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Talking Talent: Fellow to Full Time

Posted on by Amelia Yeager

Pictured: Annie outside the Biosynthetic Technologies lab

Finding Heritage

Annie (left) with Fellows on a hike during 2020 winter retreat in Gatlinburg, Tennessee

When Chicago native and chemical engineering major Annie Hynes began her senior year at University of Notre Dame in 2018, she wasn’t sure what career she’d pursue after graduation. By the time she walked across the stage at commencement, though, her next two years were set: Annie had accepted an Orr Fellowship. That meant she’d have a full-time job and a whole lot more. Orr Fellowship supports young professionals with a community of peers and opportunities for continued learning and community involvement.

As a senior at Notre Dame, Annie had already explored career options within her major. “I had interned in research at a biotech company in college, but I wasn’t convinced that engineering was the right place,” she said. Orr Fellowship gave Annie a chance to learn about all areas of a business, which appealed to her curiosity. “The Fellowship is two years to explore, to get new experiences and figure out what you want to do — and I liked that,” she said. At Finalist Day, the last step of Orr’s application process, Annie and her fellow candidates interviewed with a handful of Orr’s dozens of Partner Companies — including The Heritage Group (THG).

Annie had no idea what to expect going into her interview with THG, but she was “happily surprised that Heritage had both science and engineering opportunities as well as business opportunities,” she said. The interviewers from THG, Matt Kriech and Kierstin Janik, were happy with Annie, too. Orr Fellowship matched her with THG for three eight-month rotations.

Exploring Heritage Companies

Annie’s first rotation began in June 2019 with Biosynthetic Technologies (BT), which had been recently acquired by The Heritage Group. Her degree in chemical engineering translated well to her research work with Biosynthetic, where she circulated samples to generate interest in the company’s capabilities.

Recognizing the benefits of the company was easy. “With The Heritage Group, you’re being backed by the security of a 90+ year old company, but you still get innovative entrepreneurial experiences from a startup as well,” Annie said.

“Annie reacted quite well to the challenges of an early-stage company, which can be chaotic to say the least,” commented COO Matt Kriech, Annie’s supervisor at BT. “She worked with a diverse team to create technical data packages that greatly accelerated our time to market by reducing the amount of technical development our manufacturers had to do.”

Annie on the job in her current role at Asphalt Materials, Inc.

For her second rotation, Annie relocated to Houston, Texas, to work as a production engineer with Monument Chemical. Orr Fellows are typically based in Indianapolis, so Annie’s time in Houston was unique. “I had never worked at a plant before, so that was my introduction to manufacturing, and I loved it,” Annie said.

“Usually, when we get someone that new out of school, they focus on one area until they’re comfortable,” said Operations Manager Jake Moehring, Annie’s supervisor at Monument. “Annie made it a point to branch out and take the opportunity to get involved with as much as she could.”

In March of 2020, Annie and many of her co-workers at Monument went remote due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the new virtual environment, she developed experience in the manufacturing field by monitoring production processes using automatic data collection from the plant. “I was still using my degree, but in a way I didn’t really know was possible,” Annie said. “I liked the creativity of the work and I loved my team there, so it was a really positive experience.”

During each of Annie’s rotations, her Heritage leaders made a difference. “I was given a lot of responsibility off the bat because of how much my managers trusted me and believed in me,” she said. “I liked the ability to make an impact early on in my career.”

Annie’s experience echoes other young professionals who are met with trust and responsibility when they join the Heritage family. For example, “I make it a point to treat our college interns as close as possible to a full-time new hire engineer,” Jake said. “I want them to be engaged and exposed to all areas of the plant to get a real taste of the role so they can make a good decision for their career path.”

Annie’s third and final rotation was completely remote, so she spent her final eight months of the Fellowship working from home in Chicago. Annie worked as a financial analyst for Heritage Environmental Services’ accounting and finance department, an area new to her academically and professionally. “To get that experience in accounting and finance was really beneficial to any job I might have in the future,” she said. “It’s nice to have a well-rounded picture of how our businesses operate from end to end. That has definitely benefited me, even in my current role in engineering.”

Joining the Heritage team

Annie (right) with colleagues at AMI

After her Orr Fellowship ended, Annie became one of the 57% of Fellows who stay with their Partner Companies by accepting an offer from Asphalt Materials, Inc. to work as a manufacturing engineer. Her work is primarily remote, but she travels to locations where J-Band is produced in Illinois and Indiana. “The work I do now is more like production planning and working out the kinks,” she said. “With some of our products, there are unique obstacles that I can help troubleshoot, which can be done remotely.”

Annie was one of The Heritage Group’s first two Fellows, but she is far from the last. THG has hired two Fellows from the class of 2020 and two from the class of 2021, and three more Fellows joined the Heritage family after their graduation in May 2022.

THG’s Early Career Talent Specialist, Lexie Seward, was an Orr Fellow at another Partner Company before joining the Heritage family. “Orr Fellows’ eagerness to participate in a wide range of experiences allows us to be creative with the rotations and make sure we fit company need with a Fellow’s interests,” Lexie said. “Overall, Orr Fellows bring curiosity and adaptability to THG. Because they’re agile and hungry for experience, there’s no limit to what they can do here.”

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Building a Safer World

Posted on by Amelia Yeager

For each of our more than 30 businesses, safety is a top priority. Because we tackle the big problems, we need processes that ensure the safety of our people and our environment. These are just two of the safety stories that happen at our locations every day, one close to home and one across the ocean.

Kallo’s Safety Milestone

from left: Manu, Gretel and Monument CEO Paul Raymond celebrate the milestone on site.

On Thursday, March 17, 2022, Monument Chemical’s Kallo, Belgium, team hit 1000 days without a major safety incident or lost time injury. And with 130 employees and 70 contractors working on site at any given time, the focus on safety has a large net to cast.

“Safety is all about behavior, and repetition is how you change behavior,” Manu Gyselinck, Kallo site manager, explained. “So here at Kallo, the conversation never stops. We’re constantly reiterating the importance of reporting incidents, no matter how small. These ongoing discussions are designed to make people feel more comfortable speaking up. We want our team to understand that when you make something visible to everyone, it can become an opportunity to learn and improve.”

While it’s important that these efforts start from the top, teamwork is the only way they can actually be executed.

“When you’re talking about safety, you’re never alone,” Manu added. “We focus on tiered accountability. As a site manager, I have to push and pull these efforts forward through my own actions. But I always expect everyone on site to keep safety top of mind and motivate one another to share this mindset. Our teams know the impact these efforts have on themselves, their colleagues, and their families, so in this way, they become stakeholders in the process.”

Much of this success is due to the implementation of the “STOP Principle” that encourages putting safety first before production.

“If something is not going in the right direction, we have to stop and evaluate,” Manu shared. “Everyone has the right to raise their hand and stop the process to help keep things on track. In the end, it’s about taking care of the customer, our colleagues and the livelihood of the plant. And with a stronger plant, lower costs will follow.”

“With all the challenges on our plates each day, it’s easy to slip into a reactive mindset,” Adam Pingel, VP of operations, explained. “But that only makes it tougher to get in front of issues. Constantly reevaluating what we’re doing and how we can do it better can help us resolve issues more effectively and efficiently – and hopefully prevent them from ever happening in the first place.”

A week after the team reached the milestone, the site hosted a food truck serving a delicious lunch of hamburgers and french fries to everyone in the main office. It was a small way to show appreciation for the great effort from everyone on the team, and a reminder that safety isn’t just about hard work—when achieved together, it can also be fun.

“When we win in safety, there are great opportunities to celebrate,” Adam added. “And there are opportunities to do that every single day. Our milestone celebrations are great, but our real wins happen every day thanks to every single person on this team.”

Flying the Black Flag at AMI

Hands-on confined space training at AMI’s Eau Claire, Wisconsin, location.

Stop-work authority is a policy that permits any employee to halt a job when they recognize a potentially hazardous or dangerous situation. At AMI, stop-work authority is called the Black Flag Safety Initiative — and it’s vital to maintaining a safe and empowering workplace culture.

If at any time an employee feels uncomfortable about a situation or task, they can stop and call “black flag.” This initiates a timeout that allows others to assess the potential for risk and put together a plan to address it, even if the risk seems small.

“Black flags can be as simple as an employee recognizing they need a different tool for a job or checking with a teammate if they’re getting too hot and need a break,” said Crystal Hudak, Regional Safety Director at AMI. “Many black flags are simply employees working hard, recognizing something isn’t right, and removing or mitigating the hazard as part of their everyday work.”

Crystal on the job in St. Elmo, Illinois.

A recent example of the black flag safety initiative comes from AMI’s Utica, Illinois, location. “An employee noticed that the amount of hot material a driver requested to load would put the total amount very close to the trailer’s maximum gallons,” Crystal said. “If there was an error in loading hot material, the trailer could have overflowed or material could have leaked out of the vent while the trailer was traveling down the road.” Recognizing the risk, the employee called black flag.

Ultimately, the driver and employee agreed to load less material, avoiding the potential for a leak. “This is a fantastic example of an employee noticing a potential safety or environmental issue and taking steps to address the hazard,” Crystal said.

Throwing the black flag – notifying your immediate supervisor of a hazard or concern – is everyone’s responsibility. Each employee is empowered with the same authority to stop work, meaning even AMI’s newest hires have the ability to ensure safety if an issue arises. “All employees are empowered to call a black flag, regardless of how many years they have on the job site,” Crystal said. “All of us can notice a hazard that someone else misses.”

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Celebrating the Women of The Heritage Group

Posted on by Amelia Yeager

Thousands of women are responsible for making The Heritage Group — and our world — work. We asked women across the Heritage family of companies about their career inspirations, their work in our industries and the future of women in the field. Their answers revealed so many reasons to celebrate the women of the Heritage family, only a few of which are below. 

They power the work that connects our world.

“I started in the construction world at a young age working with my dad and have worked with other companies in the industry for five years. My mother (Deb Schriber) has been working with Milestone for 17 years now, so you could say she set an example for me. Working in the construction industry comes naturally.”

—Julie Schriber, Superintendent, Milestone Contractors

Maria Kraemer Gutierrez, pictured with her children Adrian, 7, and Amanda, 4

“I actually came to Tri-State Asphalt quite by accident. My husband was working at the plant as a manager, and they were in need of workers, and I came in to help him. I’ve been here for 19 years.”

—Lorraine Heffner, Lab Technician, Tri-State Asphalt. Before coming to The Heritage Group, Lorraine previously served in the military as a heavy equipment mechanic.

“In Venezuela, where I was born, oil was a big industry, but not a lot of women pursued that career. I wanted to do something meaningful and that I was really passionate about. The oil field was unstable, and I liked the specialty chemical manufacturing industry, so I wanted to explore career in that area. Ten years later, and now I get to make chemicals that are used for things like hand sanitizer during the pandemic, so you can see the impact more tangibly.”

—Maria Kraemer Gutierrez, Plant Manager, Monument Chemical. Maria taught Spanish and English in Thailand before becoming a Plant Manager at Monument Chemical.

They’re innovators.

Andrea Moberly

“When I was in high school, no one ever talked about women’s scientific discoveries. Now our culture is becoming more aware of the importance of telling those stories, and as those are told, more girls are thinking, ‘this is a choice I could make for me, too’. If someone needs to do the work, why not me? If there’s work to be done, why not me?”

—Andrea Moberly, Senior Analytical Research Chemist, Heritage Research Group. Andrea’s interest in science was sparked during a childhood trip to Yellowstone National Park.

“I feel lucky, because working in Portage, it’s an almost completely female lab. We do have a lot of guys out in the plant. When you go to a conference or any kind of schooling, everyone has been very supportive, very welcoming and willing to listen.”

—Penny Jacobson, Technical Coordinator, Asphalt Technologies Group. Penny has been working at Asphalt Technologies for nearly 16 years.

“When I presented a business opportunity in Turkey to Heritage leadership, they said yes. The Heritage Group believed in the business,  but more so, they believed in me. It doesn’t matter gender, ethnicity, background, culture, all that — if you create value and if you do the right thing, you have tons of opportunities.”

—Sibel Selcuk, Vice President of Global Research & Development and Strategy, Monument Chemical. Sibel started out at Heritage Research Group before establishing a startup in Turkey and then transitioning to Monument.

They’re pioneers in male-dominated fields.  

Maly White (right) and Rebecca Rivers Duncan (left)

“I hear about the lack of women in the industry, but my experience hasn’t been the same.  At my building, I’m surrounded by women in leadership roles who are skilled, intelligent—just the whole package.  They have seats at the table where decisions are made, and it is just one more reason I am glad to be working here.”

—Maly White, Executive Assistant at Heritage Construction + Materials. Maly is an army veteran and serves her community on the board of Indianapolis’s PATH School.

“I learn even more by being part of Women of Asphalt, which is a nationwide initiative. It’s great to partner with women who have worked in the asphalt industry for 20 years; they might live in Los Angeles, but I have that resource. It’s good to be involved in things like that, especially when you’re new to the industry. That’s advice that I would give to any woman coming in: Get involved, ask questions, take advantage of the resources.”

—Rebecca Rivers Duncan, Business Administrator, Asphalt Materials, Inc. Rebecca is mother to Jada, a future Doctor of Veterinary Medicine; the two have three rescue dogs between them.

“Coming from a farm community and having strong women in my family, I didn’t have preconceived notions of women can’t do this or that.  I think that has helped me the most.  I love our workers, the dirt, and the work itself.  I think the field employees realized I was there for them and cared and I haven’t had any major issues in the whole 25 years.”

—Amy Bingham, Senior Safety Representative, Milestone Construction

They support and encourage the next generation of women in the materials sciences.  

“When I graduated over a decade ago, women made up only 10% of my civil engineering class. Since then, I have seen nothing but significant growth in the number of females applying for and pursuing careers in this industry.”

—Rachel Lockhart, Plant Manager, US Aggregates. Rachel followed in the footsteps of her father, who owned a construction company and masonry business.

Kristin Sweeney

“The future is more than bright for women in the environmental industry, especially within Heritage. We have women in executive and leadership positions across the company. We have women in every type of position, from Drum Handlers to Senior Vice Presidents. If you look at any role within our company, you’ll see women working hard and excelling at what they do.”

—Raven Shyrock, Customer Experience Manager, Heritage Environmental Services. Over the past two years, Raven has leveraged her role to help clients meet COVID-related requirements for health and safety.

“When you do what you love and are passionate about it, it’ll show. Jump in! Find a mentor (a man or a woman) who will help you through the challenging times and celebrate your accomplishments with you.  I think girls should also know that the construction industry of today is not the same as it was 20 or 30 years ago. Technology has come so far that we have a variety of roles to suit everyone!”

—Kristin Sweeney, Director of Operations, US Aggregates. Kristin got hooked on the mining industry during a summer internship in 2004.