The WACKER ACADEMY Team of Instructors
Theoretical expertise and practical experience are the cornerstones of the WACKER ACADEMY team. With backgrounds in sales or technology, our experts come to the table with extensive application knowledge. They are also trained instructors and moderators with a sixth sense for current trends and market developments.
Instructors for Architectural Paints and Coatings
Jesús Acuña
Jesús is WACKER POLYMERS’ sales manager for the Andean region. He joined WACKER in 2015 after working for Esenttia as senior R&D engineer for polypropylene. Jesús is a chemical engineer and holds an MS degree (specializing in polymers). He is currently responsible for WACKER POLYMERS’ sales and market development in the construction, adhesives and coatings industries in Colombia and Ecuador.
Gloria Alzate
Gloria joined WACKER in 2018 as a sales manager for Construction Silicones in the North Andean region (Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela). She holds a BS in Architecture and has studied Management. With more than 15 years in the construction market, Gloria previously worked for Sika and Henkel, where her responsibilities included not only technical sales, but also training architects, engineers, construction workers and other construction-related people on how to use construction chemicals in projects and at construction sites.
Anna Artamonova
Anna Artamonova joined WACKER Russia in 2008 as a technical assistant for Construction Polymers. Since May 2018, she has been a technical manager for Polymer Dispersions at the Moscow technical center. She has an education in organic chemical engineering. With a focus on Coatings, she is responsible for technical support, laboratory trials and seminars for customers in Russia and CIS countries.
Gerardo Bautista
Gerardo is a chemical engineer from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), where he holds a master’s degree in Chemical Engineering (with Bioengineering as a focus). He has more than 7 years’ chemical-industry experience of technical sales for industrial applications, personal care, the household sector and now construction. He joined WACKER in 2015 as sales manager for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. Gerardo provides support to construction customers in the following markets: paints, coatings, maintenance and general construction. Also, he has participated as a speaker for associations such as Mexico’s ANAFAPYT (representing paint and printing ink manufacturers), where WACKER has a presence.
Cheryl Fan
Cheryl Fan is a senior technical manager at the WACKER Shanghai technical center and is in charge of technical service and support for HDK® fumed silica for Asia Pacific. She has been involved in sealants and adhesives, as well as in coatings research and development activities and product applications. Cheryl Fan joined the Shanghai center in July 2013.
Josef Gong
Josef Gong is a China technical manager at WACKER Shanghai technical center. He is mainly responsible for promotion and technical support of VAE dispersions for industrial and chemical consumer goods in China.
Ricardo Gouvea
Dr. Hardy Herold
Dr. Hardy Herold studied Chemistry at the Friedrich-Alexander University, Erlangen (Germany), and obtained a doctorate in the field of geophysics. After spending two years at KWU (Siemens subsidiary), he started at WACKER POLYMERS in October 1989, working in Technical Marketing, where he supported customers around the world. During this period, he spent substantial periods abroad, including as technical center head in both Moscow (Russia) and Allentown (USA). Since November 2021, Dr. Herold has been a trainer at WACKER ACADEMY Europe.
Surabhi Jain
Surabhi Jain joined WACKER in 2020 as Manager Technical Services for Mumbai Technical Center. She holds a M.Tech. degree in Polymer Science & Technology from Indian Institute of Technology- IIT Delhi. She has about 12 years of experience in construction chemicals and applications. She supports for training customers in applications for Plaster, Skimcoat and Waterproofing membrane.
Dr. Marion Killat
Dr. Marion Killat studied and received her doctorate in chemistry at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern. Following a post-doctoral stay in the USA, she started her career at WACKER in research and development at WACKER POLYMERS. Shortly after the founding of WACKER ACADEMY, she became a member of the trainer team with a focus on various products and applications of the POLYMERS division. In 2020, she took over the management of WACKER ACADEMY Europe.
Michael Killermann
Michael Killermann joined WACKER in 1992 in the analytical department. From 1996 to 2008, he worked as a lab technician in the Building & Coatings business team, where he was in charge of technical distributor support for industrial coatings. He was recruited to the WACKER ACADEMY training team as a practical instructor in May 2008.
Dr. Ulrich Lauter
Dr. Ulrich Lauter studied chemistry in Regensburg and obtained his doctorate at the Max-Planck Institute of Polymer Research in Mainz. He first came to WACKER in 2012, following a postdoc position in the USA and 14 years at Vinnolit in the research, development and application technology department. He is currently technical service manager of the VINNOL® surface coating resins segment.
Pedro Marani
Technical Manager for Construction Silicones in South America, Pedro Marani is a Bachelor in Chemistry from University of São Paulo, Master in Polymer Chemistry from University of São Paulo and MBA in Innovation Manager from Business School Sao Paulo, with more than a decade of experience in the Construction Chemicals industry in companies such as Dow Chemical and MC-Bauchemie. Working in Wacker Brasil since 2013, his main activities are in silicone specialties for the construction and coatings industry, developing new applications and solutions for the local market.
Dr. Holger Poths
Dr. Holger Poths has a PhD in chemistry with a focus on polymer synthesis. He was technical service manager for nonwoven / textile customers at WACKER POLYMERS and AIR PRODUCTS POLYMERS (APP) for over 17 years. He has been platform manager for nonwovens since 2008 and heads three chemical laboratories dealing with application development and technical service for EU customers. Since March 2012, he had been head of the global competence center for nonwovens, coordinating application development worldwide and supporting global customers on technical issues.
Daniela Querci
Daniela joined WACKER in 2019 as WACKER POLYMERS commercial manager for the Middle Americas region. Her previous employers included Stepan, Grupo Petroquímico Beta, Akzo Nobel/Comex and Hercules-Aqualon. She has over 15 years’ solid experience, covering market analysis, R&D, quality control and a wide range of applications (in construction, paints, architectural coatings, oilfields, personal care and the household sector). Daniela has a Chemical Engineering degree from the Technological University of Mexico and several certificates from organizations such as the IMCYC, ACI and UNAM.
Angelita Saul
Angelita has over 17 years’ experience in coatings and adhesives technologies, working as analytical and R&D chemist. She started working for WACKER in 2014, as a Technical Manager for dispersion polymers and special resins in Latin America region. Angelita has bachelor’s degree in Industrial Chemistry by Universidade Luterana do Brasil (ULBRA) and master’s degree in Chemistry at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), in which she has studied smart coatings and advanced techniques in anticorrosion coatings. She is currently taking her MBA in Business Administration at Fundação Getúlio Vargas.
Mark Sha
Mark Sha is a technical manager at WACKER’s Shanghai technical center. He is in charge of technical service and support for silicone oligomers in coatings and for water-resistant products in China. Mark Sha has worked in production, R&D and technical service for coatings since 1995. He joined WACKER’s Shanghai technical center in August 2005.
Dr. Abhijit Tarafdar
Dr. Abhijit Tarafdar has been associated with WACKER as a technical service manager in Amtala, West Bengal since 2014. He is responsible for leading the technical service team, customer training and the formulation and application development of Construction Silicones and Decorative Coatings. He has a Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, West Bengal.
Dr. Constantin Tiemeyer
Dr. Constantin Tiemeyer is a technical service manager for coatings at the Consumer & Industrial Polymers business unit. In 2010, he finished his degree in chemistry (Dipl. Chem.) at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). He earned his PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) there in 2014. Since January 2019, he has been working as a technical service manager at WACKER POLYMERS’ East business team.