Don Milinkovich – Retired

Chemical (Quality and Environmental)

Don has 34 years in the chemical manufacturing business working for BASF Corporation, Cognis Corporation, Cognis Oleochemicals, Henkel Corporation and A.E. Staley Manufacturing Company.  His professional experience began in design engineering, moved through project and personnel leadership roles and then moved to a variety of manufacturing/operations responsibilities. His manufacturing and environmental experience includes operations leadership of two plants within the Cognis Cincinnati facility followed by leadership roles in corporation manufacturing information services and six-sigma improvement efforts, plant engineering and maintenance services, project management services and, most recently, corporation quality assurance/environmental systems and auditing services.

At Cognis, Don was the management representative for US operations QMS (quality management system), lead auditor for ISO 9001, ISO/TS 16949 (automotive) and ISO 14001 (environmental management system), and was responsible for internal audits.  As a Project Manager, he was responsible for the design and construction of the Cincinnati plant’s environmental management improvement projects as well as abatement, recycling and demolition of idled facility assets. As a Production Manager, Don was responsible for operations, maintenance and technical support of Ozone Acid and Ester Departments of the Cincinnati plant with 105 employees, an annual budget of $25 million and fixed assets of $53 million.

Design Engineering

Don worked six years collectively for Chemstress Consultant Company, Arthur G. McKee & Company and Ohio Power Company performing engineering design activities for facilities in the chemical, industrial gases and iron and steel industries and assessing equipment performance in the electric power generation industry.