EW Polymer Group

Our Leadership Team

Our Leadership Team

Our team consists of highly skilled rubber professionals with many years of experience in the rubber industry and other parts of the chemical industry. We have strong capabilities within manufacturing, purchasing, and logistics and we have been part of setting up several world-class sourcing and manufacturing organizations in the chemical industry. We have sourced and produced a wide variety of synthetic rubber and rubber chemical materials and we have extensive experience with sourcing from Asia and Europe.

GREGORY N. NELSON, Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Nelson served as Co-founder, CEO and President of EW Polymer Group, one of two leading merchant synthetic rubber manufacturers in the US for the past 3 years. Mr. Nelson was also CEO, President and Director of Lion Copolymer, a leading global chemical producer of EPDM and SBR rubber, for 5 years. Prior to joining Lion Copolymer, Mr. Nelson spent 4 years at Nalco, a global leader in water technology. He served as President of Nalco Europe and Group President of Nalco’s Equipment and Services Business. Before joining Nalco, Mr. Nelson was Global Vice President for Purchasing and Supply Chain for Sun Chemical; and before joining Sun Chemical, he was Global Vice president for Purchasing for Dow Chemical. Mr. Nelson began his career at Exxon Chemical where he held various management and leadership positions of increasing responsibility for nearly 20 years before leaving to join Union Carbide, which was later acquired by Dow Chemical. Mr. Nelson has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University. Mr. Nelson also served as President for the International Institute of Synthetic Rubber Producers (IISRP) for the 2015-2016 term.

HELENA L. NELSON, Chief Financial Officer
Ms. Nelson has 20 years of experience within operations, purchasing and competence development; and she has extensive experience in development of new ventures and models, for large corporations and in start-up settings. She is co-founder of Enjoin Partners, a niche consultancy company, and she was Consultant and Global Knowledge Manager & Expert with McKinsey & Company, based in both the US and European offices. She served as Business Development Manager at PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Sweden, and she was CEO and co-founder of Yourniverse, a Swedish start-up company focused on competence development. Ms. Nelson has a Master in Economics and International Economics from the Stockholm School of Economics in Sweden, and Columbia Business School in New York.

ETHAN A. SIGLER, Vice President of Sales and Marketing
Mr. Sigler has more than 20 years of experience in the rubber industry. He joined Bayer’s Rubber Division in 1997 and has worked at Bayer, Lanxess and Arlanxeo in various positions including Sales & Marketing, Product Management and Operations. Mr. Sigler was responsible for management of key global tire accounts at Arlanxeo. Prior to this, he was the North American head of the Butyl Rubber Business Unit located in Akron, OH for several years. Mr Sigler spent six years in Singapore managing Butadiene based polymers and Butyl rubber within the Asian market mainly to tire customers, but also to various other industries. Mr. Sigler has extensive experience in penetrating new markets as well as in the development and introduction of innovative new materials. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Akron.

LYNN BRYANT, Director of Sales and Quality

MICHAEL PARHAM, Director of Sales
Mr. Parham has more than 35 years of experience in the rubber industry, with over two decades of sales experience coupled with an extensive technical background. Prior to joining EW Polymer Group in 2018, he spent twelve years as a senior account manager at Lanxess / Arlanxeo, managing and acquiring several key regional and global accounts. Mr. Parham began his career in 1983 in the R&D laboratory at Dana Corporation, developing and testing rubber compounds for hose and belting applications. After leaving to become a production rubber compounder at Pirelli Armstrong Tire Co, he then joined Associated Rubber Company in rubber compound development. He was later the rubber department technical manager at Tridon Wiper Systems, an automotive supplier. Making the transition to sales in 1996, he became an account manager and product manager with rubber industry supplier H. L. Blachford, Ltd. Mr. Parham holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Tennessee State University.

DEBORAH C. SCHNEIR, Director of Sales and Marketing
Ms. Schneir joined Bayer’s Rubber Division in 1998 and has worked in various positions at Bayer, Lanxess and Arlanxeo including Accounting, Finance, Production Planning, Product Management and Sales & Marketing. Her 20+ years of experience covers many polymers such as ESBR, BR, Butyl, NBR, HNBR, CR, EVM and EPDM. Her main market coverage has been in the industrial segment and in recent years, a specialized focus in the HIPS/ABS markets. Prior to this, Ms. Schneir was in Controlling for Pepsi-Cola. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business and is a Certified Public Accountant.