INTERVIEW Tim Probert – Editor, Personal Care Global
John Paro is CEO of personal care ingredient and industrial chemicals maker Hallstar. Here, in conversation with editor Tim Probert, John – SCI America’s 2024 Chemical Industry Medallist for lifetime contribution - imparts his wisdom gained from four decades of experience with the Chicago, Illinois-based company
Tim Probert (TP): You have been at Hallstar since its foundation in 1986, later becoming CEO in 2006. How has it changed from those early days? John Paro (JP): Back then, we were very different. In 1986, The Hallstar Company was a distributor, mostly serving the rubber industry. I would describe our first ten
years as unmarred by progress. Then, from the late 1990s, we started to transform from a chemicals distributor to a high-end speciality chemistry manufacturer. We’ve been on a rocket ride ever since, and we’ve got out of the distribution business.
TP: That transformation is quite unusual, isn’t it? JP: Usually, it would go the other way. In the late 1990s, we discovered we had the capability to make esters and plasticizers for industrial polymers. From that, we developed some high level photoprotection technology for sun care products. We found a way to
photostabilise UV filters like avobenzone in broad-spectrum sunscreens to prevent them from degrading from sun exposure and releasing damaging free radicals. That was really the genesis of our Beauty division.
TP: What is Hallstar Beauty’s global headcount and revenue currently? JP: We are approaching 300 staff globally and we’re closing in on $300m of annual revenue.
TP: Hallstar is privately owned. Do you think that has been a factor behind your capacity to innovate and, ultimately, the company’s growth? JP: Being privately owned certainly
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affords us the ability to innovate over a long period of time that publicly and private-equity owned companies often don’t have. The pressure on quarterly earnings for a publicly held company, or the pressure on a private equity company to figure out the end- game is very big. I don’t want to speak ill about
any of them; there’s a lot of talent that runs those businesses, and they’re fascinating. It just isn’t for me. I like the idea of having an innovation strategy that looks out 10 or 20 years ahead. From a business perspective, I think about how can we set up a mechanism worth continuing for 100 years. Is this the kind of market that can continue to generate opportunities that long? I think in the beauty ingredient and industrial chemical markets, the answer is yes.
TP: What do you mean by a mechanism? JP: The beauty industry is always going to be looking for cleaner, faster, safer chemistries. If you aren’t locked into a particular hero chemical, and you’re looking at chemicals broadly, you can innovate wherever the industry needs it. You can’t go out of business! What you need to do is focus
on company culture, and focus on the long term and making sure you have a sustainable methodology - both from a business practice and the chemistry that you’re using. Our strategy on sustainability has been pretty simple.
TP: What is that sustainability strategy? JP: Don’t try to boil the ocean! But also don’t come out with big predictions like ‘We’ll be carbon-free by the year x’.” I think
17
INTERVIEW
Taking the long view
predictions like that are going to bite some of the companies that make them. It’s very easy for a CEO who’s in the job for three to five years to make claims that run beyond their time. If Hallstar is going to be around
for the next 100 years, I would much prefer to be incrementally more sustainable each year than make some huge claim. As it happens, we are incrementally more sustainable every year, and we measure it, we track it, and put it in an annual report on our website.
TP: Do you think short-term financial pressures mean there’s not enough innovation in the personal care industry?
JP: I think there’s a lot of invention, but I don’t know if there’s a lot of innovation. We have an equation that we show our global teams all the time: Innovation = Invention + Commercial Success. If you haven’t had commercial
success, what you’ve actually had is an invention. The beauty industry is flooded with inventions. Flooded. Many come from fairly small startup companies that tend to be on the outside at trade shows. What they’re really doing is waving flags in the hope of being purchased. Then there’s the private equity
owned guys who are under pressure to increase EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization). If you’re looking to increase
November 2024 PERSONAL CARE
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