As the senior technology manager of Avient Corp.'s Specialty Engineered Materials unit, Heather Scaglione manages a customer-facing facility and leads a team of 11 employees, including technicians and engineers. She leads strategic discussions around future platforms and differentiated materials and services.
Scaglione has created and managed Avient's corporate innovation center, where customers, strategic vendors, new hires and investors are brought in.
"This facility has directly impacted how we present our technology but also bring in customers to solve their toughest material and application projects. For over 11 years, it has been a destination space where we tell our story and really allow both internal and external customers to connect the dots and imagine the possibility of material science, color, design and aesthetics. I have been able to influence and truly own what this space does for Avient," she said.
For the last six years, the center has had a year-over-year growth of more than 40-50 percent.
Scaglione was a recent recipient of the Chairman's Club Award for Specialization: "This is one of the most coveted awards within our company for technology and the impact it has to Avient and our customers."
She was also honored for the 2016 Greater Cleveland Women of Professional Excellence and was inducted into the Padua Franciscan High School for Outstanding Alumna in April. "This was particularly meaningful for me because this school has been impactful to both the person I am as well as my personal values," she said.
"I have held onto this quote around achievement for many years. It personifies what I have truly privileged to create at Avient," Scaglione said. "The quote reads, 'Life's great achievement is doing something that people say you can't.'"
Q: What is your personal "mold" that you are breaking?
Scaglione: I am building on what I experienced as a young girl, when my father started a manufacturing company. As a young girl of 5 years of age, I was helping in the subassembly of parts, adding in the nuts and bolts. At the end of the school day, we helped in the plant, completed our homework on desks in the offices and slept on cots in my parent's office. I saw the impact of working hard and the desire to achieve something great. It was during this time that I knew I wanted to do more with my life.
I have always wanted to be the best version of myself and perhaps break the mold of what I thought my career could look like. I am always competing with myself and reflecting on role models or messages shared with me. I recall a professor telling me that I could not be a successful professional, wife and mother — it was not possible to be all three. I would have to pick one. Those words sat with me for a long time. At the heart of it, there is truth that it is very tough to juggle things. However, it does not mean that you are not successful at all of them. I have learned to define successful. What does successful mean?
I wanted to break the mold and not say that I was successful; I wanted to show it through my actions and accomplishments. Sharing my story through this interview has helped to frame my actions. Most of this, I have never spoken about and certainly not in a condensed or formatted way. You do not have to talk about your success in order for others to admire you, like working with you or more importantly seek you out for support and leadership.
I want to serve as the strongest possible role model for young people with a clear message that you can do incredible things at work but also give back. The giving back will come through your investment in colleagues' projects, spending time with interns and even writing letters of recommendations for young people when they pursue their first job or graduate school. I have been able to create an amazing facility and team, make an impact to global teams and still invest in the community to help others less fortunate.
The truth is, I am still inventing myself and creating a new mold to break. I like the idea that I am creating a new goal and this mold will be broken when I obtain it. I would like to see my life as a series of molds constantly being broken. I love this part of my career and this journey!
Q: What job do you really want to have in the future?
Scaglione: While I really believe that there is always something to do and that we can make a large impact each day by electing to come in and challenge our peers, collaborate more with our customers, etc., I would say that looking for the next thing and chomping at the bit to do it. I have been in my role for some time and feel that I have been successful at it. Having strong leaders in technology roles is absolutely essential to your business. The volume of knowledge about materials and customers applications is pivotal to how we can tackle things with speed and dive into the details. I know that I have served as this in our organization and have had the privilege to mentor others.
I know my role intimately and get excited about learning something new. However, I do love the process of being given the "keys to the car and asked to unleash it on the road." That is in fact what was truly amazing about opening up and creating the Innovation Center. My manager, Patti Hubbard, trusted that she hired the right person and let me frame it up, create the space and define the vision. Her trust in me fueled me beyond what I was asked to do. I have never forgotten how that felt. It has really framed up for me what I want in the next role and more importantly how I want to inspire my own team to take on their next roles. I am looking for a larger global role, where I can help to create a global center of excellence and truly tap into the power behind our global team.
I have thought before about becoming a general manager. I have been incredibly happy at building this space from the ground up. I am at ease straddling between the strategic view to the tactical details. With this said, I am thinking more about how to take on larger and more important roles in the business in technology and really drive our focus on the new solutions and growth.
I have decided to go back and complete my Ph.D. part time. This experience and opportunity should help to frame up the next steps for me. Learning and building these relationships is imperative and can help to nourish my ideas and plans for the future.
Q: What emerging technology or market most interests you?
Scaglione: I am always watching how the market is shifting and have had my eyes on the megatrends. The global plastic market is incredibly large, topping nearly $593 billion dollars, by some estimates. What is most interesting are the spaces where plastics are making an immediate impact. I look at it through the lens of how they solve unique problems, how plastics improve or save lives and how we can use them responsibly.
I am incredibly excited about both sustainability and how our customers are viewing it, as well as how they are looking for guidance, ideation and even partners. It feels like there is this amazing awakening around how to create more sustainable and impactful materials. Looking at underdeveloped economies, we recognize the amount of plastic waste arriving on the shores and in the bodies of water adjacent to them. This is only part of the solution and where ideas and contributions can be made.
I am interested in the markets where perhaps plastics can be a differentiation.
The growth of the construction industry in emerging markets such as South America, China, India and Mexico has fueled the demand for plastics. The growth of the populations, coupled with urbanization and industrialization in these emerging economies, has been mobilizing federal governments to increase their construction spending. Reading up on this, the increasing construction spending by global governments will be linked to additional spending on plastic solutions to replace other common materials, such as wood and metal. Moreover, the regulations regarding depletion and recyclability of the conventional materials such as metal and wood will drive greater plastic demand from construction industries such as windows, insulation, pipes, cables, floorings, even and furniture. I can see the unique benefits of composites to impact these applications. Composites create tougher and more flexible materials unsurpassed by other technologies.
Finally, I see the unique material solutions with thermoplastics in medical applications.
I am more intrigued than ever by solutions like bioresorbable polymers and semi-implantables.
I am plugged into how flexible electronics and wearables will play in the medical market and absolutely see how plastics will be key to the success. Polymers and specialty materials when married together will solve these problems, improve performance and finally save lives.