RALEIGH – Tethis, a Raleigh-based biomaterials company, this week announced the hiring of longtime chemicals and materials executive Robin Weitkamp as chief executive officer. Weitkamp started with the company on Monday. Who is he? And why did he take the job?
WRAL TechWire set out to find the answers.
Tethis
“Tethis has a couple of really attractive parts,” said Weitkamp in an interview. “Our technology is plenty innovative to go and solve customer need.”
Tethis raised $17.6 million in financing earlier this year to open a manufacturing facility in Zebulon to manufacture polymers with super absorbent qualities. According to Weitkamp, the plant is already operational and capable of manufacturing the polymer products for the lucrative diaper industry.
“Customers in the diaper market have for a long time been looking for more sustainable solutions to incorporate into their diaper designs,” said Weitkamp. According to Weitkamp, Tethis has an amazing opportunity to help companies improve their products while simultaneously designing, producing, and selling diapers that are more sustainable and better for the planet. This was a primary reason to join the startup.
Weitkamp joined Tethis from Elevance Renewable Sciences, a privately funded renewable chemicals company, where he served as chief operating officer. There he led all manufacturing, supply chain, regulatory, HSE, engineering, licensing and commercial oversight for the global chemical company.
“We are thrilled to be expanding our team with the addition of Robin,” said Chris Evans, executive chairman of Tethis, in announcing his hiring. “His recent experience scaling emerging growth materials businesses makes him an excellent fit to be joining our company at this stage in its development.”
Nine years ago, when he joined Elevanc, the company was in a similar place as Tethis is now, said Weitkamp. And he expects to help Tethis through their commercialization and growth phase to fully operationalize the new facility and optimize the market opportunity for the technology.
Scott Bolin, founder of Tethis, will lead a newly created sister company.
Even with the shakeup at the helm of the company, don’t expect Tethis to change course dramatically. According to Weitkamp, the company will stay the course to commercialize the technology and to capitalize on the opportunity, raising additional funding if it is needed.
Tethis finds new use for diapers
“Our direction has been to develop the technology,” said Weitkamp, “And now we are much more about focus and execution and scaling up the business.”
Weitkamp has four children—though none remain in diapers—and said he was thrilled to move to the Triangle to work with an innovative company in an innovative region. The Triangle is one of the top regions for materials and chemicals companies in the United States, he said, due to the talent in the region, the access to local funding for materials and chemical companies, and the amenities the region provides to startup companies.
“There’s been a lot of local and regional support of Tethis,” said Weitkamp, who reported that a vast majority of the company’s employees already lived in the area or came from the region’s universities.
“It’s important that these linkages continue to be strong,” he added. “Important for our success.”
The company does plan to hire as it scales up operations—for manufacturing, corporate, engineering, and development positions—though there is no set and specific timeline when those jobs will be added to the regional economy.
