Ann Hennessey

Director, Industry and Product Management

ChemPoint

This week, Women in Chemicals is proud to spotlight Ann Hennessey, Director of Industry and Product Management at ChemPoint. Ann leads a team of 14 that develops and executes growth strategies, investing in the right markets to drive profitable growth. A double major in vocal performance and chemical engineering, Ann joined ChemPoint in 2006 as a technical sales representative and grew alongside the company through rapid expansion, a global recession, and years of change. In our conversation, she shares what those early days taught her about uncertainty, how she recognizes potential in others, why the best teams are built on complementary strengths, and how music shaped her confidence.

Finding Her Place on the Commercial Side: Today, Ann works closely with industry managers, marketing, and sales to help ChemPoint act as an extension of its suppliers, growing and capturing demand for their products. Her path there started in the plant and the lab, where she quickly realized she was better suited to the commercial side of the business.

Moving to the Pacific Northwest was on Ann's bucket list, and ChemPoint was based near Seattle. She joined the plastics group as a technical sales representative. Within a month, she had started a new sales role, and a couple of years later she became a product manager, combining her industry knowledge with a strategic focus at the product level. A few years after that, she moved into industry management and people leadership. Leading and working with her team, she says, is what she loves most.

Growing with a Company in Growth Mode: When Ann joined ChemPoint in 2006, the company was young and growing fast. So many people were joining at once that she vividly remembers moving her desk again and again as the company kept shaking up the plan to figure out how to best manage its teams. She also remembers the milestone parties, which felt so fancy at the time.

That environment taught her how to operate without having all the answers. She learned to make the best decisions she could with half the information, and that experience built her confidence. Her biggest lesson: be comfortable being uncomfortable. Now that ChemPoint has reached more maturity, she has also come to appreciate how important periods of stability can be.

Weathering the Ups and Downs: Just a few years into her career, Ann lived through the 2008 global recession. Customers were downsizing and growth was flattening out. Even so, she remembers feeling fortunate to be in a stable place, working with people she liked. Experiencing both rapid growth and a downturn so early taught her that there will always be ebbs and flows. What matters most is how you show up.

Recognizing Potential in Others: Ann is passionate about helping people develop their skills and realize their potential. She is quick to point out that potential is not the same as natural talent. It is about how someone takes the journey to develop. She pays attention to the questions people ask, how they show up in meetings and in general, whether they are connecting and developing ideas, and whether they are open to taking on challenges.

Compliments are important, but as a leader, Ann sees her job as finding the connection points to opportunities people may not know exist. That might be a special project, or simply creating space for frequent engagement. When it comes to building someone's confidence to take on a challenge, she never pushes people into something they truly do not want to do or are not ready for. Instead, she stays fact-based: here are the things I have seen you do that would make you a good fit, and here is how I can support you. In her words, you are their advocate.

From Student to Teacher: One of Ann's most rewarding experiences came from her time as a product manager on the CASE team, where she knew her business inside and out. Business reviews were important, and one person would quiz her constantly to poke holes in her work. Ann was determined to know everything so well that no one would need to worry, and meeting that standard was a big accomplishment.

Later, as an industry manager, she led a product manager who began sharing the details of the business with her. Ann realized how much knowledge this person had built and how she had become a true expert. Her employee had taken the old formats and made them her own, and made them better. That moment showed Ann that her job as a manager is to help her people become the experts.

Building Complementary, Collaborative Teams: To Ann, a good team is made up of people who do not share the same strengths and weaknesses. That creates a space where people can learn from one another, and she sees it as her job to make that a safe space to take risks.

Collaboration also reaches across functions. Finance, customer service, marketing, sales, and industry management all do very different jobs, but they share the same goal of creating business, and every role is important. When communication breaks down, people start making assumptions and the functions break down too. That is why, she says, you have to keep working at the relationship.

Confidence Through Music: Music has shaped Ann profoundly. It is her first memory of something she was good at. From international choir tours to performing as a soloist in front of large audiences, music was competitive, and it taught her that confidence can be built. Confidence, though, is different from not being scared. She was always nervous before a performance, so she learned to take a step forward, take a breath, and just do it.

It's Okay Not to Know: Although she does not "use" her vocal performance degree, Ann believes it is okay to still not know for certain what you want to be when you grow up. Her advice to anyone worried about a path without an obvious payoff is not to worry about the path and the payoff. We may feel set on one path, but it often does not end up being what happens. She did not want to give up music, even knowing she would not do it forever. Chemical engineering became her career, but music shaped her in other ways.

Learning to Say No: One of the hardest things for Ann recently has been accepting that she cannot say yes to everything, and she admits it is still what she struggles with most. To decide what deserves her time and energy, she asks herself about the value of what she is considering. Is it practical? Is it bringing joy? Is it supporting the people around her? It is not a perfect method, but it helps her find balance.

Advice to the Women in Chemicals Community: Ann encourages women not to feel pressured to fit themselves into a single box. Try different things and combine them, because all experiences are valuable and important. Step outside what feels comfortable and safe, and take risks, knowing you have a support network behind you.

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