Cybersecurity, digitization, and talent took center stage on Day 2 of The Chemical Summit. Victoria Meyer recaps the most urgent issues shaping the industry, from treating cybersecurity like process safety, to harnessing AI for business value, to redefining leadership development. Hear from leaders including Bill Clark, Shelly Linkerhoff, and more.

This episode breaks down key takeaways for leaders looking to strengthen their organization’s resilience, unlock new business value, and build a thriving workforce.

Victoria covers:

• Cybersecurity is the New Process Safety: Learn why third-party vulnerabilities and supplier risks are now top concerns for the industry, and what it means for your customer relationships.
• Measuring Real Business Value from AI: Hear practical approaches to assessing ROI, from reducing task time and improving customer response, to optimizing the customer journey and boosting brand visibility in an AI-driven market.
• What Talent Wants and How Leaders Can Respond: Find out why employee wellbeing has dropped nearly 30%, and how organizations can move people from struggle to growth.
• Leadership is the Talent Advantage: Hear how SCT’s in-house leadership program breaks the mold, cultivating managers and fostering accountability from the plant floor to VP roles.

Fresh from the 2026 Chemical Summit, Victoria Meyer recaps a dynamic day of leadership conversations and industry insights. Day 1 focused on executing advantage in today’s marketplace through AI, customer intimacy, and commercial value. Hear takeaways from trailblazers including Michael Lefenfeld, Pete Corle, an all-women CEO panel featuring Mara Gliozzi, Christian MacIver, and Jen Klein, and more.

The show also includes a major announcement—the launch of “The Business of CASE” podcast, hosted by Crystal Morrison.

Victoria and industry leaders explore these 4 themes:

1. Transformation in Action: How companies like Hexion and Solstice are reshaping legacy operations, moving fast, and building cultures ready for private equity demands and market shifts.
2. Playing to Your Strengths: Why customer intimacy and trust, not just market rivalry, are the real sources of competitive advantage. Insights from specialty chemical leaders on challenging common assumptions.
3. Differentiation Beyond Performance: What sets industry leaders apart today? It's no longer just about product specs or price; companies find new ways to create value, serve customer needs, and match evolving expectations.
4. Building Trust Across the Value Chain: From internal teams to external partners, trust and transparency are foundational for navigating transformation, adopting AI, and maintaining customer focus in a changing world.

Jan Kalfus, Head of Americas Chemical Advisory at S&P Global Energy, joins Victoria Meyer for a fast-paced exploration of how AI and data center growth are reshaping the chemical industry. Starting with Jan’s personal journey, the conversation connects industry fundamentals with today’s high stakes shifts in AI, digital infrastructure, and supply chains.

They dig into why demand from data centers is spurring real, but nuanced, changes on both the commodity and specialty sides, why much of the action (and opportunity) in specialized materials is still outside the US, and how regulatory constraints and value chain complexity make reshoring tough. The discussion then looks ahead: What does AI really mean for chemical leadership? How are industry roles and university connections evolving as automation advances?

Victoria and Jan discuss the following:

• How data center and AI growth is fueling complex, uneven demand for chemicals.
• The real challenges behind US specialty chemical competitiveness and reshoring.
• Modernization, regulation, and why many intermediates left North America.
• R&D, innovation, and the shifting role of universities in the chemical sector.
• What “agentic AI” could mean for future chemical businesses and leaders.
• Human context, divergent thinking, and why people still matter for competitive edge.