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.
Personal Care Instructors
Dr. Gerhard Beer
Dr. Gerhard Beer studied chemistry, writing his doctoral dissertation on physical-organic chemistry. Since 2001, he has held various positions at Wacker Chemie AG, in both R&D and application technology for personal care. He is currently in charge of the laboratory for hair care development and is the technical contact person for key account customers, and also for the EMEA region.
Sougata Bhattacharya
Sougata Bhattacharya has been associated with WACKER METROARK CHEMICALS Pvt. Ltd. since 2004 and is based at the Amtala Plant near Kolkata. He is currently responsible for leading the technical service team, customer training and the formulation and application development of all market segments in the Silicones division, including Consumer Care, Textiles, Chemical Industry, Elastomers, Construction and Coatings. He has a Master of Science in Chemistry from Calcutta University.
Eva-Maria Bienert
Eva-Maria Bienert started her career as a chemistry laboratory assistant in 1982 at the “Vereinigten Aluminium Werken” in Töging. She joined WACKER’s “Research in Silanes” department in 1986. From 2001 to 2011, she held frequent training programs for distributors and customers within the Textiles BT. After joining the “Personal Care” department, she has held several training programs for distributors and customers on the topic of “Silicones in Cosmetics.”
Ayndrila Dutta
Ayndrila Dutta has worked for Wacker Metroark Chemicals Pvt. Ltd. as a Technical Service Manager at the Technical Center Kolkata since 2005. She is responsible for leading the personal care technical service team, customer training, formulation and application development for consumer care products. She has a Master of Science in Organic Chemistry from University College of Science, Technology and Agriculture, Kolkata.
Anastasiia Efremova
Anastasia Efremova graduated from the D. Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia, department of Cosmetic and Pharmaceutical Technology. She joined WACKER in March 2018 as a Technical Manager SPC. She is responsible for technical support, lab testing, seminars & lab trainings for the Personal Care, Household and Pharma&Food customers in Russia and CIS region.
Tobias Franzke
Tobias Franzke has worked at WACKER since completing his chemical training in 2006. After positions at Pulp & Paper and Household Care, he joined Personal Care in 2016. He works in the technical lab there and is responsible for skin and color care applications. He holds WACKER ACADEMY courses on cosmetic products in our BELSIL® line.
Sienna Gerdeman
Sienna is a Chemist for the Personal Care market segment. She is responsible for formulating personal care prototypes as well as application testing and providing technical support to customers in North America. Sienna holds a BSPS in Cosmetic Science and Formulation Designs with a Minor in Chemistry and Business Administration from the University of Toledo.
Chelsea Grimm
Starting at WACKER in 2015 after working at Ashland Chemical for seven years, Chelsea is currently a Chemist in the Personal Care market segment. She provides technical support to customers, production and Sales Managers, formulates products and prototypes for the personal care industry and does application testing for hair, skin and color cosmetics. Chelsea attended Marshall University in West Virginia where she received a BS in Chemistry.
Dr. Tassilo Habereder
Dr. Tassilo Habereder studied chemistry and wrote his PhD thesis in inorganic chemistry. Before he joined Wacker Chemie AG he had worked in various positions for Ciba Speciality Chemicals (now BASF). Since 2009, he has been working as technical manager and laboratory head for Personal Care applications at Wacker Chemie AG. Moreover he works as Global Technical Champion for Wacker Skin and Color Care applications.
SeJong Kim
SeJong Kim joined Wacker Chemicals Korea in 2015 in silicones performance team team as a technical manager. He has 17 years of experience in silicone industry with various different industry like silicone polymer for chemical industry and consumer care, silicone monomer for photovoltaic application and precursor for semiconductor application as a researcher and business planner. He is now the technical manager for performance silicone at Wacker Chemicals Korea.
Wenjia Lyu
Wenjia Lyu is a technical engineer at WACKER Shanghai technical center, she is mainly responsible for technical service and support for personal care products in China, as well as developing new silicone applications in this field.
Christina Ong
Christina holds a Bachelor Degree with merit in Chemistry from National University of Singapore. Her area of expertise is in personal care industry. She joined WACKER in 2012, and is currently responsible for Consumer Care in the Southeast Asia region.
Steve Patton
Steve is the Technical Manager responsible for supporting Personal Care customers in the NCA region. He started with WACKER in 2005, and has previously held the roles of Chemist in the Home Care market segment, Process Chemist for silicone fluids and emulsions, and Production Supervisor for silicone rubber. Steve holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Michigan State University.
Tony Zhou
Tony Zhou joined WACKER in 2020. As a technical manager at the WACKER Shanghai technical center, he is in charge of technical service and support for personal care and household products in China, as well as for developing new silicone applications in these fields.