For more than 40 years, Terry Giles has crisscrossed the U.S. and the world not only working to install better coating systems for major OEMs for Henkel, but also educating others in the industry through talks and presentations.
Now retired, Giles has held various positions while at Henkel, including research chemist, technical service manager, sales and marketing. His last position before retiring in 2019 was Global Business Development Manager, where he was responsible for introducing Henkel products to a variety of manufacturing industries, including pretreatment and ecoat systems
Giles also worked closely with major OEMs on their coating processes. He worked as a team member with both General Motors and Ford Motor to design, launch and commission new pretreatment and ecoat systems, domestically and globally.
He was actively involved with the Powder Coating Institute for three decades, and was heavily involved in the education and technical committees. Most notable is Giles’ contribution to Powder Coating: The Complete Finisher’s Handbook, and other writings he has contributed. PCI says his expertise in the pretreatment chemicals segment was critical in writing the handbook and creating the slide decks for the hands-on training workshops.
Giles was also veteran speaker for PCI and ecoat conferences and organizers say he was always willing to volunteer when needed.
He started his career in 1978 at a smaller chemical company, then joined Parker Chemical as a research chemist in the automotive and general industry sector. He began working under Clint Rasmussen, who taught Giles a lot about the equipment side of the finishing and coating industry.
“He was really a mentor to me in respect to equipment,” Giles says. “I understood the chemistry part of it, but not so much the application and equipment side of it. That was all new to me, and Clint really showed me quite a bit about all of that.”
Giles graduated from Eastern Michigan University with a bachelor of science in chemistry. He authored several industry publications presented at various conferences, including SURCAR, IABC, SAE, PCI, and the Electrocoat Association. Giles has served as Vice President and President of the Electrocoat Association and is a former board member for the Powder Coat Institute.
