Gary Acklin - Occidental Chemical Corporation
CI: Tell us a little about yourself, and what you do.
I have been with OxyChem for 23 years. I joined the company as a chlorine process technician and I have held various roles which include site incident commander and chlorine process supervisor. I was recently promoted to Emergency Response Supervisor which oversee our incident response efforts at our Convent, Geismar, and Taft Louisiana plants. For the past 14 years, I have also served as a commissioned deputy with the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office Hazmat team.
Personally, I enjoy the outdoors, hunting and fishing. I take pride in teaching the younger generation how to enjoy and respect what mother nature has provided us while ensuring that safety is always our main priority.
CI: When did you first become involved at CI? What activities have you been involved in at CI?
I have been involved with CI since 2018. I thoroughly enjoy and look forward every year to my role as an instructor at the annual CHLOREP training in Jackson which I have been a part of for the past 3 years. Another accomplishment of which I am proud of is being asked to build and lead the response team for sector 3 (Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina) which we have now had in place for the past two and a half years.
CI: What is something interesting about you that few would know or guess?
Not too much to expound on here…what you see is what you get.
Not well known but I did serve six years active and two years inactive with the Louisiana Army National Guard in the 4th detachment / 256th infantry brigade driving the HETT (Heavy equipment transport truck). I hauled the M1A1 Abrams tank which weighs approximately 236,000 lbs. This was always an adventure, considering the magnitude of the load, when we have a movement to make.
CI: Tell us about your favorite CI memory or success story.
My favorite CI memories will always be the annual training in Jackson and the camaraderie shared among the CI group as a whole. Success story…that will be the connections, relationships, and friendships that are made that goes beyond chlorine response. It is a network of great individuals that do a lot of hard work behind the scenes and don’t get the credit they deserve, including CI members and staff.
CI: What do you value most from your CI membership?
I value the relationships that are created and maintained with perhaps the most knowledgeable professionals in the chlor-alkali emergency response industry worldwide. It is very humbling for me to be associated with such a great group of individuals that is always willing to put their personal lives on hold and drop what they are doing to come be of assistance.
CI: What advice do you have for early career professionals in the chlor-alkali industry?
What I thought was the perfect answer to this question was originally written by OxyChem's Emergency Response Lead, Justin Cox, so like I was once told…"if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it".
Justin wrote: Embrace it and get involved! Take the time to network and learn all aspects of the industry. Do not get so involved or task oriented on just one thing. Appreciate a little of every aspect. Additionally, bring positivity each and every day!
Do you know an actively engaged CI member who would make a great Member Spotlight? Send their name and company to Cindy Kuranchie at Cindy@CL2.com.