Company Leadership

Laura Dornbusch

Owner & President

Laura Dornbusch, President and Owner of Expo Chemical Company, Inc., a company known for being "The Specialty of Specialty Chemicals".

Under Laura's leadership, the company continues to expand and explore green product options to meet the demands of the market.

Expo is a long-time member of the National Association of Chemical Distributors (NACD) and adheres to Responsible Distribution (RD). Laura has served on several committees in various capacities including Southern Region President and Board of Directors of NACD and President of both Houston Chemical Association and Chemical Educational Foundation. She was thrilled to be awarded the 2003 distinguished Vanguard Award by the Chemical Education Foundation.

Experienced Chemists

Elton Dornbusch

Owner & Procurement

Elton Dornbusch is the Founder, Owner and Director of Procurement at Expo Chemical. He began his career as a research and development chemist for Dow Chemical after graduating Magna Cum Laudewith a BS in Chemistry from Texas A&I University.

Elton's first exposure to the oil field started as a drilling mud chemist. Seeing more expansive opportunities outside of the lab, he leveraged his technical knowledge and problem solving abilities by venturing into chemical sales. Elton worked for several chemical manufacturers selling chemicals for paints and coatings, fiberglass resins, plastics, surfactants and the oilfield industry.

In 1975 he established a chemical brokerage business, Expo Chemical Company, Inc. Over the course of four decades, Expo's scope of business has evolved far beyond just brokering chemicals. With its technical staff, including several Ph.D. Chemists and an onsite laboratory, Expo formulates, sources, and sells specialty products to meet the needs of our customers.

Sherri Elder, Ph.D.

Director of Business Development

Before joining Expo, Sherri was with one of the industry’s top tiered oilfield service companies where she worked as the Global Petrochemical Applications Manager, Sales and Technical Support along with Research and Development.

Sherri began her career in Research and Development after leaving a Post-Doctorate Fellowship at Virginia Tech. She earned her B.S. in Chemistry from the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill and her Ph.D. in Organic Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Georgia.

Sherri has numerous publications and holds several patents in various disciplines including emulsion breakers, dispersants, corrosion inhibitors and antifoulants.

Gene Elphingstone, Ph.D.

Technical Director

Gene Elphingstone Ph.D. is the Technical Director of Expo Chemical Company. He supports sales focusing on Stimulation, Cementing and Drilling Chemicals and develops customized products for Expo’s customers. Gene has developed in-house expertise on lactic acid chemistry including lactic acid solution, crude lactic acid, esters and lactic acid polymers.

Gene has a BS in Chemistry from Arkansas State University, an MS in Physical Chemistry from Oklahoma State University and a Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from Oklahoma University. He began his career as a development and research chemist at Halliburton Energy Services. In addition to developing numerous chemical application processes that were commercialized, he authored and co-authored eight patents related to well services. Gene later joined Baker Petrolite’s Aquaness Chemical Division as Technical Director and Director of Technology where he co-authored two patents related to well service additives. He also mentored the development of numerous well service additives for use in hydraulic fracturing, acidizing, cementing, drilling and work over applications.

Gene is a long time member of the American Chemical Society and the Society of Petroleum Engineers where he served as Chairman for the International Symposium on Oilfield Chemistry.