Suzanne Lowe of Air Products champions a collaborative and inclusive workplace, built on a shared commitment to safety 

Suzanne Lowe is Vice President and General Manager of Air Products for the United Kingdom, Ireland, Israel and Italy. She is responsible for driving the strategy and profitability of the company’s industrial gases and electronics businesses in these countries. 

She joined Air Products in 1987, as a participant in the company’s career development program, and has since held numerous leadership positions, both commercial and operational. Her broad experience spans all core businesses, with key roles in merchant gases, electronics and tonnage gases. 

“I started in this industry as a physics graduate from Liverpool University and was used to operating within a rather male dominated environment,” Suzanne begins. “What has shaped my leadership style is my personal resilience and grit to keep going in what was a male-oriented sector in the mid-80s. You start to recognize other resilient individuals; those people who create a safe space for the development and growth of others. 

“As such, over the years, I’ve encountered numerous leaders and tend to try to emulate positive leadership styles. I always focus on what I can do and how I can contribute, and I encourage the same in other women in the industry. When I talk to other women or people from other underrepresented groups, I try to coach them to realize their worth and understand that they’ve earned their place at the table, as much as the next person. 

“I grew up in a mixed-race immigrant family,” she continues. “My grandfather came to the UK via the US but was originally from Kashmir. So, although my cultural ethnicity may not be visible, my background is diverse, and I would say that has helped me. Sometimes, people will say things in front of me that they wouldn’t say in front of others and that has enabled me to have those difficult but equalizing conversations. As such, I would say my empathy for underrepresented groups extends far beyond gender,” she explains. 

Founded in 1940, Air Products has a proud history of innovation, operational excellence, and an unwavering commitment to safety and environmental stewardship. Working together, the company is generating a cleaner future for its customers, communities and the planet. 

Air Products serves a broad range of industries, including refining, chemicals, metals, electronics, manufacturing, and food, providing essential industrial gases, technologies and applications expertise that enhance its customers’ sustainability and improve their operations. As the leading global supplier of hydrogen, Air Products is supporting the energy transition through clean hydrogen projects to decarbonize the hardest-to-abate industrial and heavy-duty transportation sectors. 

“In our business, it’s always important to remember that the customer comes first. We’ve got great tools at our disposal today to be able to strategize to achieve targets and cascade that common cause throughout the organization, enabling us to operate with transparency and clarity. 

“If you think about the diversity of our industrial gases business, from soft drinks dispensing right through to specialized gases used in semiconductors, that range gives us numerous different trends and we’re always managing those within each segment and we’re managing them on a local level. While our helium product line, for example, is managed at a global level, our operations are mostly local, and we always talk to our local customers to be able to fulfil their changing needs. 

“When I joined Air Products, it was very much US-centric, but over the years that has changed. We’re experiencing more and more demand from the semiconductor industry for hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and argon, for example, and by observing trends like these, we’re able to move into new geographies.” 

Applying innovation and expertise to solve its customers’ problems is a core strength. The company combines a history of proven technology with decades of operational know-how and experience across a range of operations. Air Products is committed to generating a cleaner future. 

The company’s products advance everyday life. From enhancing the quality of frozen foods to enabling MRI images and supplying medical oxygen to hospitals, industrial gases play an invaluable part, and often an intrinsic role, in a multitude of applications.

“At a basic level,” Suzanne continues, “keeping food fresher for longer, for example, can help to reduce waste, which contributes to a more sustainable society. Similarly, by identifying new applications for heat input throughout metals production operations, Air Products strives to make them more efficient and cost effective. For current air-fuel applications, for example, substitution of oxy-fuel burners eliminates wasteful nitrogen from the process, allowing higher flame temperatures, which deliver much more of the heat from the burner into the process, because much less heat is exhausted from the furnace in the form of hot gases. 

“Some of our solutions may seem less significant, but the things you learn by being close to your customer and knowing what will help them improve their processes can combine to create a bigger impact overall. These smaller steps are all part of the bigger sustainability picture, and we strive to ensure an understanding of this overarching goal is achieved throughout our organization. 

“Looking to the future, it is absolutely Air Products’ mission to facilitate and contribute towards a cleaner future. It’s not just about reducing fuel consumption, for example, it’s about how we help our customers to be more sustainable by delivering more sustainable products and solutions ourselves, thereby helping society to do something better than it does today.” 

Air Products is a company that strives to ensure people belong and matter and are proud of what they do. 

The business’ Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), which span across the world, form an Inclusion Network with company leadership to create supportive communities that help attract and retain talent. In addition, the ERGs are also used to raise cultural awareness and competence, develop critical skills and competencies and contribute to the company’s diversity and inclusion objectives. 

Throughout the year the Inclusion Network and ERGs sponsor activities and programs for all employees, including workshops, panel discussions, awareness training and professional development sessions. 

“A great example is the Women’s Success Network (WSN),” Suzanne elaborates, “which is a great platform where people celebrate successes, share career progress and discover support. We’re also gaining a better understanding of why we might be losing women from the workforce, and in particular, women of a certain age with extensive experience who may be experiencing a glitch in their confidence. I’m proud that society is talking about these sorts of issues today,” she concludes. “Likewise, we’re also promoting spaces where men feel able to talk. It’s crucial to realize that past and future success rely on promoting collaboration among all people of all different cultures and backgrounds.”   

www.airproducts.co.uk