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For International Women’s Day on March 8, coatings and chemicals giant PPG invited six top women executives in the chemicals industry to the Daniel G. and Carole L. Kamin Science Center, North Shore, to share the struggles and successes they’ve encountered in a sector overwhelmingly dominated by men.
The panel discussion, “Inspire Inclusion: Exceptional Women in Chemicals,” was hosted by PPG’s Women’s Leadership Network.
But two men came up with the idea.
“It’s a strong example of men being allies,” said Irene Tasi, senior vice president, global industrials at PPG, and one of the panelists.
Marvin Mendoza, PPG’s global head for diversity, equity and inclusion and the panel moderator, told the audience he and his husband, Brandon Lyssy, were brainstorming a few years ago about how to craft a fresh approach to International Women’s Day.
Lyssy is the global director for DEI and community relations at Univar Solutions, which last year organized the first panel of women leaders in chemicals held at BASF, a German firm with U.S. headquarters in New Jersey.
At this year’s event hosted by PPG, many of the 125 in-person attendees — mostly women and a sprinkling of men — showed up wearing various shades of purple, the official color of International Women’s Day.
Another 1,100 people who work for PPG and other companies represented on the panel accessed the event virtually.
International Women’s Day draws attention to women’s contributions and spotlights issues like women’s rights and gender pay equity. It traces its roots to women’s movements of the early 1900s; the United Nations began commemorating the day in 1975 and made it official in 1977.
In introductory remarks for the event, Tim Knavish, PPG’s chairman and chief executive and a self-described “girl-dad” of two, said it’s widely known that “diverse teams perform better.”
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But women lag men by significant numbers in engineering and industrial manufacturing businesses such as chemicals. Women hold 33% of entry-level jobs in those sectors and comprise only 24% of senior vice presidents and 22% of C-suite executives, according to a 2023 report from McKinsey & Co. and LeanIn.org.
“We are still in the minority and not that long ago, many of us were the only women in the room,” said panelist Christine Bryant, executive vice president, global head of tailored urethanes, for Covestro, a German company with U.S. headquarters in Robinson.
When an audience member asked how to make the chemicals industry “more glamorous” to help attract more women, Bryant said girls — and boys — need to be exposed to science and other STEM fields “when they’re young.”
“Luckily, a high school teacher sparked an interest in chemistry for me,” she said.
Covestro’s education initiatives include sending employees to classrooms to demonstrate hands-on chemistry lessons and bringing middle-school girls to its campus to explore a range of jobs.
Bryant and Tasi both recounted executive meetings during the Covid pandemic where they believe their presence as women helped shape better guidelines on corporate policies such as bringing work-from-home employees back to the office.
When some PPG executives pushed for remote employees to report back three days a week “in a month,” Tasi raised issues that could cause challenges for many workers including long wait lists for child care or arranging care for elderly parents.
“Do you think in a month someone can make that pivot?” she told her colleagues. “It doesn’t work that way.”
Other panelists were from Univar, BASF, Dupont and Dow Chemicals.
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Women in Trades
At Rosedale Technical College on March 6, the purple theme was also on display as approximately 50 female high school students attended a Women in Trades event to learn more about careers in welding, automotive, collision repair, industrial electricity, HVAC and truck driving.
A panel of Rosedale’s women alumni who work in technical jobs shared their education and job experiences, and participants shadowed current students engaged in hands-on training using tools, vehicles and other equipment.
Visitors, staff and many students donned purple T-shirts for the day.
This is the eighth year the nonprofit school in Kennedy has held the event to boost women’s interest in trade jobs typically held by men.
Of its current enrollment of 312 students, about 11% are women working toward associate degrees and professional certificates.
Among the panelists was Stephanie Deal, the first woman to obtain an electrical technology degree from Rosedale and now a production supervisor at Carnegie Robotics, Lawrenceville.
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Before enrolling at Rosedale at age 25, Deal worked as a waitress, bartender and short-term debt collector for a bank.
“I was working hard without making money,” she said.
She started a house painting business to pay for her degree and figured she could eventually design electrical systems for her painting customers.
After graduating in 2010, Deal worked as a residential electrician, in appliance repair and as an electrical engineering technician for several companies before landing at Carnegie Robotics in 2019.
The company, located in a retrofitted steel plant, makes sophisticated sensors and cameras used in the agriculture, mining, safety, surveillance and energy industries.
Deal was hired as a technician and advanced to supervisor.
While much of her time is now spent in meetings and management tasks, “Once a month, I get in and build something” on the factory floor to keep up with technology changes, she said.
She’s hired five Rosedale graduates and advises women to “push yourself out of your comfort zone” in education and the workplace.
“With confidence will come success,” said Deal.
Joyce Gannon is a Pittsburgh-based freelance writer.
