Directed key strategic portfolio initiatives including acquisition analysis, integration planning, footprint optimization, make vs. buy analysis, technology licensing, and strategic alliance negotiations. Administered key tolling contracts with Procurement Team. Negotiated improved terms and portfolio extensions to achieve win-win results and growth.  Networked vigilantly with sales force to provide product training, develop sales tools, identify new business opportunities, negotiate key sales contracts and exceed budget objectives.

 Developed and implemented global multi-generation product plan for polymer antioxidant portfolio with annual sales of $230MM. Responsibilities included setting standards and new product specifications, directing patent strategies and regulatory approvals.  Successfully planned/implemented business integration following acquisition by Crompton Corporation. Significant tasks included SAP implementation, product/manufacturing rationalization, EH&S integration, web site development, and customer communication.  Developed 1 year and 3 year global strategic plans for portfolio with detailed new business targets, market segmentation, competitive capacity/product analysis, and price/margin forecasts.  Developed and implemented product line pricing policies including 5 global price increase initiatives based on market analysis achieving 5% gross profit improvement while covering 50% inflation in raw materials. Value pricing initiatives contributed $23MM in earning benefit in 2005. Negotiated key global supply contracts supporting margin recovery objectives for portfolio. Led new product development, line extensions and market development to achieve growth objectives. Worked closely with Sales, Technology and Manufacturing teams to accomplish strategic objectives, providing new product training, market presentations, and customer satisfaction support. Provided key business and antitrust market analysis supporting merger of Crompton Corporation and Great Lakes Chemical. Successfully developed arguments with legal team addressing product overlaps in antioxidants portfolio, achieving EU and FTC approvals without divestiture of assets.

 Managed 10MM LB engineering thermoplastics (PC, PBT, PPS, ABS, PPO, PEI) sales in 3 state Midwest territory, growing sales volume by 4% against negative economic growth.  Energized and closed new business targets with actual annual revenue of $1.7MM gain to territory. Led product application development team at strategic PVC extrusion account, resulting in 36% sales volume growth.  Developed strategic relationships at key accounts earning a reputation for service excellence, responsiveness, and genuine desire to help my customers grow their business.  Negotiated sales contracts, leveraging broad plastics portfolio and service reliability to grow share.  Obtained Six Sigma greenbelt certification through 4 weeks of classroom training and completion of 2 Six Sigma projects. Projects created $774M cost saving to customers and generated $500M revenue by focusing improvements in on-time delivery and process optimization.

Spring, Texas, Us

 Supervisor of four production/process engineering professionals in styrene-butadiene copolymer facility. Implementation Team Leader for major plant construction projects including installation/commissioning planning and execution of 2 reactor rebuilds. Responsible for monitoring production quality and executing process troubleshooting and optimization initiatives.

Spring, Texas, Us

 Coordinate operation of styrene-butadiene block co-polymer plastics production facility Responsible for directing systems operations and multidiscipline team trouble shooting of chemical/instrument/electrical/mechanical problems utilizing Fisher Distributive Control System Front-line supervisor responsible for ten union operations employees and all plant assets. Coordinate the interfacing of Operations with Plant Maintenance and Support Engineering teams to optimize process operations Administered Safety, Quality, Training, HR, and Surveillance programs

Spring, Texas, Us

 Managed direct and distributor technical sales and support of styrene-butadiene block co-polymers in 5 state upper Midwest territory Increased territory volume by 38% with 45% growth in revenue over 2 years Supported customers with applications in injection molding, blow molding, blown/cast film, and sheet extrusion. Markets included medical, displays, food packaging, consumer and housewares Participated in strategic planning teams to develop new applications in higher revenue markets

Spring, Texas, Us

 Participated in Resin Development Team. Responsible for process modification and production of 4 developmental resins in commercial styrene-butadiene block co-polymer plant Completed devolitilization process optimization projects utilizing computer modeling Responsible for production and evaluation of developmental polyethylene and polypropylene resins Coordinated maintenance and shutdown activities for semi-commercial research production facility.

Bs, Me

Bs, Mechanical Engineering