Driving down a dusty, windswept highway in the middle of Oklahoma, Chuck Malloy noticed a lone trailer parked alongside a large plot of barren land. Pulling over to the side of the road, he immediately saw a sign that caught his attention – the location would eventually be the site of a new specialty chemical plant.
Above: A Professional Headshot of Chuck Malloy
That’s when Chuck sprang into action. Ignoring the “No Solicitation” sign, he knocked on the trailer door, introduced himself to the purchasing manager onsite, and struck up a conversation about the specialty chemical business, and the site’s needs once the plant was up and running in two years. Through a series of follow up calls and visits over the next 24 months, Chuck and his company, LexChem Solutions, landed their first piece of business at the Oklahoma site on behalf of one of LexChem’s premiere manufacturing partners.
Chuck Malloy is the President and Founder of LexChem Solutions, LLC, a fast-growing company that represents quality chemical chemical and lubricant manufacturers, and facilitates sales of their products directly to leading worldwide industrial chemical users. Drawing on his team’s expertise in providing the best price, most reliable procurement, and highest performing specialty chemicals on behalf of its partner companies, LexChem has grown its total sales from zero to more than $10 million since the company’s founding 11 years ago. Its sales agents and consultants combine vast experience in the chemical industry, with on-the-ground application and sourcing know-how for a wide variety of functional and specialized chemistries.
The same skill sets that came into play in Oklahoma are the ones Chuck has used to build a dynamic and successful career in sales, culminating in the creation of LexChem Solutions. Chuck received his Bachelors in Applied Sciences in Commerce and Engineering Services from Drexel University in 1982. Over the past 41 years, he has steadily acquired increasing technical knowledge in specialty chemicals, including biocides, polymers, surfactants, glycols, foam control, and lubricants that go into a wide variety of industrial applications. He has put his sales and technical knowledge to good use in a range of markets, including coatings, pigments, emulsion polymers, adhesives, inks, building materials, paper making, gas processing and water treatment.
Chuck’s career began more than 40 years ago as a Drexel co-op at the Sun Oil refinery in Marcus Hook, Pa. It was at Sun Oil Company where he made some lifelong contacts in the oil and gas industries. He then began a five-year stint as the District Sales Manager for Nalco Chemical, selling colloidal silica in catalysts, ceramics and coatings. In January of 1995, he became the Business Group Manager for Vinings Industries, selling biocides, and polyacrylate dispersants applied to coatings, mineral slurries, concrete admixtures, polymer emulsions and adhesives.
In approximately 2004, Kemira (of Finland) acquired Vinings Industries, and with a subsequent downsizing and increasing workloads on its remaining employees, Chuck began thinking of starting his own manufacturers representative firm. The dream of starting his own company was put on hold, however, when Chuck was hired by Troy Corporation as a Regional Sales Manager, a position he held for four years. It was at that time that one of Chuck’s friends suggested teaming up to form a company, called “Lexerd” Solutions – Drexel spelled backwards. Instead, Chuck decided to go out on his own and decided to name his firm LexChem Solutions.
“All of my career moves were deliberate,” he says. “My goal was not necessarily to move up the career ladder, but to move up the technology ladder, to better understand the technical and application sides of increasingly complex and/or specialized chemistries.” Each of his previous assignments was another step in that progression, gaining him expertise in more sophisticated technologies, especially in the application of biocides and polymers.
Early in 2012, Chuck walked into his family room and sat down with his wife, Wendy. “I suggested that I wanted to start my own company, that it was something I had been thinking about for awhile,” he says. “I was worried about putting additional financial pressure on Wendy, who is an Operating Room nurse at a premier local hospital. But starting a company from scratch was a leap into the unknown, and Chuck says his wife had a classic Wendy response – “She said I had until Christmas to make it work, otherwise I’d have to get a real job,” he chuckles.
Shortly after, Chuck left Troy and became the President and Founder of LexChem Solutions. “I made the calculation that it would be easier and more beneficial for manufacturers to hire me on as a self-employed contractor rather than a full-time employee,” he says. “By doing that, I offered my services to a company without them having to pay for my health insurance, a 401K, a life insurance policy, or even a contribution to Social Security. It eliminated the reservations these companies might have about hiring someone in their 50s. And it was a blessing to be covered by Wendy’s health insurance plan.”
Chuck began looking for small specialty chemical manufacturers to represent, companies that needed experienced salespeople to service their respective markets. Cash flow was a primary concern back then, as his plan initially was to be compensated on a 100 percent commission basis. But early on he found a source for cash flow by hiring on half time with Emerald Specialties, a manufacturer of defoamers and inorganic pigments, which paid him a base salary and a bonus. “They liked my model as a manufacturers rep, with LexChem as my platform. I was embedded in their brand, I had an Emerald email address and Emerald business cards, and I devoted 50 percent of my time to them as a contractor, and 50 percent to growing the LexChem business.”
Eventually, Chuck replaced his half-time Emerald contract with Bulk Chemical Services (BCS). BCS’s headquarters and chemical facilities are located in Sandersville, GA, and it manufactures liquid sodium and ammonium polyacrylate polymers, formulates biocides, and distributes defoamers and water treatment polymers. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for Seth Spurlock, the President of BCS,” says Chuck, “I worked for Seth when he was the President of Vinings, and I tell my prospective customers that they’ll never do business with a better chemical company than BCS. When BCS says a product is going to get there, it gets there. It’s going to be manufactured safely, at the highest quality with ISO certification, and at a fair price.
Since that time, Chuck signed on half time as a manufacturers rep for the Shrieve Group, based in The Woodlands, Tx. Shrieve, founded in 1978, has grown into an international supplier of organic and inorganic industrial commodity chemicals, which include synthetic lubricants, mineral oil, synthetic heat transfer fluids, natural gas dehydrations fluids, drilling mud base oils & lubricants, guar/guar slurry, and friction reducers.
The first of two additional partner manufacturers under the LexChem umbrella include Tulco Oils and its Lubsoil brand of designed lubricants. Tulco is one of the leading manufacturers of high-quality lubricants in the US, providing a full range of services, products and technology. Headquartered in Tulsa, Ok, Tulco specializes in blended and compounded industrial lubricants, literally greasing the way for applications ranging from heavy industry to food grade products. LexChem is also proud to welcome the latest addition to its partner manufacturers, Integrity Biochem (IBC). Based in Cresson, Tx, the company includes Integrity Mining and Industrial, Specialty Chemicals (Household and Personal Care), and a Product Innovations group. IBC sought Chuck and LexChem Solutions to promote and sell their Tegrasurf and Edensurf biobased surfactants into the “CASE” and Persona Care spaces, respectively.
LexChem, now celebrating its 11th-year anniversary, features a team of highly experienced sales and industry professionals, including Chris Mangano, a technical sales rep who covers New England, Quebec, and Eastern Canada; Joe Dooley, who covers the New York Metropolitan Area, Engineering Consultant Bob Ivory, Supply Chain Consultant Charlie Fettinger, and Communications Director Steve Ozer. Most recently, Doug Carr, veteran commodity and specialty chemical sales executive joined the LexChem team. They bring decades of experience in top-tier chemical companies, and are successfully monetizing their experience under the LexChem umbrella.
To service LexChem’s growing list of customers on behalf of its partner manufacturers, Chuck is the ultimate road warrior. Over the course of his career, he flew on more than 1,000 flights, stayed in 1,600 hotel rooms, and booked thousands of rental cars. All in all, Chuck has been on the road for a total of four-and-a-half years. “Wendy and I have been married for 32 years, but we’ve only been together 27, which might be the key to our successful marriage,” he laughs.
No responses yet