October 1-2, 2025
Nashville, TN
Combining more than 25 years of experience in working with the industrial pigments and colorants sectors and titanium dioxide supply chain, Smithers combined TiO2 World Summit and Pigment & Color Science Forum unites key players from across the entire value chain. Join us for 2-days of the latest market insights, informative presentations, collaborative discussions, and valuable networking opportunities that build on the inherent synergies between the TiO2 and pigments industries.
This is the only event specifically on pigments and will address key topics like radical innovations, sustainability, supply chain and market outlook. Pigment & Colour Science Forum has included attendees from Akzo Nobel, IKEA, Renault, Sensient, Jaguar Land Rover, Sun Chemical, Schlenk, Ecolean, TU Delft, and many more.
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Dr. Vitaly Talyansky has been a Partner/Founder of Stardust Materials, LLC since its inception in 1998. Stardust has focused on anti-counterfeiting solutions for documents and consumer products in a variety of industries ranging from government to pharmaceutical to luxury goods. Vitaly was a Sr. Process Engineer at the Logic Technology Development of Intel Corp. from 1998 to 2001 developing and transferring to manufacturing two newest processor technologies. He was recognized with an Intel Achievement Award. Vitaly attained his Ph.D. in Physics and M.S. in EE from the University of Maryland at College Park and B.S. in Physics from the Polytechnic University in Brooklyn, NY. He has authored and co-authored over 30 publications and patents.
Franz holds a PhD in aerosol science from ETH Zurich. During several years of analysing airborne nanoparticles in the laboratory, he developed an analysis concept to measure the mass of single particles. As a co-founder and CEO of femtoG, a Swiss start-up, he set out to revolutionize the analysis of pigment particles and nanostructured materials.
Sophie Lingier is research leader formulation chemistry and chemical sourcing manager at Agfa-Gevaert nv. With industrial experience in raw materials for polymer processing as well as formulation chemistry, she drives her team with a passion for innovation and collaboration. Dr. Lingier's journey into the world of chemistry began with a strong academic foundation. She earned her Master’s degree an PhD in Chemistry from Gent University (Belgium), where she developed a keen interest in the world of biobased materials. At the end of her academic career, she won the Vasiliy Korshak award for young scientists, who have made a special contribution to the polycondensation world. Driven by a desire to translate her research into real-world applications, Dr. Lingier transitioned to the corporate sector, where she assumed roles of increasing responsibility but with a focus on raw material properties and sustainability. In addition to her professional achievements, Dr. Lingier is deeply committed to fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing within the scientific community. She has presented her work at international conferences, and actively participates in industry associations and technical committees dedicated to advancing the field of formulation chemistry.
Kai Krauss support customers in the field of paints and coatings at Orion Engineered Carbons GmbH in Eschborn as Senior Technical Market Manager. This includes technical customer service on the selection and incorporation of carbon black in all application areas of the paints and coatings market in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Middle East and Africa and the global support of three key accounts. In 2000, Kai joined the former Degussa-Hüls AG in the Carbon Black Research & Development department in Cologne. In 2005, he moved to Hanau-Wolfgang as laboratory manager for carbon black in paints and coatings in application technology for pigments and fillers. With the spin-off of Evonik Carbon Black GmbH in 2010, he took over the position of head of application technology for carbon black pigments before taking up his current position in 2012.
Frank J. Mitsch serves as President of Fermium Research, having co-founded the company in 2018 following 7+ years at Wells Fargo Securities, where he was a Managing Director and Senior Chemicals Equity Research Analyst. He has covered the chemicals industry as an equity analyst for more than 20 years, beginning his Wall Street career with Merrill Lynch.
He’s a member of the 2017 and 2018 Institutional Investor’s All-America Research Team and received the Top Gun designation from Brendan Wood Intl in 2020. In its World’s Top Analysts survey, the Financial Times/StarMine twice ranked him No. 1 for estimate accuracy, and he has been named a top three earnings estimator in his industry in seven out of the last ten years. Frank has also been named in The Wall Street Journal’s Best on the Street analyst survey for stock selection four times.
Prior to WFS, Frank followed the chemicals sector on Wall Street for 15 years, most recently with BB&T Capital Markets. Earlier in his career, he worked for 11 years in the chemicals industry with consultancy Kline & Company, and Betz Laboratories, including two years in Europe. Frank received his undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from the Stevens Institute of Technology, where he was a midfielder on the record-setting lacrosse team. He holds an MBA with a concentration in finance from MSU, and a Ph.D in the New York Jets.
Steve Hollins is a Chair, Chemical Strategy for Sustainability Task ForceSenior Product and also a Steward at Tronox, the world’s largest vertically integrated producer of titanium dioxide. His career as a chemical regulatory professional has been with various sectors of industry (Non-Ferrous metals, water, transport), and also working as a Senior Scientific Officer at the European Chemical Agency, as well as preparing legislation in chemical policy at the European Commission. At Tronox, Steve leads compliance with global REACH and REACH-like legislation. He is Vice-Chair of the Titanium Dioxide Industry Consortium (TDIC) for the EU REACH Registration and chairs the Titanium Dioxide Manufacturer’s Association (TDMA) Chemical Strategy for Sustainability Task Force. Steve holds a BSc in Cellular and Molecular Biology from Kings College London and a MSc in Environmental Technology with an emphasis on chemical regulation from Imperial College London. Steve lives in Nottingham, UK.
Lisa Clapp is the Vice President of Colors Technology at Sun Chemical Corporation with responsibility for research and development of pigments and pigment preparations.
Lisa did her undergraduate work in chemistry at Ball State University and received her Master’s of Science degree in Physical Chemistry from the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill.
Lisa has worked for Sun Chemical for 23 years, where she has held numerous positions, including physical chemist, group leader, Six Sigma Black Belt, Design for Six Sigma Leader, and project manager covering a wide range of Sun Chemical pigment and preparation products.
Trevor obtained his Bachelor of Science and PhD degrees in Chemistry from the University of East Anglia & Cambridge in the U.K. He then carried out a 2 year Post Doctoral Fellowship in Synthetic Organic Chemistry at Georgia Tech. in Atlanta in the School of Chemistry.
He joined I.C.I. as a synthetic organic chemist, developing novel dyes and pigments; then became New Business Development Manager, spearheading the development of a range of new speciality chemicals. Trevor then joined I.C.I. Paints to head up the Colour & Pigment Technology Group.
As a Senior Research Chemist, Trevor had a strategic role developing new pigment dispersant technology relevant to the Decorative and Automotive Business Sectors. When I.C.I. Autocolor was purchased by PPG Industries in 1999, the team’s various achievements were recognised by becoming the Centre of Excellence for Dispersion Science for the global Refinish Coatings Business.
In 2008, Trevor started his own business called Expertas Ltd, which expanded to Expertas Global in 2016. He now consults on colour and pigment dispersion technology with global corporate companies.
Dr. Seubert received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois and his M.S./Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, all in Materials Science and Engineering. He is a Research Engineer working in the Paint Research Group at Ford’s Research and Innovation Center. He has worked at Ford for the last 17 years and has explored a range of topics including UV/EB cure, scratch and mar, weathering and durability, and most recently, the measurement and modeling of paint colors.
Eldon has been with PPG since 1999 and currently is a Senior Research Associate in the Optical Physics Group at the Coatings Innovation Center in Allison Park, Pennsylvania, USA. Some of the areas in which he has worked at PPG include: Andaro® nano-pigment dispersions, leading to commercialization of highly chromatic and transparent solventborne, waterborne, powder, and electro-deposition coatings; more efficient use of TiO2 through computational and experimental studies; solar heat management coatings; structural color pigments; and coatings to enable proper function of advanced driver-assistance systems, including lidar and radar compatible color technologies.
Eldon received Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Physics from Brigham Young University, where he did research in characterizing fullerene materials at high pressures. He also received a Master of Science degree in Colloids, Polymers, and Surfaces, and a Ph.D. in Physics from Carnegie Mellon University, where he researched the wetting characteristics of heterogeneous surfaces. Previous to starting at PPG, Eldon conducted post-doctoral research at the University of Pittsburgh, where he analyzed pattern formation in anisotropic fluid flow.
Dr. Frank J. Maile studied chemistry at the university of Stuttgart followed by a PhD at the Research Center of Pigments & Paints (FPL e.V.) Stuttgart, Germany. In 1999 he joined the pigments division of Merck KGaA in Darmstadt. Since 2011 he has been responsible for the Business Unit Coatings & Plastics of Schlenk Metallic Pigments GmbH in Roth, Germany. Since 2019 he helds the position of a Global Technical Director BU Effect Pigments. He is visiting professor for product development & design and an active member oft he section „Paint Chemistry“ within the German Society of Chemists, GDCh, Since 2015 he is a member of the advisory board of the Color Science Symposium.
Bio coming soon!
