Panel Discussion: Navigating ‘Materials of Concern’ in the Coatings Industry

Noel Hollingsworth is Co-Founder and CEO at Uncountable. In his role he works closely with Uncountable's customers to implement next-generation data management systems. Prior to his work at Uncountable, Noel led data teams at startups and was awarded Forbes 30 under 30 for his work with machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Rich joined Micro Powders in 2011 as Technical Director and is currently the Vice President. He has over 35 years of experience in the coatings and inks industries and has lead formulation and polymer synthesis teams at companies including Sun Chemical and Zeneca. Rich holds 10 US patents.

Victoria Scarborough, Ph.D., specializes in the commercialization of in-demand new technology that leverages open innovation. Over the course of her career, she has advanced technology in the public and private sectors, ranging from the U.S. Department of Defense and federal laboratories, universities, and multinational corporations to individual inventors and startups, often by creating and managing complex R&D and commercialization activities with multi-million-dollar budgets. She draws on this experience to serve as ChemQuest’s vice president of Collaborative Innovation, a position she has held since 2020. Victoria holds numerous U.S. and international industry patents on breakthrough technologies and is a frequent contributor to professional society conferences and publications. In addition, she frequently participates as a National Science Foundation (NSF) Panel reviewer for funding research grants and has participated as a mentor in several national-level NSF I-Corps program cohorts. Victoria earned a BS degree in biology from the University of Mary Washington and received her doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. She pursued an MBA from Christian Brothers University and later participated in the Sherwin-Williams’ Leadership Excellence Program at Case Western Reserve University. She also completed the Licensing Executives Society’s Best Practices in Licensing: Developing, Negotiating & Executing Transactions program.

Brett Sago is the Director of the Health, Safety, Environment and Security (HSES) section of Eastman’s Law Department and the Global Product Stewardship & Regulatory Affairs (Global PSRA) function. In this capacity, he coordinates Eastman’s high-performing HSES attorneys’ compliance counseling, legislative/regulatory advocacy, training, due diligence, privileged investigations, and enforcement defense. In September 2023, he assumed responsibility for Eastman’s Global PSRA function. The Global PSRA team includes technical experts in the product regulatory and toxicology fields around the world that help ensure Eastman’s compliance with complex existing and proposed laws, regulations, and policies governing chemical and polymer manufacturing, labeling, handling, and uses, among other things. Brett advises Eastman’s Board, Executive Team, Businesses, Government Relations, Corporate Communications, Community Affairs, Sustainability/ESG and Global HSES teams regarding HSES and PSRA legal regimes, assessing the impact of proposed legislation and regulation and crafting changes. He has led Eastman’s HSES-related buyer/seller due diligence and contract negotiations for numerous acquisitions and divestitures. Brett is a leader on multiple intra-company teams including those focused on advocacy and auditing, sustainability, climate change, and more recently Eastman circular economy platform where he is advocating for the acceptance of solvolysis and thermolysis based recycling technologies and the mass balance allocation of recycle content. He enjoys mediating communications gaps and helping develop frameworks that maximize manufacturing and business objectives while assuring compliance and the protection of human health and the environment. Brett is a 1993 graduate of Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas and obtained his JD, with honors, from Tulane University Law School in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1998. While at Tulane, he was Editor-in-Chief of the Tulane Environmental Law Journal, received a Certificate in Environmental Law and was a member of the Tulane Moot Court Board. Following law school, Brett practiced environmental law and litigation for five years at a firm in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is admitted to practice law in North Carolina and Tennessee. He is married, has two children, and resides in Kingsport, Tennessee.

As Director of Regulatory Affairs, Scott coordinates all cohesive corporate regulatory activities across all Barentz verticals. He has extensive experience in the chemical industry, most recently serving as the Manager, Product Compliance Americas for Lubrizol Corp. In this role he led a team of individuals which oversaw the regulatory compliance activities for Lubrizol’s North American operations and sales. Scott was instrumental in growing the Compliance team in response to regulatory drivers such as REACH, TSCA reform and OSHA GHS. He has chemical knowledge and a breadth of regulatory experience with Industrial, Food & Care and Medical products and has been involved with the integration of various acquisitions. Scott holds a BS in Chemistry from Ohio University, a MS in Organic Chemistry from the University of Dayton, and is currently working on his MBA at Villanova.

Peter Votruba-Drzal, PhD leads PPG’s global sustainability collaborating cross-functionally to drive the company’s sustainability efforts by increasing sales of sustainably advantaged products, creating increased value for customers and shareholders, and reducing the environmental impact of PPG operations. Since joining in 2005, he has held various technical and technical management roles of increasing responsibility in six different PPG businesses. Throughout his career he has demonstrated a strong focus on harnessing innovation to deliver growth. Peter also serves as the board chair for the Sarah Heinz House and sits on two University advisory boards.