Our History

Palmer Holland Way to Work

Mission Statement

Innovation and flexibility provide the foundation for our excellence in marketing, sales, and service, allowing us to place the quality of long-term relationships above short-term gains.

A company of innovators, status-quo challengers, and new things try-ers

North American HQ in Cleveland, Ohio

Palmer Holland is a North American specialty chemical and ingredient distributor of raw materials. We have 55+ Account Managers and Ingredient Consultants stationed throughout the United States and Canada. We are a private, employee-owned company which allows us greater flexibility in the marketplace to provide our customers and principals with the most effective and efficient solutions. 

Cool facts about us

Unparalleled culture with emphasis on stellar health & wellness

Continued YOY growth

Mix of relationship-based sales with short & long term sales cycles

99 years in business and going strong

Diversified markets (Adhesives & Sealants, Elastomers, Health & Nutrition, Lubricants, Paints & Coatings, and Plastics)

Intense dedication to work/life balance

Inside Sales

  • Vertical alignment
  • Lead management - urgency/timeliness
  • Collaboration with outside reps
  • Account service & maintenance
  • Advanced qualification
  • Unique liaison between sales team, operations team and Principal base; tracks performance of supply chain across and through all product lines
  • In-depth understanding of how product moves through Principal’s supply chains
  • Oversee forecasting, order control scenarios
  • Model target purchases (e.g. – seasonality, industry watersheds)

Innovation Team

  • Sales Advocates
  • Vertically-aligned Customer Experience Specialists
  • All hold relationships with Sales and each operational department
  • Team philosophy:
    1) We all work in 'Customer Service'
    2) We are in business because of our customers

Marketing

  • Brand Awareness
  • Tradeshow/Special Events
  • Social media initiative
  • Creative Strategy
  • Co-branding

Information Technology

  • Implements, maintains and troubleshoots all hardware/software systems
  • System and process design
  • Online, real-time, always there to support
  • Executive and Department Portfolio Management
  • Regular executive reviews
  • GSD Team
  • Process standardization
  • Transition facilitation

Project Management

  • Data Driven Analysis
  • Product Line Development
  • Sales Development (Market/Region)
  • New Principal/Product Line Transition
  • Market Intel gathering and sharing (MangoApps)
         - Competitive Product
         - Competitive Distributor/Intelligence

Business Analysts

Accounting

  • Includes Accounting, Pricing, and Credit Teams
  • Handles credit applications, assigns credit terms, and manages payables and receivable
  • Maintains product cost and customer price files, and measures profit margins on sales

Asset Management

Customer Experience

Purchasing/Supply Chain

  • Oversees Palmer Holland's Quality Management System
  • Administers technical and regulatory documentation
  • Assures adherence to laws and regulations governing responsible distribution practices
  • Manages legal transactions
  • Monitors and reviews internal processes and procedures
  • Coordinates product setup process and guarantees all relevant product information is on file

Compliance

"The ability to collaborate with other junior sellers who are starting their careers. I still lean on my fellow college hires for technical and selling advice and collaboration. Our business model is dependent on a strong contingency of sellers in their 20’s and 30’s, and Palmer Holland provides many opportunities for growth and promotion. If you come to Palmer, you will have a support network to help you succeed."

Kyle Raffel

Account Manager - CASE

kraffel@palmerholland.com

"What truly makes Palmer Holland special is the people. I was green and without any sales experience or chemistry background, but I immediately felt supported across all departments. The first several months I spent at the corporate office gave me exposure to the unique culture Palmer Holland possesses. It was obvious that the people are the most valuable asset to this organization."

Kathryn Carroll

Account Manager - CASE

kcarroll@palmerholland.com

"No other company nor job offer matched what Palmer Holland presented me by fulfilling the criteria I wanted: a solid training program, a stable growth market, supportive culture, solid compensation plan, and a role involving travel. When I ranked these criteria against other, similar companies/offers, Palmer Holland won outright."

Mike Seger

Account Manager - Lubricants

mseger@palmerholland.com

"The hook for me was the people I interviewed with at Palmer Holland. It was obvious that the folks I met were down-to-earth, reasonable people. Many times, career fairs are loaded with recruiters trying to overcompensate for a  standard job. It was different talking to the people at Palmer Holland because no one came across as too pushy or too “selly” on why I needed to be here. The culture was apparent between everyone I interviewed with and knowing that we were a privately owned company."

Ryan Daughtery

Former University of Akron Sales Intern

Palmer Holland

191 American Blvd, Ste. 300

Westlake, OH 44145

Tel: 440-686-2300

You're a part of something big

Deep commitment to diversity, equity, and  inclusion and community betterment through PHGives 

We want our employees to foster a positive, constructive workplace environment by following our core values of communication, cooperation, teamwork, keep it simple, no politics and quality.  Enjoy what you do!

We support a healthy lifestyle for our employees and their families.  Spend time together. Exercise. Get enough rest.  Take care of yourself.

We expect employees to give their best efforts to their daily assignments and to take every opportunity to:

  • Learn something new;
  • Teach a new skill; and
  • Contribute in a positive manner to the company culture

Warehouse Presence

Business Vertical May Include:

  • Business Director
  • National Sales Manager
  • Regional Sales Manager
  • Market Manager
  • Technical Manager
  • Business Manager
  • Consultants
  • Key Account Managers
  • Business Development Manager
  • Intimately understand and promote principals' sales and marketing strategies
  • First line of support – both technical and commercial
  • Promote breadth of relationship
  • Establish and monitor growth targets
    – both top and bottom line
  • Manage opportunity funnel
  • Provide pricing guidance
  • Coordinate sales training/joint travel
  • Provide sales tools

Responsibilities Include:

Palmer Holland Vertical Roles

Goals and Strategies

Remain Independent

  • ESOP ownership model
  • Disciplined succession planning

Human Resources

  • Recruiting, personalized new hire training, and benefits administration
  • In-house Strengths and Emotional Intelligence coaching
  • Wellness, Engagement, and Performance programming to champion professional growth
  • Oversee office management

Sustain our ownership model through managed growth

  • Organic
  • Expanded relationships with existing representation
  • Product line addition that matches growth opportunities
  • Market the enterprise

Maintain our culture

  • Core values
  • The Way to Work
  • DE&I Initiative

Palmer Holland Core Values

Fred Palmer Sr. founding of Palmer-Schuster Co.

Fred Palmer Jr. transfer of equity to Sales Team

Establishment of corporate offices in Cleveland, OH

Sale of Container Division to Northpak

Palmer Supplies merges with Harry Holland

Acquisition of Focus Chemical

Acquisition of Triad Lubrication Components

Converted to privately-held ESOP

Expanded to North American distributorship with Canadian entity / Created market-specific sales team

Reorganized commercial segmentation along customer markets

Super regional to national distributor

2010

1925

1977

1999

2000

2002

2005

2015

2017

2019

2020

"Our people are our greatest asset."

Bryn Irvine (Chairman of the Board)

Established Industrial Specialties and Consumer & Life Sciences Divisions

2023