Welcome to The Chemical Show, the podcast where Chemical means business.
I'm your host, Victoria Meyer, bringing you stories and insights
from leaders driving innovation and growth across the chemical industry.
Each week we explore key trends, real world challenges, and the
strategies that make an impact.
Let's get started.
Victoria: Welcome back to The Chemical Show where Leaders Talk Business.
Today I have the opportunity to speak with Michael Levenfeld, who is the president
and CEO at Hexion Incorporated, where he's also the chairman of the board.
Michael has a long career in chemicals and materials and is an innovator.
He's had a combination of executive operational.
And entrepreneurial experience, including by the way, holding more than a hundred
patents, this makes him number one, just an interesting person to talk to.
Number two, really uniquely positioned to be leading Hexion through its
transformations that it's going through.
So Michael, welcome to the Chemical Show.
Michael: Thanks for having me, Victoria.
Victoria: Absolutely.
So let's just start with your origin story.
How did you become interested in chemicals and materials, and how
has your career path led you to where you are today at Hexion?
Michael: my origin story's a little bit, little bit different, but, uh,
I think it starts with, you know, most technology focused folks.
I was a nerd growing up.
And I wear that with a, with a badge of honor.
Um.
My career has always been about transforming products and
industries and, and markets.
Taking things that have existed already and putting them together in novel or
unique ways new packages of, products for, for respective industries.
And, um, I started my first.
Company in college, which was a medical device company, filed
my first patent then, and then launched, you know, successful
startups, , a few times after that.
The biggest being in the chemicals industry, I then exited and, um, know,
then transformed my, my career into doing strategic growth transformations
in the private equity world.
And as a business leader with a scientist, Background.
I've been focused on transforming industry, has been, you know, a
little bit more dated into modern, you know, progressive organizations
with innovation and sustainability at the heart of their growth, projects.
So, private equity is a, is an amazing place to be.
It's a little different than entrepreneurial areas where, you know,
you play every role when you're the first.
Person hired in the organization here.
You come in with a, with a strong balance sheet and with a great team and the world
is, is open to you if you can align that strategy quickly and, and progressively.
And that's really where, where I really love to play.
I.
Victoria: That's awesome.
And I know we've, we've had a few PE people on the, the podcast in the past,
and it's always something that people are interested in terms of both the,
well, how do you, how do you get in.
To a PE-backed company.
So that's usually from somebody that's in some big, somewhat lumbers, publicly
listed company, but also this whole aspect of just really driving value and results.
'cause of course, that's where a lot of the action is.
Michael: private equity is an interesting medium.
how I got there was after I exited my chemical company, after a decade of
growing it and, and, and exiting, I started co-investing and sitting on
boards with, you know, private equity and venture backed organizations.
And, in my first private equity board, position, I was sort of.
S predicting the future a little bit faster than the, the organization itself
and the other board members from the private equity fund had asked why I was.
knowing where, what was coming or where it was going, before the team.
And I started
Victoria: Yeah.
Michael: about that.
And then asked if I'd be willing to take the CEO role of the organization.
So my, my work with, with private equity started as consultancy, but
then found its way into, operational, structure and, and, and performance.
So that's really how my, my, my start into private equity, you
know, began and working with private equity is, it's amazing.
You're sprinting a marathon, which is hard, don't get me wrong, right?
'cause private equity has a five year timeline on average,
from start to their exit.
So you've gotta achieve your growth, your operational excellence, your safety
improvements, your strategic shifts, all in a very small amount of time.
So, you know, it's not a, it's not a very long tenure where public companies have a
lot more time to steer that ship around.
And as the larger organizations go, the trick is to make them as nimble and as
operationally excellent as possible.
Victoria: Yeah, absolutely.
Well that's a good segue into to Hexion.
So let's talk a little bit, first of all, just about who and what is Hexion.
'cause some of our folks may not be familiar with the company.
Michael: So, so Hexion is actually over 150 years old.
Victoria: Wow.
Michael: be called Borden.
We were founded by, by a gentleman named Gail Borden, who, who actually
invented, uh, condensed milk
Victoria: I was gonna ask if it was a dairy, the dairy connection.
Michael: It, it was the, it was the dairy company.
Of course, you know, now we're in chemicals.
But, um, they used to have, Elmer's glue, cracker Jacks.
They used to have, fast food restaurants.
There was a, it was an amazingly diverse.
And um,
Victoria: Wow.
Michael: then the name changed, years ago and we became Hexion.
It's still a little bit frustrating, I'm not gonna lie, in Columbus, Ohio.
When you get in a taxi at the airport and say, take me to the Hexion building,
which has our big name on it, taxi drivers still look at you like you have, you
know, you have three heads and, um, if you tell 'em to take you to the board and
building, they know exactly where to go.
So, uh, we're working on that branding opportunity in.
Victoria: That's amazing.
And how long has it been Hexion as a company?
Michael: Uh, over a decade.
Victoria: Okay.
That's what I thought.
Yeah.
Michael: And, you know, we're a global producer o of of, of adhesives and
performance materials and, you know, we have locations all over the world
headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.
Um, and we have, just under 1500 associates in the organization.
So, you know, we are the world's pioneers in what are called resins,
which is basically a different type of glue, for engineered wood products.
And, you know, we work in the, you know, in in, in the building and construction.
Majority.
We also have products in agriculture and oil and gas and automotive and
coatings and paints and things like that, but our big business falls into
the building and construction markets.
Victoria: Got it.
Makes sense.
So you've been at Hexion now for a few years and you've really been
leading it through a significant period of transformation.
Right?
So I know you talked about being PE-backed and just how that drives, fast
movement, fast decisions, fast results.
But can you describe some of that transformation and
what really prompted it?
Michael: Yeah, you know, Hexion and, and prior in was, you know, was built
on the backbone of innovation and, and purposeful innovation, Ion's history,
some, some ups and downs, um, that Hexion had in the, in the last decades.
It has become a little bit less investing into its, pioneering research.
And so at Hexion we are focusing on transforming, you know, what we,
would define as a more commoditized chemical supplier into a solutions
focused technology enabled.
Provider to lead the manufacturing industry of engineered wood and, and
construction and building products.
this shift's been, one driven by our customers, what our customers need.
and we are 100% customer focused.
we have decided those solutions should be fully enabling to make sure that their
processes and their products are to the highest quality and the highest spec by
including systems through our acquisition with smart tech AI based systems.
As well, well as improving our products to be the fastest curing, the strongest
bonding materials that can be made for, for wood product engineering.
By investing in these, you know, data-driven quality systems and
digitization, we're differentiating ourselves and helping our customers to
build resilient supply chains of their products into their markets in the future.
Victoria: Yeah.
Interesting.
So it prompts so many questions for me about this, Michael, but
let's just start with this whole, the market and your customers.
I think about, um, engineered wood products, and I kind of
make an assumption that a lot of this is coming from China today.
I don't know if that's true or false.
So, you know, how global is your business and, and what are the pressures that
you guys are seeing given where we are, from a geopolitical perspective and just
our global economic perspective today.
Michael: So lemme start with your, with your China Point.
So there are wood panels made everywhere, right?
Victoria: Okay.
Michael: and plywood and particle board, and MDF and I can keep going, right?
They're, they're made everywhere and they are imported.
The nice thing about our chemicals is.
They're made locally, they don't travel very far.
Their stability is shorter term compared to, something that you can just put
on, you know, put in a container and, wait months or a year to use.
So, Hexion is a global organization.
We have 25 plants all around the world.
for, for wood products, they're in Australia, New Zealand,
Latin America, north America.
We don't play too much in Asia, in the wood products area other than now
through the acquisition of smart tech.
We have systems sales into those regions.
Um, and then we have some manufacturing also in Europe
for some of our coatings and.
Emulsions and, business in, in, in that space.
because of our local, you know, sort of made local, so sold local, um, philosophy,
we're not terribly impacted by, the macro tariffs and the cro, you know,
and, and the shifts that are occurring.
We do have some, you know, some exposure to cross border shipments into Canada.
But that has become much more mild over time and we, you
know, hope it stays that way.
Of course.
So the tariff risk has been but you know, our sourcing strategy is still global.
We still make sure we make the best choices for our products,
for their quality, and obviously to minimize any disruptions due
to volatility in the market.
we're constantly growing our business partnerships globally, right?
We just partnered with a company called Cadent.
Cadent is the leader in what's called strainer technology.
So basically when you take a tree and you cut it into the pieces that make.
That make OSB
Victoria: Yeah.
Michael: so the, the little pieces that get glued together to make a structural
board, they're the world leader in that.
They're based in Canada And we look to that partnership to, expand
that capability, you know, into the markets that we, we play in as well.
We also just announced this week a partnership with a company
with an early stage organization called Bloom Biorenewables.
They're a technology leader in utilizing lignin, a part of the tree that's often
used to burn because it doesn't have.
many uses.
Um, so they use it for heating value fuel value, and we've worked with
them to build novel adhesives from the tree itself, because lignin is
the glue that holds the tree together.
Victoria: Interesting.
Michael: at international partnerships in technology basis to expand our innovation
profile, to make sure we're providing, you know, the best products, to our
customers and through our value chain.
Victoria: Yeah.
Interesting.
So I know you, it sounds like, you know, you said you started out saying
how you've evolved to being more of a solutions provider or that's a direction
where you guys are going, but It, sounds like you're still innovating
as well in products, in the services.
And that becomes all, I guess, part of that solution.
Yeah.
Michael: It, it you have to innovate both organically and inorganically.
Hexion does not have the philosophy of, you know, it's often found
in large organizations what, what we call not invented here.
If it's not invented here, it can't be worthwhile, for their business.
We believe that there are great innovations everywhere, and we wanna
be partnered with the best in what they do and provide our capabilities, our
strengths, to make them get to market faster or get to product sooner, with the
best and highest reliability possible.
Victoria: Yeah, I think it's interesting and I think we are in such a high period
of innovation and transformation when you just look across not just the chemical
industry, but across all industries.
And so, we're seeing more and more companies.
Partnering to get, uh, to sustainable products partnering to bring in the
right technologies to support, their businesses, their customers, et cetera.
So I think, as you say, you can't afford just to be looking
internally for the solutions.
They're everywhere around us.
Yeah.
Michael: It's a global world and you, you've gotta participate
and we're a global company and you have to participate globally.
Victoria: Yeah.
Michael: I'm very much a believer in, you know, in, in diversity equals creativity.
And, what I mean by that is, there are great ideas from people in so
many different industries and so many different walks of life and
so many different upbringings that creativity comes from everywhere.
And we wanna be able to leverage that creativity to deliver.
The best product and the best service that Hexion can give to everybody that
we, that we partner with going forward.
So
Victoria: Yeah.
Michael: a goal of ours.
Victoria: Yeah.
Makes sense.
So let's just talk a little bit about customers.
I mean, so obviously customers, you've already talked about this
being kind of really, um, the center of what you guys are doing.
What are the biggest challenges that you maybe are hearing from your
customers today as we sit here mid 2025?
What are your customers saying?
What are they asking for?
And how are you responding?
Michael: Look, you know, all customers.
In the market, all companies in in the world are trying to do more with less.
Right?
They're constantly being pushed for, tighter costs, you know, higher margins,
labor, positions in, in the market.
And, Hexion wants to help provide innovations and products and
solutions to solve those, right?
So we, we work.
Incredibly close with our customers and our partners and, and they're more
partners than they are just customers.
We, we look at ways of, solving their problems as part of our offering
and solution and, you know, through our, some of our AI powered systems
that we're now putting out into the market so our customers can
operate their engineered production.
safer, at the highest quality, enabling every one of their operators
to be the best operator, right?
Our AI systems allows everybody to perform at the highest level.
And you know, so we have products like our smart quality product that
we just launched at gna, last month at the Big Wood Engineering Conference.
This is a high performance system.
Inexpensive has an immediate return in months on the investment
to drive higher product quality at lower cost and lower waste.
So moving also to our sustainable solutions as well that makes sure that
we're, you know, helping our customers to be on a low carbon renewable pathway.
with high performance,
Victoria: Yeah.
Michael: our r and d systems as well are helping to challenge, you know, the
sustainability around all components within the industry, where we're looking
at renewable feed stocks, renewable sources, really original ways to provide
adhesives and resins to the market, that deliver outsized performance.
A much, much lower carbon footprint,
Victoria: Yeah.
Michael: that's critical for what we do and how we innovate at.
Victoria: Yeah, it makes sense.
So, smart quality, which you guys have, have just recently rolled out, that's
targeting your customer's manufacturing.
Can you tell us a little bit more about that and how it, how it works?
How do they even bring it in and make it effective?
Michael: So, you know, smart quality is a, um, is purposely built to be
installed on the production line for eng
Victoria: Hmm.
Michael: all types of engineering wood panels.
It gives operators real time feedback on the product.
Final product, wood panel coming out the other side of their production.
So if the co, if the product has deficiencies or defects in it, they
learn it fast, they learn it quick, and we provide recommendations back
to the operator how to improve their system upstream to make sure that
they are making changes that lead to a much higher quality score.
Victoria: Yeah.
Michael: everybody's wanting AI in their systems right in, in their,
in their engineered systems, but our customers are, are, looking for, you
know, tighter specs, higher quality, better control, more efficient operation
to allow their operators to do more.
In less time.
Right?
And this solves that problem.
This meets that demand with actionable insights for them to solve.
And this system can be downloaded over the web.
It's got a small monthly fee.
And it will deliver, the highest returns of any product in the industry on a
very simple, very capable install.
this will be a, a lead up to our further product, which is called Smart Press.
Not to, I know your question was on smart quality, but
Victoria: it's fine.
Michael: opportunity to
Victoria: we are.
Yeah,
Michael: our,
Victoria: absolutely.
Michael: talk about our, our next, uh, our, our bigger product, which
is Smart press that automates the.
Temperature and the pressure and the quality of the product as well.
To build a foundation of an AI fully enabled system, to the operator
and to the, you know, to the.
of the wood panels.
So we're looking at becoming what we're calling the ultimate operator.
And the ultimate operator is, you know, allowing, you know, the operations team
to work at the highest level so that every board they make is the best board
they can and deliver to the customer.
So
Victoria: Yeah.
Michael: kind of a door opener and smart press is changing the game.
Victoria: Yeah.
Okay.
So I'm gonna be a little bit of a devil's advocate here, Michael,
in, in, in the sense of, you know.
I guess the question I have is really how receptive are customers to this?
Because I could see them saying, Hey, Michael and the Hexion team, that's great,
but we want you to provide adhesives.
We're not asking you to get into our actual operations, and are you
equipped to be part of our operations?
How would you respond to that?
Because it seems like you're getting really intimately invested, not just in
your products, but in the overall system.
And production system, right?
Yeah.
Michael: you something that's incredibly surprising.
Ion's technical service team is badged to walk into a customer's
site and most of our customers, we have that type of intimacy.
They can go in and tell operators to make changes and they will be listened to
Victoria: Wow.
Michael: So we're already doing this, we're
Victoria: Okay.
Michael: it through a personal.
Right.
So our knowledge of how the system works and how it operates.
Is above any one of our competitors.
We are the best when it comes to this.
And I'll tell you, the AI system, the information that is being built from the
AI system allows us to engineer glue and resin at a much, much more customizable
Victoria: Yeah.
Michael: Right?
You know, we hear in the news about custom medicines, right?
That fit our DNA and fit our, our specific microbiome and
Victoria: Yeah.
Michael: Well now knowing the process and knowing the wood species and
knowing the, the, the properties that come along with all of that, we can
now develop resins that are singularly focused for the specific plant on
the specific day of their operation.
So think about that capability to enable what we are most known for, as you
said, our resins, our glues, but now through AI and enablement on efficiency
improvement for the customer and cost savings in the millions of dollars,
we can also customize the glue that works better for them so they get even
better products and better performance.
Victoria: Wow.
Michael: circle and the customers are demanding it.
We
Victoria: Yeah.
Michael: list on installation of all of our systems.
Victoria: how is the workforce responding?
Because, you know, one of the questions, that I think about.
Especially as we start adopting more and more, AI is having workforce
readiness to actually, , utilize these tools and, and frankly, it's changing
the way they work quite dramatically.
They have to upskill differently than they do today.
Right?
So I think about, the manufacturing process is often thought as being very.
Manual, although we know there's a ton of automation, but adding this additional
layer of smart sophistication, requires more upskilling of the workforce.
Do you, do you see this when you talk with your own workforce
and your customer's workforce?
Michael: So I, I could speak to Hexion and how we use ai.
You know, we.
We make AI a requirement at Hexion.
Victoria: Hmm.
Michael: that every associate that we hire today must have
some or familiarity with ai.
just a must.
It makes everybody so much more productive and so much more capable.
I constantly groan every time I get an email and we're talking.
If we're talking about AI and somebody says, oh, I, I wrote this email.
I didn't use ai, right?
And like there's a stigma to using ai, and I think that needs to go away very quickly
because I think the stigma should be.
Why aren't you using ai?
Right?
I would rather that email say, Hey, I wrote this with AI to save myself
10 minutes, and I was able to move on to another project that's producing
value for our customers and for our partners in everything we do.
at the customer side for the enablement of ai, it's allowing our,
our, our partners to utilize their resources at a higher level, right?
Victoria: Hmm.
Michael: operator is working at an equal level, whether they've been
there for one year or 30 years.
So that really enables a level, uh, of the level of the playing field
that's never been seen before.
look at this as that those people can now be used for other operations, other
capabilities in the organization to make sure that they are running safely and
and smart throughout the entire way.
So we look at this As AI is a pure enablement and if you build it correctly
with the right screens, the right recommendations, the right training
embedded, upskilling is not a problem.
because it's very intuitive, it's very capable, and you can always say no to
the recommendation if you feel that you know better and you know, smarter.
We don't force the change.
We allow the decision making to be made by those that feel they are the
experts, but we believe that our systems.
Victoria: Yeah.
Makes sense.
Well, and I think the other piece on this is, um, certainly we've all seen
across the industry, not just the chemical industry, but many industries,
really a talent gap in this concern about, enough of an available workforce.
So.
To the degree that there is AI and other automation and digitization
tools that help alleviate some of the, um, the human intervention needs
or putting people into higher value, work activities, it also addresses
potentially some of this talent gap.
Um, and just the, the sheer physical gap of number of people available to work.
Michael: Look, AI needs to be run through hr, not through it.
I'm, I'm a very big believer in that because it's a skillset that
just is an enablement, right?
With turnover of, of people with, you know, don't wanna say people
are any less loyal than they were.
We have associates at, at Hexion that have been here 30, 40 years and,
and, you know, their, their children are here and, you know, all of that.
So we love that generational capability.
But AI is an enabling tool.
It, it, it really does allow.
To help solve some of those gaps that occur because the knowledge base
allows it to accelerate so much faster.
And with our transformational process as well, well, where we're cross
collaborative in everything we do, you know, we don't run anything in a silo.
We make sure that, you know, we try and flatten the organization as much
as possible and we put everybody in the room that could provide.
Diverse thought, um, so that you can challenge the status
quo and make sure you're making advancements in everything you do.
And we think that's the enablement to work in a function of, you know,
how the, the world is moving today.
Victoria: Yeah.
That's great.
Well, and of course Michael, I mean, throughout your career
you've been an innovator, right?
A hundred patents.
You're clearly comfortable with, adopting a bracing and developing new
things, which is really incredible.
So let, yeah, let me, let me ask this question.
I, I, you know, we're kind of getting to the close of our, our time together.
and I love to ask this question.
In fact, I hear from listeners that they love to hear the
answers to these questions.
So what advice would you give to a young professional just
entering the industry that says, you know, how do I make an impact?
How do I achieve the success maybe that.
you've achieved?
What advice do you offer people?
Michael: So, so number one is you have to stay curious.
You have to keep asking the question.
How, why, what, right?
It, it's, you can't be afraid to ask the dumb question in a room.
I asked some of the, some of the simplest questions because if I'm curious on
something, I'm sure somebody else in the room as well, and that in that
inquisitiveness is critical to being, you know, successful in any organization
if you don't lean in and ask questions.
Challenges are gonna persist and you're not gonna be able to really
and, and transform an organization.
Sometimes the simplest question, not the question that'll change something,
but maybe how somebody answers that question will give somebody an idea
on a problem that they're working on that's not being discussed today.
So it's really about that empowerment of information and that spread of, you know,
of, of knowledge across the organization.
I'm a very big fan of being the dumbest person in the room.
Um, and that is a goal that I've had my entire career.
I surround myself with the smartest people I can.
It makes my job really easy.
So for me, if you can have a, you know, like I said, a diverse, capable,
inquisitive, hungry team around you, is the best place to be in the world.
Because your organization will constantly have that success and it's really
about getting in a room together.
Right?
And
Victoria: Yeah.
Michael: try and be present.
When I was at Bell Labs, years and years and years ago, I.
bell Labs is the place where the transistor was invented and, you
know, and c programming and Unix and, you know, wireless communications.
Right.
It was an innovation, Disneyland of sorts.
um, my first day I was invited to lunch by a host and he was a Nobel Prize
winner, and I was sat at this lunch
Victoria: Wow.
Michael: These preeminent scientists, Nobel Prize winners, fields, medal
winners, you know, national Academy of Science, medicine and Engineering.
They were all diverse in education, and he came up to me in the middle of lunch
and kind of whispered in my ear and said.
What is, what do you think the greatest invention to innovation is?
And this guy won a Nobel Prize in physics, so I was like, oh my God, I
gotta come up with something that he did.
and I very quickly, you know, named something in spectroscopy that I thought
would be, you know, make me sound smart and him happy that it, you know,
involved, some of the stuff he worked in.
he goes, no, the cafeteria.
was before interdisciplinary science or as interdisciplinary sciences.
Got, but you had a mathematician talking to a biologist.
A biologist talking to a chemist, a chemist talking to a physicist,
a physicist talking to an engineer, and so on and so forth.
And that really was the key to the success of innovation.
You just, if you could keep asking questions and keep pushing experiences
and learnings, sky's the limit.
That really to me would be the two things that I think are
critical to becoming a success in whatever your endeavor to pursue.
Victoria: Love it.
Love it, love it.
Michael, This has been a great conversation.
I've really enjoyed spending time with you today.
Michael: This has been wonderful.
Thank you so much for this opportunity.
Victoria: Thanks for joining me, and thank you everyone for joining us today.
Keep listening, keep following, keep sharing, and we will
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