Chemistry Group’s VP Choice Signals Role of Diversity, Science

A rare exemplory case of a scientist and woman of color ready of regulatory power within the chemical industry- wants to show that opportunities for folks like her exist in a sector long dominated by White men.

“I hope that when they see there are people that look like them, they feel empowered to find the education and training they need, and aspire to be in roles such as this,” she said.

White recently became vice president of regulatory and technical affairs at the American Chemistry Council. The industry group, referred to as ACC, represents the majority of the U.S. chemical industry-including 3M Co., Dow Inc., Honeywell International Inc., and the Procter and Gamble Co.

Chemical makers produce the raw materials used to produce a dizzying array of products for industries and consumers. The council spent at least $15.3 million on lobbying in 2020.

She’s worked at the council for a decade overseeing sets of companies that centered on chemical policies. Now she manages an employee of 17 attorneys and other professionals who help develop the council’s policy positions on issues such as for example energy, security, trade, accident prevention, climate change, and chemical management.

White, a toxicologist by trade, replaced an attorney who worked at the council for a lot more than 2 decades. As a scientist, she said she’d prefer to debunk the idea that chemical companies know little about the impact of the merchandise they make by showing that manufacturers could be resources for health, environmental, and other information.

Choosing a toxicologist for the regulatory role “sends a solid signal that the private sector is hearing the scientists and promoting the utilization of the best available science to see public health policies and regulations that are fair, equitable, and respectful,” said James H. Sherman, a senior toxicologist at Celanese Corp., a worldwide chemical and specialty materials company. He worked with White using one of the industry panels she managed.

Fostering Opportunities
White’s new role will further her ongoing conversations with young scientists. She was created in Wilmington, Del., but spent most of her life in Richmond, Va. As a youngster who loved using microscopes and pipettes, long thin tubes found in laboratories to transfer liquids, she thought we would pursue biology and toxicology at Texas Southern University, among the nation’s most significant historically Black universities.

Now she volunteers with the Future of STEM Scholars Initiative (FOSSI), a chemical industry-backed program that offers scholarships to students pursuing science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM, degrees at historically black universites and colleges. Participating companies also offer students internships, leadership development, and mentoring opportunities.

Few Blacks or women worked in her field when White graduated in 2005. That’s changed slightly, “but I would not say dramatically,” she said. “I generally still am one of only a few African American toxicologists that will work in our industry our field. I’d prefer to see that continue steadily to grow.”

When dealing with controversial issues like chemical regulation, having women and persons of color in positions of influence “can only result in better decisions and more public confidence in those decisions,” said Linda Fisher, an lawyer who retired as DuPont’s chief sustainability officer in 2016 and held senior posts at environmentally friendly Protection Agency under three Republican presidents.

“The more we see women, especially women of color, do well in leadership positions, the better and better our workforce and our society will be,” she said.

‘Sea Change’
White’s new portfolio and how big is her staff certainly are a “sea change” from her past position directing ACC’s chemical products and technology division, said David B. Fischer, an legal professional at Keller and Heckman LLP who worked with White for a long time when he was at the trade association.

But her scientific curiosity and character have equipped her to take care of this change, he said.

“She’s humble and self-aware enough to know very well what she knows and what she doesn’t know so when to get advice,” he said. She’s also “super organized” and totally reliable, Fischer said.

Having a scientist with expertise in regulatory policies as the top of ACC’s regulatory arm has distinct advantages, attorneys and scientists who’ve worked for the chemical industry say.

Attorneys aren’t trained to give attention to the practical implications of different regulatory options, but scientists in the chemical industry are, said Frankie Wood-Black, a physicist teaching at Northern Oklahoma College who formerly was both a consultant for and researcher in the chemical and petroleum industries.

“White will be attuned to thinking about unintended, adverse consequences that banning a chemical can have, and comparing the risks of different choices,” said Wood-Black, who doesn’t know White but is familiar with ACC.

‘Looking for Solutions’
Sherman, the Celanese toxicologist, said she's displayed a talent for “achieving consensus” and easily can discuss complex matters with lawyers, senior corporate leadership, regulators, and other scientists.

White said she uses a basic strategy no matter whether she’s talking to a passenger on a plane or a CEO. She asks them questions in what they’ve heard and what they’re looking for, and frames her remarks on what they already know and the problems they’re trying to solve.

She also uses simple language. Most people don’t understand common conditions and concepts found in chemistry and the processes used to determine whether chemicals pose risks, she said. If a topic is complicated, she said she finds a thing that to compare it to that’s easily understandable.

White said she sees an integral part of her role as finding methods to resolve problems.

“When you get yourself a room of scientists together, they want for solutions,” she said.