Gemma Stephenson of Cargill Wins Women in Focus 2023 Presentation of the Year Award

ACI is delighted to announce Gemma Stephenson, Industry Relationship Specialist at Cargill, as the winner of Base Oil & Lubes Connect’s 2023 Presentation of the Year Award for her presentation entitled “Intrinsic & Extrinsic Sustainability of Esters in Electric Vehicle Lubricants” given at our very own European Base Oils & Lubricants Summit last November in Barcelona.

Gemma is the Technical Marketing Manager for the Energy Technologies business sector, looking at both internal and external initiatives through a sustainability lens. She has a technical background, obtaining a PhD in Materials Chemistry in 2012 from The University of Manchester, before joining Croda Lubricants in 2012. Here her main focus was on tribology and additive and base oil development. Gemma now sits on the commercial side of the business, exploring unmet needs within Energy markets both technically and with regards to sustainability.

When it comes to intrinsic sustainability, Gemma focused in on benefits seen in esters in terms of raw materials, product design & product manufacture such as improvements in biodegradability, biobased content and use of renewable energy in the manufacturing process. With regards to extrinsic sustainability, the presentation delivered insights into efficiency improvements & carbon savings in distribution & transport, product use and end-of-life. Finally, Gemma presented safety, performance and sustainability benefits of esters in an electric drive unit including MTM and rig testing results.

Congratulations Gemma!