For Dr. Scot Pedersen, regional director of development, flexible packaging for Siegwerk CUSA, the opportunity to return to his native Iowa with his wife Kim back in 1998 opened the door to the ink industry. Now, many years later, Dr. Pedersen’s accomplishments have earned him the industry’s respect and a well-deserved 2025 Printing Ink Pioneer Award.

Dr. Pedersen had earned his PhD in organic chemistry with some work in the free radical polymerization world, with his work focused on fluoropolymers and the fluorinated monomers that go into them. That led to a job with DuPont in the Fluoroproducts business unit, but home beckoned.

“While the work was great, both my wife and I are Iowans and we missed our family and friends,” he recalled. “As I was finishing a large project with DuPont, I started to look for something closer to home. Color Converting Industries listed a generic chemist position that I applied for.

“The management at Color Converting had the foresight to understand that the ink industry was changing from nitrocellulose and polyamide chemistry to polyurethanes,” Dr. Pedersen added. “They took a chance that I might be able to assist them in developing polyurethanes for the flexible packaging printing ink market. So, my wife and I moved back to Des Moines – Color Converting is less than 20 miles from where I grew up. It turned out to be a great opportunity. I didn’t know much about the ink world, but I brought some polymer know-how to the ink world and things have worked out quite well.”

Dr. Pedersen has had numerous successes in the lab and in the industry, but he noted that bringing young talented chemists into the ink industry is his favorite accomplishment.

“The biggest highlight of my career has been the number of new chemists that I have hired and trained throughout my career,” he said. “It is really awesome to me to see a young chemist that I hired and trained move up and ahead in our company and to see them move to other opportunities and have great success.

“I have always been in our Technology Development group,” added Dr. Pedersen. “We not only pursue new inks, new raw materials, and new production processes, we have been responsible for hiring and training our new chemists. This is a great opportunity to teach young chemists the knowledge and experience that we have in the company. It’s great to see them move on and become successes themselves.”

Developing the polyurethane resin family for the SEALTECH ink series is another career highlight for Dr. Pedersen.

“The second biggest highlight of my career is the development of a new polyurethane resin family that became the backbone for one of Color Converting’s and Siegwerk CUSA’s longest running and successful ink families – SEALTECH, now called the UR 40 series inks,” said Dr. Pedersen. “The longevity of this ink system and resin family is pretty amazing; I never expected it.”

His expertise on safety and regulatory matters in another important aspect of his career.

“The third highlight is in my input/work in Siegwerk’s product safety and regulatory world,” Dr. Pedersen noted. “I have played a major role in making sure that Siegwerk only uses the highest quality and safest raw materials. Siegwerk tries to stay ahead of the regulatory requirements across the globe. My role has been to find and source raw materials that exceed the current product safety requirements globally.”

In noting his influences, Dr. Pedersen pointed to his father first.

“First, my father was a tremendous influence,” he said. “His work ethic was something I strive to mimic every day. I have also had some great mentors in my career. Most mentored more by example than by active coaching, but the lessons were probably internalized better by seeing than by hearing.

“I would probably start with my PhD advisor, Dr. Donald Burton. He obviously taught me chemistry, but more importantly, he taught me about work ethic and putting in the effort beyond work, things like reading literature and listening to talks to learn as much as you can about everything, not just chemistry,” Dr. Pedersen noted. “At Color Converting, people like Dave Cox, Manuel Rivas, and Lothar Schaeffeler were tremendous role models who taught me about managing employees, bosses, and project work. Supplier representatives have also been very influential and critical to my success as well. There are too many to list them all.”

Dr. Pedersen has seen plenty of changes within the industry throughout the years, but most notable is how the industry is shrinking.

“The ink industry has always been a small community,” Dr. Pedersen noted. “You see many familiar faces in suppliers and competitors alike. However, since I started, the community seems to be shrinking. Suppliers are merging or closing their operations. The ink supplier world is shrinking. The same can be said for the printers and ink makers. The other largest change that has occurred during my career is the move of most chemical manufacturing to Asia. It has changed the supply chain significantly.”

Outside of work, Dr. Pedersen enjoys time with his family and friends.

“I have two adult daughters who are extremely fun to visit and hang out with,” he said. “My wife and I enjoy fall afternoons with our best friends watching the University of Iowa football home games. I enjoy golf with my friends, riding my Harley Davidson, and shooting sports.”

Dr. Pedersen said that receiving the Pioneer Award is a “huge honor.”

“To have someone take the time to write up a recommendation and to be selected really humbles me,” Dr. Peterson noted. “It is such an honor. Again, seeing some of the people receive the award before me makes it even more special. I cannot thank NAPIM and my bosses who took the time to nominate me enough. Just a tremendous honor. I also know that I have the honor of being the first Color Converting or Siegwerk USA person to receive the Pioneer Award, again, making the honor even greater.”