The WACKER ACADEMY Team of Instructors
Theoretical expertise and practical experience are the cornerstones of the WACKER ACADEMY team. With backgrounds in sales or technology, our experts come to the table with extensive application knowledge. They are also trained instructors and moderators with a sixth sense for current trends and market developments.
Instructors for Industrial Coatings
Dr. Daniel Calimente
After working with PPG Industries and BASF Corporation, Dr. Daniel Calimente joined WACKER in 2011 as a Technical Manager. He is currently the Technical Marketing Manager for Industrial Coatings and Plastics. He has also been involved in other market segments such as Oil & Gas. Daniel attended Wayne State University where he received his PhD in Organic Chemistry and also completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Cheryl Fan
Cheryl Fan is a senior technical manager at the WACKER Shanghai technical center and is in charge of technical service and support for HDK® fumed silica for Asia Pacific. She has been involved in sealants and adhesives, as well as in coatings research and development activities and product applications. Cheryl Fan joined the Shanghai center in July 2013.
Dr. Dieter Heldmann
Dr. Dieter Heldmann studied at the University of Regensburg, earning a doctorate in organic chemistry. Following a postdoctoral period at ETH Zurich, he started his career at WACKER’s Corporate Research & Development department. Since 2006, as senior technical manager, he has supervised the use of silicone products in industrial-coating applications, in particular binders for heat-resistant coatings.
Dr. Ulrich Lauter
Dr. Ulrich Lauter studied chemistry in Regensburg and obtained his doctorate at the Max-Planck Institute of Polymer Research in Mainz. He first came to WACKER in 2012, following a postdoc position in the USA and 14 years at Vinnolit in the research, development and application technology department. He is currently technical service manager of the VINNOL® surface coating resins segment.
Danis Liu
Danis Liu joined WACKER in 2014 as a technical manager at WACKER Shanghai technical center. He is in charge of technical service and support for Industrial coating, Plastic, Pulp and Industry Defoaming and Chemical Industrial products in China, as well as developing new silicone applications in these fields.
Guillermo Lopez
Guillermo is a sales manager for Mexico in the Functional Additives business unit. He has more than 40 years of experience in the chemical industry, mainly with epoxy resins, polyurethanes, plastisol and release agents based on silicone fluids. At WACKER, Guillermo has been responsible for elastomers, pyrogenic silica, sealants, silanes and fluids, plastics, textiles, defoamers and industrial coating resins. Previously, he had worked for Hysol de Mexico, a company focused on epoxy resin compounds. He has a chemical engineering degree from the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
Peer Mohammed
Peer Mohammed holds a Master Degree in Chemistry from American College in India and worked as Technical Manager for Construction Silicones across the MEA region. He has more than 20 years of diversified experience in R&D, Product Development, Technical Service in Coatings and Construction Industry.
Christian Putz
Christian Putz is senior technical manager for industrial coatings at WACKER SILICONES.
The certified paints and lacquers engineer has been with WACKER since 1998 in various functions in R&D and technical marketing.
He has been working as senior technical manager for industrial coatings since 2021.
Dr. Thorsten Schwalm
Dr. Thorsten Schwalm earned his Ph.D. in polymer chemistry at the Technical University of Darmstadt in 2008. He then worked for Merck, 3M and Archroma in research, process engineering development and application technology positions. In 2023, he joined WACKER as a technical service manager supporting the VINNOL® surface coating resin segment.
Mark Sha
Mark Sha is a technical manager at WACKER’s Shanghai technical center. He is in charge of technical service and support for silicone oligomers in coatings and for water-resistant products in China. Mark Sha has worked in production, R&D and technical service for coatings since 1995. He joined WACKER’s Shanghai technical center in August 2005.
Kunjankumar Shah
Kunjankumar Shah holds a bachelor’s degree and a Master of Sciences degree from Mumbai University in India. He started his career in the paints industry in 2007 and previously worked with Asian Paints in India and Jotun Paints in Dubai. Areas of specialization include architectural coatings, protective coatings and intumescent coatings.