About Seatex

Kelly Aimes

Executive Chairman

Kelly joined Seatex in July 1994 working various plant positions before eventually moving to sales. After approximately a year he moved into a business development role trying to solidify current accounts and expand the company into additional markets. Prior to Seatex, Kelly held business development positions with Napco Chemical, specializing in water treatment and The Swagelok Companies. In 2001 Kelly was promoted to Vice President of Business Development and in 2004 became one of nine managers of the newly restructured Seatex LLC. January 2011 he was selected to be President and in 2017 was appointed to the role of CEO. Along with his CEO responsibilities Kelly is currently one of five Cotton Creek Capital board members, Cotton Creek Capital is currently the largest stakeholder in Seatex. Kelly graduated from Sam Houston State University with a Business and Marketing degree.

Jonathan O’Dwyer

Chief Executive Officer

Jonathan O’Dwyer joined Seatex in February 2021 as Executive Vice President of Commercial Operations and Technology, and quicky promoted to the role of President. Before joining Seatex, Jonathan oversaw all aspects of commercial operations for Weylchem, a technical custom chemical manufacturer. Prior to Weylchem, Jonathan was at Albemarle – a global specialty chemicals company - for 15 years in a variety of senior leadership positions in business, technology, and chemical manufacturing. In addition to his commercial experience, Jonathan has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University.

Andrew LeBlanc

Chief Financial Officer

Clay Pace

President of Commercial Operations and Technology

Clay Pace joined Seatex in September 2022 upon Seatex’s acquisition of ChemQuest Chemicals.  Clay serves as Seatex’s President of Commercial Operations and Technology.  Prior to that, Mr. Pace was President and Chief Executive Officer of ChemQuest Chemicals LLC, a contract chemical processor located in Pasadena TX. Prior to acquiring ChemQuest in October of 2015 with equity partners, Mr. Pace was President and Chief Executive Officer of Quad Electronics dba Cablcon, a fiber optic and copper cable assembly provider and central office power cable supplier to the telecommunications industry headquartered in Troy, Michigan.  Mr. Pace joined Cablcon in December of 2011 as President and CEO succeeding the original founders of Cablcon. Prior to joining Cablcon, Mr. Pace was President and CEO of Equa-Chlor Inc., a chlor-alkali producer and marketer located in Longview, WA. Mr. Pace was brought into Equa-Chlor as CEO by the private equity owners in October 2007 to turn around the failing company. Mr. Pace successfully led the company through a Chapter 11 Bankruptcy emerging in less than a year as a member of the Prudential Insurance Capital Group. Mr. Pace led the company to full capacity and value and led the sale of Equa-Chlor for Prudential to PPG Industries in May 2011.  Prior to this assignment, he was President of Helena Industries, Inc. the contract formulation and manufacturing subsidiary of Helena Chemical Company. Mr. Pace holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Mississippi State University. His other experience includes positions in the specialty chemical, polymer, and engineering and construction industry. He has extensive international experience having worked in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. In addition to serving on the Boards of ChemQuest, Cablcon, Equa-Chlor, and Helena Industries, he has served a Board Director for South Georgia Technical Institute and as Board Director for Centracore LLC, an automotive components supplier and a Board Director for ATIS – Alliance for Telecommunication Industry Solutions headquartered in Washington DC. He currently serves as a Director on the Board of the Houston Ship Channel Security District, a government and industry partnership that provides fund and coordination for the security of the Houston Ship Channel and the Port of Houston. He serves as the Treasurer and Chief Investment Officer overseeing and $8.5 MM investment portfolio. He also serves on the Board of Governors for SOCMA, Society of Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association. He has been married to his wife, Chris, for 41 years and they have one daughter.

Chris Bowhay

VP of Technology

Chris joined the Seatex team in March of 2018 as the Vice President of Technology, leading the recently acquired Technology unit and team in product development, enhancement of analytical capabilities, quality control and commercialization of new products. He received his undergraduate degree from Southeastern Oklahoma State University in 1988 as a Pre-Med student with a double major in Chemistry and Biology, minors in Math and Physics. Prior to this he served in the United States Airforce at Edwards AFB, Airforce Flight Test Center, Mojave Desert, CA. After graduation he began his professional career at 3M as a Quality Control Engineer in Weatherford, OK for the Printing and Publishing Division. Chris then spent 16 years with Sachem, who was an OEM for quaternary ammonium and phosphonium compounds, focusing primarily in the microelectronic, and catalyst markets. At Sachem he worked his way from the laboratory as a Senior Chemist to Sales and eventually as a Market manger where he was an expat living in Osaka, Japan. During this time Chris also took on the challenge of securing his MBA. In the last 12 years, he has expanded his experience with several opportunities with private equity based companies in the oilfield market, where he held positions in Technology, Operations, Commercialization and Procurement. He was key in the grass roots building and management of operations or commercialization for various chemical manufacturing facilities in several states including Texas, Wyoming, and North Dakota, for companies including Rockwater, Independence Oilfield Chemicals (Innospec), and Precision Additives. Chris also founded BOSS Technologies, where he held the position of President and CEO, which licensed chemical technologies to various start-ups in the oilfield industry including a full suite of completion and production chemicals.

Jack Collins

VP of Operations

Jack Collins joined Seatex as Director of Operations and was quickly promoted to Vice-President of Operations. Jack has extensive chemical manufacturing experience, most recently 7 years with TPC Group as the Site Manager and Manufacturing Performance Manager. Prior to TPC, Jack held six different roles at Valspar over an 11-year period where he was responsible for Safety, Process Safety Management, Operations, Capital Projects, and Maintenance. While at Seatex Jack is responsible for driving and enhancing operational execution across the organization. He oversees all Production and Maintenance functions. Jack graduated Texas A&M University with a BS in Chemical Engineering and is a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt.

Mike Burson

Director of EH&S

Mike came to Seatex in 2019 after four years as the Safety Manager for Loveland Products’ flagship agricultural chemical manufacturing plant. Mike worked in oil and gas drilling for eight years where he was a Regional Director of HSE for Sidewinder Drilling and the US Drilling QHSE Manager for Xtreme Drilling & Coil Tubing. Mike dedicated fifteen years to the U.S. Army as a Petroleum Supply Non-Commissioned Officer where he gained extensive leadership skills and safety management experience on three different continents. Mike earned his BS in Safety Management from Northeastern State University and an MBA in Business Ethics, Organizational Leadership from Harding University. In 2017 he earned his Associate Safety Professional (ASP) and in 2018 his Certified Safety Professional (CSP) credentials from the Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP).