June 5, 2025
This is part of a series featuring Albemarle experts who lead the world in transforming essential resources into critical ingredients for powering everyday life.
Customers rely on Albemarle for a range of products, but they also rely on our data.
This data-fueled cooperation appears in our new sustainability report, which is called “Values-Led, Purpose-Driven.” Companies are under increasing pressure to measure and report the entire scope of their carbon footprint and water usage, which includes data from their suppliers.
Consider our work with Kraton, a maker of specialty polymers and biobased chemicals. Kraton's value proposition to customers includes a promise of sustainable solutions, one company official said in this video. He said Albemarle’s good record contributes to Kraton’s good record.
That’s where Karen Shulman and Steven van Vegten play a role.
Both are senior managers with Albemarle’s sustainability team. Van Vegten is based in Holland, where he started in 2008 as a technologist in the Amsterdam plant and subsequently held commercial functions for the Catalysts business. He sought a role on the sustainability team that gives him more of a sense of purpose.
Shulman is based in the U.S. She has long worked in the sustainability field, driven by her strong belief that businesses should make the world better. She joined Albemarle in 2022 because of the essential role the company plays in decarbonization.
Today, Van Vegten and his team collect, review and consolidate environmental data across Albemarle’s operations worldwide. Together with Shulman and her team, they share Albemarle’s sustainability initiatives with key stakeholders, such as customers, investors and the community.