Episode Description

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri sit down with Wendy and Steve Hoenig poolside at the Plastics Pioneers Association (PPA) and Plastics Hall of Fame (PHoF) Spring 2026 Networking/Conference in Sarasota, Florida to explore their remarkable journey through the plastics industry as partners in both life and business.

After distinguished careers at Dow, Wendy, a 2024 Plastics Hall of Fame inductee, and Steve combined their expertise and entrepreneurial spirit to launch H&H Business Development, where Wendy serves as Founder and CEO and Steve serves as Chief Technology Officer.

They share insights from their trailblazing careers at Dow, discussing how they met and built successful careers in plastics, transitioned from corporate life to entrepreneurship, and discovered the unique advantages of running a business together.

The conversation explores how their complementary management styles strengthen both their company and home life, how they navigate disagreements, capitalize on each other's strengths, and support one another within their blended family. They also reflect on some of the proudest moments of their careers and the lessons they've learned along the way.

Join us for an inspiring discussion about partnership, leadership, innovation, and the power of building a life and business together.

About the Guests

Wendy Hoenig is Founder and CEO of H&H Business Development, a consulting firm focused on developing new technologies and businesses.  She has over 40 years of experience in new business development in Fortune 100 corporations, venture capital, private equity, and start-ups. In 2024, she was inducted into the Plastics Hall of Fame in recognition of her leadership and significant contributions to the plastics industry through her work at Dow and H&H Business Development.

Steve Hoenig is Chief Technology Officer of H&H Business Development, where he helps organizations develop and commercialize innovative technologies and business opportunities. He is an experienced technology leader in the plastics and flooring industries. Drawing on his extensive expertise in the plastics industry, Steve works alongside Wendy to help companies accelerate growth and innovation.

Notes

See Wendy's 2024 induction into the Plastics Hall of Fame.

Watch the PlastChicks podcast on the SPE YouTube Channel.

PlastChicks is sponsored by SPE-Inspiring Plastics Professionals and the Plastics Industry Association. Look for new episodes on the first Friday of every month.

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri interview Tim and Barb Womer poolside at the Plastics Pioneers Association (PPA) and Plastics Hall of Fame (PHoF) Spring 2026 Networking/Conference in Sarasota, Florida. They speak to Tim and Barb about how they met, balancing work and personal life, raising a family, his plastics industry career journey through various engineering and executive roles to owning his own business, how Barb's business expertise is critical to their mutual professional success, and the deep satisfaction of living life with a shared vision.

Tim Womer is the owner of TWWomer and Associates, LLC, has had numerous patents issued on his inventions in screws, screw mixers and other products and processes, and has been inducted into the Plastics Hall of Fame.

Watch the PlastChicks podcast on the SPE YouTube Channel.

PlastChicks is sponsored by SPE-Inspiring Plastics Professionals and the Plastics Industry Association. Look for new episodes on the first Friday of every month.

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri interview Norm and Sue Fowler poolside at the Plastics Pioneers Association (PPA) and Plastics Hall of Fame (PHoF) Spring 2026 Networking/Conference in Sarasota, Florida. They speak to Norm and Sue about how they met, their relationship and home life, his induction into the Plastics Hall of Fame in 2025, her professional career, his career at Xerox, mentoring, contributions to the plastics industry, leadership roles in SPE-Inspiring Plastics Professionals, and life in Key West, Florida.

Watch Norm Fowler's induction into the Plastics Hall of Fame (YouTube).

Watch the PlastChicks podcast on the SPE YouTube Channel.

PlastChicks is sponsored by SPE-Inspiring Plastics Professionals and the Plastics Industry Association. Look for new episodes on the first Friday of every month.

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Justin Riney, Sustainability Commercial Manager Americas at INEOS Styrolution and host of the podcast, Redefining Plastics. They explored his path into the plastics industry and podcasting, common myths around plastics and recycling, challenges of replacing plastics with alternative materials, efforts to improve municipal polystyrene recycling, the importance of consumer education, the Polystyrene Recycling Alliance, the need for better industry storytelling, issues in how plastics recycling metrics are calculated compared to other materials, brand collaboration in plastics material selection, and effective social media engagement.

Watch the PlastChicks podcast on the SPE YouTube Channel.

Listen to the podcast, Redefining Plastics, on your favorite player or watch episodes on YouTube.

PlastChicks is sponsored by SPE-Inspiring Plastics Professionals and the Plastics Industry Association. Look for new episodes on the first Friday of every month.

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Lexington Peterson, Business Development Manager in Automotive and Mobility at Engel. They discussed SPE-Inspiring Plastics Professionals, sustainability, her plastics engineering career journey, advancements in large-scale thermoplastic composite structures, lightweighting in electric and autonomous vehicle development, composite development for air mobility in drone development and air taxis, incorporating AI into machinery, autonomous humanoid robots, entrepreneurial opportunities in plastics, the Plastics Industry Association's FLiP - Future Leaders in Plastics Program, STEM outreach programs, and introducing youth to engineering options.

Watch the PlastChicks podcast on the SPE YouTube Channel.

PlastChicks is sponsored by SPE-Inspiring Plastics Professionals and the Plastics Industry Association. Look for new episodes on the first Friday of every month.

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Geoff Foster, CEO and President of Core Technology. They discuss how he founded his own plastics injection molding company, what's fueling their 300% growth since Covid, critical skills for engineering students, the importance of building diversity and inclusion into all levels of the company, the value of internships, considering potential employees from different industries, and the nonprofit Molding Kids for Success, which strives to educate youth in science, technology, engineering and mathematics by combining classroom experiments with real-world applications on the manufacturing floor.

Watch the PlastChicks podcast on the SPE YouTube Channel.

PlastChicks is sponsored by SPE-Inspiring Plastics Professionals and the Plastics Industry Association. Look for new episodes on the first Friday of every month.

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Pia Fischer, Research Assistant and PhD Candidate, Institute for Plastics Processing in Industry and Craft (IKV) at RWTH Aachen University. They discuss the development of her interest in plastics, injection molding, skill building for success in the PhD program, the benefits of mentoring, processes for sustainability and recycling, addressing challenges in post-consumer waste recycling, seasonal variations in recycling batch streams, shifting from academia into industrial work, sustainability regulations, evaluating sustainability claims, and advice for young engineers.

Watch the PlastChicks podcast on the SPE YouTube Channel.

PlastChicks is sponsored by SPE-Inspiring Plastics Professionals and the Plastics Industry Association. Look for new episodes on the first Friday of every month.

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host the Plastics Industry Association, featuring Matt Seaholm, President & CEO, and Pat Farrey, Executive VP & Chief Integration Officer. They discuss the merger of the Plastics Industry Association and SPE-Inspiring Plastics Professionals to combine resources that offer members greater opportunities and amplify the plastic industry’s voice.

Topics include developing a shared long-term strategy to better serve the plastics industry, ensuring transparency to engage stakeholders in shaping the future, creating synergies that add member value while preserving existing benefits, addressing younger professionals’ needs, and building a platform for experts to educate the current and future plastics workforce.

Watch the PlastChicks podcast on the SPE YouTube Channel.

PlastChicks is sponsored by SPE-Inspiring Plastics Professionals and the Plastics Industry Association. Look for new episodes on the first Friday of every month.

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host David Routsis, President, and Hannah Donnellan, Sales and Marketing Associate, Routsis Training, LLC. They discussed identifying training needs in the plastics industry, addressing the challenges of capturing specific staff manufacturing knowledge before they retire, producing training content in six languages, keeping training current, visiting plants to identify training needs, using training to help everyone speak the same language and get on the same page with manufacturing processes, the power of certifications, bridging the gap from other areas into plastics engineering, and contact lenses for chickens.

Watch the PlastChicks podcast on the SPE YouTube Channel.

PlastChicks is sponsored by SPE-Inspiring Plastics Professionals. Look for new episodes on the first Friday of every month.

PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri host Tuan TranPham, "the most-followed person in 3D printing," and President of the Americas and Asia Pacific at Anisoprint. They discuss the evolution of his career in 3D printing and the plastics industry, his desire to educate and inspire about the reality and potential of 3D printing, the benefits of sharing what you know to build collective knowledge in the industry, combining 3D printing with traditional manufacturing techniques, how the convergence of different technologies leads to innovation, how 3D printing may achieve its peak in 2032, the micro-factory of the future, the cloudification and localization of manufacturing, using AI to unleash and democratize the creation of content that could be 3D printed in the cloud, and evaluating the potential success of a 3D printing industry company.

Watch the PlastChicks podcast on the SPE YouTube Channel.

PlastChicks is sponsored by SPE-Inspiring Plastics Professionals. Look for new episodes on the first Friday of every month.

On this special PlastChicks Scholarship episode, PlastChicks Lynzie Nebel and Mercedes Landazuri receive an on-air surprise! Eve Vitale, Gina Grady, and Brian Grady announce a new endowed PlastChicks Scholarship Fund to award scholarships forever to deserving plastics students. Thanks to Gina and Brian Grady for their generous support!

Next Lynzie and Mercedes host their Third Annual PlastChicks Scholarship Award Winner, Claire Marble, a sophomore at University of Wisconsin-Stout. Claire discusses how she became interested in plastics and manufacturing engineering, her early experience at an injection mold base shop, approaching problems from an engineering perspective, community building and teamwork, the value of service and volunteering, injection molding, and 3D printing.

Watch the PlastChicks podcast on the SPE YouTube Channel.

PlastChicks is sponsored by SPE-Inspiring Plastics Professionals. Look for new episodes on the first Friday of every month.