Chemistry was something that Eric Kuckhoff MS ’84 knew well. It wasn’t just the science behind polymers and reaction rates that the 2016 Distinguished Alumni from the College Science and president of the Alumni Association has mastered, but the delicate chemistry of business as well. In 2002, Kuckhoff started his own company, Polystar LLC. The industrial chemicals manufacturer grew quickly from nothing to $50 million in just ten years. He is currently vice president and general manager for North America at Cargill, Inc., who acquired Polystar, in the industrial specialties group. Kuckhoff was honored during the Distinguished Alumni Dinner and Awards Celebration in April 2016, in part because of his achievements as an entrepreneur and his contribution to RIT. As with the chemical compounds he works with, Kuckhoff combined various elements to reach success. He began his career at The Dow Chemical Company and then Cytec Industries, both large, multi-billion dollar companies. Kuckhoff thrived by listening to his customers and responding to their needs, but he saw gaps in these large organizations. It was his innate desire to find solutions that led Kuckhoff to create and grow Polystar. “There were so many missed opportunities,” Kuckhoff said. “What mattered to me was solving customer problems and creating an organization that could solve these problems, while doing it faster and better than the competitors.”
 
The relationships Kuckhoff forged during the early part of his career were also instrumental in Polystar’s creation. The most striking example of this for Kuckhoff is the friendship with a former Cytec customer, which led to an introduction to the business partner who helped him start Polystar. “The people around you ultimately come back around in ways that are hard to imagine,” Kuckhoff said. “You can never understate the value of relationships and hard work. Every now and then, you are going to have a brilliant person with a difficult personality who is successful despite themselves, but generally it is somebody who has the ability to form and keep relationships while delivering value.”
 
Another surprising element to Kuckhoff’s success—mistakes—some which he feels fortunate to have made and learned from before Polystar. “If you really want to be an entrepreneur, learn how to run a business from someone who already knows how to run a business. The real lessons are very subtle and not always obvious.”