John Televantos | AIChE

John Televantos

Partner
Arsenal Capital Partners

John Televantos is a Partner at Arsenal Capital Partners, a middle market private equity firm focused on the specialty industrial, healthcare and specialty financial service sectors. Before joining Arsenal in 2006, Dr. Televantos was President of Aqualon Company, owned by Hercules, Inc.; President and Founder of Helios Chemical Company; and Chief Executive Officer for Foamex International.

Dr. Televantos began his career with Union Carbide in 1977 in silicones research. There he developed two key processes for the manufacture of Methyl Chloride and Siloxane polymers that were commercialized. These processes not only improved efficiency and reduced cost but also dramatically reduced waste. He moved through a variety of management positions there and later at ARCO Chemical, where he became vice president of strategy and development.

At ARCO John co-invented and led a team that developed and commercialized a  breakthrough technology in polyol manufacture (a key raw material for polyurethanes) eliminating a whole process step along with waste and emissions, while at the same time opening the door to the creation of new higher-performance polyurethanes. The technology has since been licensed by most of the major global polyol manufacturers with significant waste reduction worldwide.

At Arsenal Capital, Dr. Televantos serves as co-head of the specialty industrial practice. During his tenure, he has been part of several acquisitions and successful exits in the chemicals and materials sectors. In addition to serving on the boards of several Arsenal-owned companies, he is lead director on the board of Balchem Corp.

Dr. Televantos holds BS and PhD degrees in chemical engineering from the University of London. Dr. Televantos strongly believes that technology is the best means of creating value in businesses and the economy.