CAS, Director, Infrastructure and Workplace Solutions: Mentorship is an Opportunity to Give Back

Kris Woods, Director, Infrastructure and Workplace Solutions, CAS, an American Chemical Society Division, talks to Andrew Stein, Managing Director, AHEAD. Woods was born in Chicago, grew up outside of Washington, D.C., but after the children were born, his parents moved back to Ohio, their native place. He attended Ohio University and began his career in technology in Columbus. He has been with CAS for 24 years.

Woods has mentored several folks colleagues from a variety of teams throughout the organization. He enjoys connecting with these folks within technology, his specialization, and with folks from other parts of the organization, like the sales and product management groups. He regards all of it as a rewarding experience for him.

For Woods, mentorship is an opportunity to give back. He says that many people have helped him throughout his career, assisting him in recognizing strengths in himself he had previously overlooked. That's why he enjoys helping others on their career journey.

Regarding his mentorship frequency, he shared what his mentor told him some time ago. "We all have two ears and one mouth, and we should use them proportionately." He believes a lot of mentorship occurs simply by sitting, listening, and reflecting on what the other person is saying.

He shares that if he had a magic wand for the Columbus Tech scene, he would better understand its background, present, and future possibilities.

Chemical Abstract is one of the most unique cultured companies in Columbia. They are very good at collaborating and communicating, but at the same time, they were doing innovative stuff 25 years ago that other companies still aren't doing today. They were working on developing a type of application-based resiliency and some other cool cutting-edge projects that no one talked about in the fast-changing world. Woods thinks that if we slow down and collaborate a little more across companies, we could probably help each other across the industry.

CAS still runs a data center. But today, Woods no longer refers to it as a data center. Instead, he describes it as publicly disclosed science serving a global community, helping Nobel laureates achieve the highest levels in scientific exploration.

Woods shares that he would advise his 25-year-old self to take more chances, not be so risk-averse, tand not worry about making mistakes, He believes it's OK to fail from time to time because success is born from the ashes of failure. There's so much to be learned from failures that can inform future success.