Palmer Holland Adds Two Veterans as Technical Specialists to Support Sales Team

Palmer Holland, a leading specialty chemical distributor, is pleased to announce that it has named Rich Najdusak as a Coatings technical specialist and Cathy Novak as a Lubricant & Metalworking technical service specialist.
 
Najdusak’s extensive technical experience includes over 30 years in the paint & coatings industry. Previously he held positions as laboratory manager and technical specialist at Borchers additives (formerly OM Group). Prior to Borchers, he spent the majority of his career at the SCM (Glidden)/ ICI/ AkzoNobel as a chemist, section leader, and technical manager for the Glidden solvent-based coatings and Devoe Protective Coatings product lines.
 
Throughout his career in the industry, Najdusak has presented papers at numerous coatings societies and tradeshows including the Eastern Coatings Show, Western Coatings Show, Los Angeles Coatings Society, St. Louis Coatings Society, Cleveland Coatings Society, Chicago Society for Coatings Technology, and Southern Society for Coatings Technology and has been published in Coatings World and PCI magazines. Najdusak’s main responsibility will be to provide additional technical support to the Palmer Holland sales team with travel and education for all coatings related product lines.
 
Novak joins Palmer Holland as a Lubricant & Metalworking technical service specialist with over 30 years of experience as a metalworking fluids formulator in the lubricant and metalworking markets. Most recently Novak was the technical sales manager at Lanxess/Rhein Chemie for six years. Prior to that she owned and operated FormCut Engineered Fluids for 10 years before selling to Eastern Oil where she would become the technical director for 13 years.
 
Novak is a past president of the Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association (ILMA) as well as a former member of its board of directors. She is also a current member and past chair of the ILMA Metalworking committee and SHERA committee. In her new role, Novak will be available to support Palmer Holland Account Managers across all principal lines in the metalworking and lubes markets with travel, education, and general industry support.
 
Najdusak’s and Novak’s extensive depth of knowledge in the coatings and lubricant & metalworking markets, respectively, and their commitment to improving those markets make them perfect fits to support the Palmer Holland sales team throughout the country.