Winner of the 2021 Red Cedar Circle Award in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University College of Engineering
Gary L. Hockstra spent 37 years working for the Dow Chemical Company in Midland, Michigan. He retired in 2017 as the vice president of the Ethylene Envelope and a member of the Operations Leadership Team.
Hockstra grew up in Rockford, Michigan, and was the first member of his family to go to college. He attended MSU from 1976 to 1980, graduating with a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering. He started working for Dow Chemical in the fall of 1980, working in research and development in several different areas.
In 1983, he moved to pharmaceuticals manufacturing and in early 1985 moved to Italy to design, build, and run a new pharmaceutical plant on the Garessio site. He returned to Michigan in 1989 working in the Pharmaceutical Tech Center. He moved to Global Process Control in 1991 as the project manager of the Dow Operator Work Station Project.
In 1993, he moved to Terneuzen, The Netherlands, where he worked in the Styron/Tyril plant consolidating the control rooms with the operator station system. The next year he moved to LHC 1 as the cracker production leader.
In 1996 he moved to Texas as the LHC Technology Leader. In 2000 he assumed the additional responsibility of LHC R&D director. In 2002, he was named manufacturing director of engineering plastics, and in 2004 he assumed the role of manufacturing director for engineering polymers (Engineering Plastics plus Polystyrene).
In 2007, he was named vice president and site director - Texas Operations in Freeport. Hockstra was named vice president of M&E for Advanced Materials in September 2011, relocating to Philadelphia. In early 2014, he was named vice president, Ethyleye and Propylene Operations and returned to Texas. He held that role until he retired in the spring of 2017, having spent almost four decades with the company.
Through the years, Hockstra spent eight years providing leadership to MSU through the Engineering and Chemical Engineering Alumni Boards. He is a member of the MSU Alumni Association.
Other activities included being an executive sponsor for several professional associations and as site leaders in Texas and Philadelphia. He also worked with local economic development councils, Rotary, Chamber of Commerce, various church activities, and Brazosport College Foundation finance director.
His memberships through the years include the Texas Chemical Manufacturers Association, Texas Taxpayers and Research Association (TTARA), and AiCHE. He attended the executive MBA program at Indiana University.
Hockstra enjoys saltwater fishing, both inshore and offshore, hunting, cycling and golf.
He and his wife, Ruth, share a passion for travel. They have two children, Nicholas and Cristina and two grandchildren.