HEXPOL Compounding Americas (HCA) strengthened its emerging talent pipeline this year through a combination of proven strategies and a renewed focus on attracting young professionals through its co-op and internship programs.
Judging how HCA helped participating students advance their industry knowledge and real-world experience certainly has concrete metrics:
- Joined an over $500,000 equipment upgrade, ensuring quality and on-time delivery
- Weighed and mixed 400+ ingredient batches and tested milled rubber for orders and studies
- Supported over 100 candidate interviews across two sites that resulted in more than 20 new hires
Todd Mowery, Chief Human Resources Officer, HEXPOL Compounding Americas, says the vision for both programs is to create real-world learning experiences that empower students and early-career professionals to grow, contribute, and lead. “We’re striving to cultivate a diverse pipeline of future talent, aligned with our values, inspired by our mission, and prepared to drive impact from day one,” he notes.
Success Factors: Culture, Goals & Mentors
Mowery believes HCA’s culture plays a critical role in the success of the company’s co-op and intern programs, which are in year one of a reinvigoration he and his team have initiated. “It’s not just about what projects they work on—it’s about the environment they work in, how they’re supported, and whether they feel like they belong. Our culture sets the tone for their experience.”
The stronger and more intentional the company can be welcoming and embedding the students into the culture, the more likely the programs will produce skilled, engaged and loyal future associates.
“Integrating emerging talent like interns or co-ops into existing teams can be a huge value-add if done thoughtfully,” he adds. “Setting clear goals for the students and associate teams they’re joining is a key success factor.”
Other difference-makers include closely matching the type of work with the skills of the students and carefully choosing dedicated mentors and coaches to lead and assist the students on their path from student life to professional life.
What’s Next?
Looking ahead to 2026, Mowery wants to build on this year’s success by enhancing program structures, deepening student engagement, and broadening the reach. “We plan to expand the program by adding interns in additional functional areas across the organization, growing the effort at a sustainable and strategic pace,” he notes. Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 recruitment efforts will again include the University of Akron and Youngstown State University, while adding The Ohio State University. Additional university partnerships on the horizon will further diversify and strengthen the company’s emerging talent pipeline.
HCA drew inspiration for its 2025 co-op and intern programs from Jarrett Logistics, a trusted HCA vendor for over a decade with a strong track record of developing young talent even before their careers begin. Jarrett’s Rob Churgovich, Vice President of Human Resources, and Jess Crawford, Human Resources Manager, shared valuable insights and best practices from their own programs with Mowery and his team, which helped lay the foundation for HCA’s revitalized approach.
The Co-Ops
Two chemical engineering students from the University of Akron—Matthew Bellamy and Connor DeLury—joined HCA as co-ops in May. Since then, they have prepared over 400 lab batches for chemist-driven projects, first weighing batches using specific lists of ingredients and then running the batches through a mixer to produce rubber from the raw ingredients.
After handing off the rubber to R&D Lab Technician Anthony DeWitt to mill the samples into a thin sheet, Bellamy and DeLury would pick things back up to trim the sheets to create samples for rheology testing, cure the remainder of the slab and run physical data tests on the samples following the testing sheets written up by HCA chemists.
Matthew Bellamy, Chemical Engineering Co-Op, University of Akron
Describe HEXPOL in one word: Innovative
Reflections:
“I’ve noticed how the work of chemists making new formulas is somewhat like a puzzle. When compounding rubber, everything you add changes everything. Changing one ingredient will have several effects that need to be balanced out by other ingredients, which also have several other effects. In other words, things get very complicated very fast. This aspect of the rubber compounding industry is the main draw of my interest so far.”
Connor DeLury, Chemical Engineering Co-Op, University of Akron
Describe HEXPOL in one word: Versatile
Reflections:
“Initially, I thought rubber compounding was a simple process. Through hands-on experience, I’ve learned how intricate and precise the process is and how even a 0.1g variation can significantly affect a batch. I’ve gained skills in initiating and adjusting compounds to meet specific requirements, as well as managing lab operations. This immersive experience challenged me to problem-solve, adapt quickly, and contribute meaningfully to real-world projects from day one.”
The Interns
Aaron Groner, Operations Engineering & Maintenance Intern, Youngstown State University
Youngstown State University’s Aaron Groner, a mechanical engineering student and intern with HCA’s operations engineering and maintenance team, hit the ground sprinting when he joined the company in May. After a traditional onboarding, he traveled from Northeast Ohio to HEXPOL Whitewater in Wisconsin to join the industrial controls team’s long-planned 10-day machine interface and product traceability upgrade. He saw first-hand—and used his hands and intellect—to help bring an over $500,000 capital investment to life for the Whitewater operations team and ultimately for customers.
Describe HEXPOL in one word: Innovative
Reflections:
“To future interns, I would say that this internship is a great way to get exposed to a real-life work experience. You will not be treated as an intern, more so a regular associate with professional obligations and responsibilities. The scope of the internship will depend on your work ethic and if you put the effort into learning the business and practices, you will be rewarded with great opportunities and experience.”
Caroline Keller, Human Resources Intern, The Ohio State University
Caroline Keller’s inspiration for pursuing a human resources major at The Ohio State University stems from the COVID-19 pandemic and the times she overheard her mom problem-solving human resources issues while working from home. She had no experience in manufacturing environments prior to starting as an HCA human resources intern in May. Since then, she’s split her time between HEXPOL Burton and HEXPOL Barberton, where she helped human resources managers Destany Salas and Kim Franks conduct over 100 candidate interviews, which resulted in more than 20 new hires.
Describe HEXPOL in one word: Welcoming
Reflections:
“Before working at HEXPOL, I had no idea what rubber compounding even was or how detailed the process could be. Being in HR gave me the opportunity to learn, not just from researching the various roles we were filling, but through conversations with employees who’ve been here for years to understand what the work entails. Explaining job responsibilities to candidates pushed me to better understand our manufacturing process, how we stand out as an employer, what makes someone a great fit, and why so many associates have been with us for so long.”
Contact Corporate Talent Acquisition Manager Theresa Ferritto or Todd Mowery to learn more or discuss ways to collaborate with HCA on its 2026 co-op and intern programs.
