Ingevity

Ingevity is our next business spotlight and we have some interesting info here!

Can you tell us all about Ingevity and what the company does?

Ingevity provides products and technologies that purify, protect, and enhance the world around us. Through a team of talented and experienced people, we develop, manufacture and bring to market solutions that help customers solve complex problems and make the world more sustainable. We operate in two reporting segments: Performance Chemicals, which includes specialty chemicals and engineered polymers; and Performance Materials, which includes high-performance activated carbon. These products are used in a variety of demanding applications, including asphalt paving, oil exploration and production, agrochemicals, adhesives, lubricants, publication inks, coatings, elastomers, bioplastics and automotive components that reduce gasoline vapor emissions. Headquartered in North Charleston, South Carolina, Ingevity operates from 25 locations around the world and employs approximately 1,850 people.

In Covington, we produce activated carbon as part of our Performance Materials segment. The activated carbon our Covington team members make for our customers are used in automobiles all over the world to clean and protect the environment from harmful evaporative emissions. Activated carbon is also used to purify in food and beverage, municipal water treatment, specialty and industrial chemical processes. Here’s a link to our plant spotlight video. https://youtu.be/xKuzGKkhBVE

What is an interesting fact about the company that most people do not know?

When we set out to name the company, we did a lot of research with customers and employees. We knew we needed a moniker as personable as our people, as unique as our culture and as creative as our problem-solving.

This thoughtful approach generated a new spin on some old words whose historical roots are reflective of our company: longevity, genuine, ingenuity and innovation.

Longevity

It means long life or the length of time that something or someone lasts or continues.

Ingevity’s legacy traces back to 1846. The pine tree, which provides the raw material for many of our products, also has an impressive lifespan. Bristlecone pine trees can live for 5,000 years! As a sustainable company, our purpose is to purify, protect and enhance the world around us, today and well into the future.​​​​​​

Genuine

It means actual, real, true, sincere or honest. This word stands out from the other three in that it is the only one that describes how we do business. At Ingevity, it’s not just what we do that matters. It’s how we treat each other that counts.

Ingenuity

It is a skill or cleverness that allows someone to solve problems or create things.

Did you know that ingenuity and engineer are both derived from the same Latin word, ingenium (“cleverness”)? Each individual who contributes to developing and delivering our technologies helps improve daily living across the globe.

Innovation

It means having new ideas and doing something in a new way.

In English, innovation is sometimes mistaken for invention. Invention refers to something that did not previously exist. Innovation is different because it can include a change made to an existing product – and it’s in this way that Ingevity strives to provide higher value for our customers.

Our name – Ingevity – reflects pride in what we do best.

What has been the biggest challenge for Ingevity?

Our greatest opportunity is the bio-based nature of our raw materials and the environmental benefits of our products, which provide the foundation of our role as a participant in the circular economy. As customers increasingly focus on renewable resources to reduce their carbon footprints, we are uniquely positioned to leverage the sustainable nature and attributes of our products to provide value.

Our activated carbon is used in combustion-engine vehicles around the world and we recognize the opportunity to continue to innovate to provide value in a changing marketplace. We are committed to growing the business and exploring value-added applications for our activated carbon in expanding markets like EVs. This month, we announced an investment in lithium-ion anode materials producer, Nexeon, which will further our activated carbon supply relationship.

In addition, we are seeing further fleet adoption of our natural gas storage technology that enables vehicle fueling with Renewable Natural Gas (RNG), and we continued projects with GreenGasUSA, our strategic partner promoting greater access to methane capture for RNG use. Our activated carbon technology is an enabler for us as we grow in these markets.

What are some perks and benefits of the company?

At Ingevity, we are focused on listening to our employees and investing in career development in many forms. Providing our employees with a variety of learning and development opportunities is integral to our culture, as we believe our company’s growth will happen as a direct result of growing our people. We have offered pilot and mentorship programs to help both managers and individual contributors grow as leaders, and we provide tools to empower self-directed learning on topics such as reducing bias and having more effective conversations.

We expanded the investment in employee health and wellness in 2021. We have a partnership with Cariloop for concierge level services including infertility, family planning, pediatrics and elder care, among others. This service is free to all U.S. Ingevity employees and their families or anyone they consider family. We conducted our first Retirement Readiness educational webinar, targeting employees over 55.

How does Ingevity support the Alleghany Highlands?

The work of our IngeviCares philanthropy program aligned with our mission to purify, protect and enhance the world and focused our giving and volunteerism on education – particularly in science, technology, engineering and math – human health and wellbeing and environmental sustainability.      Our framework designates 0.1 percent of revenues toward our philanthropic work and charitable giving, focuses on supporting keystone initiatives with nonprofit organizations and charities at a level that will make a significant impact in our community

In the Covington area, we provide support for two keystone organizations to improve the health and wellbeing of our neighbors in need – the Boys Home of Virginia and SafeHome Systems.

The Boys Home of Virginia is a residential program that provides care and education for young men ages 6 to 18.  Our employees help with tutoring, mentoring and facility improvement projects at the home. 

SafeHome Systems is an advocacy and support agency for victims, survivors and family members of domestic violence, dating violence, and sexual violence. The shelter is in Covington and covers a service area of over 1290 square miles. Ingevity dollars will purchase a van to transport victims to court proceedings.

Thank you Ingevity for all you do for the Alleghany Highlands!!