Ben Smith is lead consultant responsible phenolics and nylon raw materials for CMAI's Aromatics Market Report and Global Fibers & Feedstocks Report. He also oversees the Houston-based consulting group's world cumene/phenol and polycarbonate analysis. Smith joined CMAI in 1996 as a research associate in the aromatics department, where he helped develop many of the firm's economic and supply/demand models and software systems.
Smith graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1993 with a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering. After graduation, he worked as a process engineer for Austin-based Electrosource Inc., which makes lead-acid batteries for electric vehicles.