Industry Speaker 2023

Join Us For

A Walk Through the Decades: Industry Trends and More

Tuesday, June 6, 2023

8:00 AM – 9:15 AM at the Crown Room

SPONSORED BY

You will have the opportunity to gain valuable insights into both the past and future of the industry. 

Andy Waynick and Bill Tuszynski will be co-presenting a detailed overview of industry trends that have occurred since 1933, covering more than eight decades of development. In contrast, Dr. Erik Willett will focus on emerging and future trends in the industry, providing a glimpse into what the future holds. 

Combining the expertise of the presenters, attendees can expect to receive a comprehensive and forward-looking perspective on the industry’s history and future prospects.


Andy Waynick received his B.A. in Chemistry in 1974 from Central Methodist College, and his M.S. in Physical Chemistry in 1977 from Purdue University.  For the 46 years since then, Andy has been a professional research chemist.  Andy has 43 U.S. Patents and more than 40 published research papers.  Andy has received the Clarence E. Earle Memorial Award, the NLGI Fellows Award, the NLGI Author Award for Application, the NLGI Author Award for Development, and the NLGI Golden Grease Gun Award.  Andy was a contributing author of the NLGI Lubricating Grease Guide, 7th Edition.  Andy retired from full-time work on October 1, 2022.  In December 2022, Andy assumed the responsibilities of Technical Editor for the NLGI Spokesman. 


Bill Tuszynski is a partner at The Unami Group, serving as a sales agent for three companies, and providing market development and market research consulting to clients.

He started at Pennwalt Corp. (now part of Arkema) before moving to Inolex where he managed the Industrial Division. In 2005, with two partners, he purchased Ivanhoe Industries, a chemical distributor. He retired from Ivanhoe in 2016, forming The Unami Group, remaining as an agent for Ivanhoe, now part of Van Horn Metz.

Tuszynski is a member of NLGI, STLE, ACS, AIChE, and AAAS. He is active in the STLE Philadelphia Section and received NLGI’s Clarence E. Earle Memorial Award in 2015 and 2022, serving as editor and co-editor for the NLGI Lubricating Grease Guide. He volunteers at the Science History Institute in Philadelphia. He holds a BS in Biochemistry from Manhattan College and a PhD in Chemistry from Cornell University.


Dr. Erik Willett is president of Functional Products, Inc. which is a lubricant and grease additive company out of Macedonia, Ohio. In his previous role as VP of Technology, Erik supported Functional’s core strengths in polymer-based additives and customer-driven innovative solutions. Erik has a doctoral degree in Polymer Science from the University of Akron and a Bachelor’s in Chemistry from the University of Connecticut. He has won the NLGI Development Author Award and PCC Gonsalves Award, and serves the community as a technical reviewer for both NLGI Spokesman and TLT magazine. In his new role, Erik seeks to expand his company’s problem solving approach to fundamental challenges emerging in the industry.