Specialty Chemical Forum 2012 Kicks Off in Houston; AkzoNobel's Frank Sherman Delivers Keynote Address

HOUSTON, June 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading events organizer UBM Live today announced that the third annual Specialty Chemical Forum is underway at the Renaissance Houston Greenway Plaza Hotel in Houston, Texas. The Specialty Chemical Forum, taking place over the next two days, is part of the Informex brand's annual line-up of events and is the only North American event of its kind dedicated to the specialty chemical market. In addition to daily speaker panel presentations, table-top exhibitions are on display throughout the Forum to highlight a range of industry-leading suppliers with technologies and solutions specific to this market.

Frank Sherman, president of AkzoNobel Inc, opened the Forum today with a keynote address titled 'Examining domestic trends in the US specialty chemical market in order to take advantage of key growth opportunities'. During his keynote address, Mr. Sherman noted that, "Sustainable megaforces are often seen as a threat, but now is the time for the chemical industry to look to these as an opportunity to energize their businesses for the future. Changing global population and wealth structures and limited availability of resources, such as water and fuel, present a challenge to find new ways to approach business. Overcoming these challenges will undoubtedly help to pave the way for tomorrow's innovations."

The Specialty Chemical Forum was expanded into a two-day program for 2012 based on feedback from attendees, exhibitors and speakers from the past two years of the event. This year's expanded agenda features direct access to 24 in-depth presentations and panel discussions with built-in networking sessions that cover market trends, regulations, strategic sourcing, and the latest technical innovations. These presentations have been grouped in two different learning tracks, one with a focus on business development and the other on technical innovations. The Specialty Chemical Forum also features the return of popular speed networking sessions on both days.  

The two-day conference includes presentations and speaker panels from leading industry companies including Air Liquide, Albemarle, Celanese, Chevron Phillips, Dixie Chemical, Dow Corning, DSM, Halocarbon, Huntsman, and OSHA, among others.  Exclusive sponsors of the Specialty Chemical Forum include ABC Laboratories, Airgas, Albemarle, American Custom Drying, FutureFuel Chemical Company, RightAnswer, KMCO, Texas Molecular, Virto/Elcan, WIL Research and Zulu Consulting.

To learn more about the Informex annual schedule of events, please visit www.informex.com.

UBM Live is a wholly owned subsidiary of UBM plc (LSE: UBM) a leading provider of business information services to the maritime, travel, fashion, technology, healthcare, media, and property industries. UBM offers services in trade shows, online, news distribution, and publishing to customers across the globe. Its brands are represented in more than 30 countries and are organized into specialist teams that serve their business communities helping them excel in their market by working effectively and efficiently. For more information, go to www.ubmlive.com.

About Informex: Organized by UBM Live, Informex's flagship annual North American event (Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, CA, 19th to 22nd of February 2013) is the leading meeting place for buyers and sellers of high-value chemistry for a broad range of applications. As the premier, must-attend platform for the chemical industry for the past 29 years, Informex is a marketplace for networking and doing business in the fine, custom and specialty chemical manufacturing industry. Each year the event brings together an international mix of more than 4,000 fine and specialty chemicals professionals and 500 exhibitors for the all encompassing, 4 day event.

In recent years the global Informex brand has evolved to encompass virtual events, webinars, special focus conferences and additional tradeshows in Asia and South America. 2012 sees the return of the Informex INDIA exhibition and conference (September 12-14, Nehru Centre, Mumbai, India). For more information go to www.informex.com/informex-india