Jamel Lawrence has been with the same organization for 15 years, including prior to its acquisition by Lubrizol Advanced Materials in 2004. He has worked on product screening through development to scale-up in both product and test development, preparing him for his current position as a Technical Marketing Manager. 

 

Jamel’s responsibilities have become more service focused and require more support as his customers work with applying and formulating Lubrizol products. "The binder Lubrizol produces can be used in paper for air and liquid filtration used in cars, trucks, and fiberglass wallboard and insulation used in HVAC ducting. The binders are also used as coatings for book covers, paper and masking tape, to name a few," Jamel said.

 

Lubrizol encouraged Jamel to attend TAPPI events, become a member and take on more leadership roles, which he did through TAPPI committee involvement. "My TAPPI membership has led to great networking and learning opportunities," Jamel enthusiastically says. 

More specifically, the events which led to membership included TAPPI’s basic hands-on workshop for the pulp and paper industry, Specialty Paper Conference, PaperCon, TAPPI Standards Committee and the annual Fiberglass Mat Technology Committee Meeting (this year’s meeting is September 19 – 21 in Charleston, SC).

 

"Attending workshops, conferences and other events helps me to improve our application tests so they mimic those in the industry. Many issues can arise with the chemistry and physics of polymer, and I have encouraged numerous application scientists to take TAPPI’s hands-on courses," he said.

 

Jamel is an active member of the Fiberglass Mat Technology Committee and is particularly proud of his committee work to implement suggestions from a survey that focused on topics such as regulatory and fiberglass mat technology during annual meetings. Additionally, his work with other peers to develop a short course that Lubrizol presented on binder technology in 2016, which doubled the attendance of the committee meetings, was equally satisfying. 

Jamel’s Spotlight and interview can be read in its entirety here.