CAMX season is here, and if your work touches composites, advanced materials, or the critical minerals and rare earth supply chains that feed them, it’s worth carving out ten minutes to speak with either John Kehoe or Robbie Villemarette with Boaz Partners, whether or not you have an open role on your desk right now.

What Is CAMX?

CAMX (the Composites and Advanced Materials Expo) is billed as the largest, most comprehensive composites and advanced materials event in North America (American Composites Manufacturers Association, n.d.). CAMX 2026 runs September 21–24 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia, with the exhibition floor open September 22–24 (American Composites Manufacturers Association, n.d.). It’s where manufacturers, suppliers, and technical talent across composites, prepreg, CMC, and specialty materials converge for a few packed days, which makes it an efficient place to have a real conversation about your talent pipeline.

Why Meet With Us, Even Without an Opening

Confidentiality Is Our Specialty

Boaz Partners operates as a retained search firm built around a “triple-screen” process, where a researcher, recruiter, and executive manager each vet candidates before they’re presented. Our confidential search capability is a core part of how we work with clients who need to discreetly engage senior-level talent. That discretion runs in both directions: a conversation with us commits you to nothing, and it stays between us.

2027 Is Closer Than It Looks

Fourth quarter is arriving fast, and for many organizations it’s when 2027 fiscal planning, including succession planning, happens. Meeting now, before a search is urgent, means we already understand your team, your culture, and your bar for talent when a role does open. That head start is often the difference between a rushed hire and the right one.

Boaz Partners’ Advanced Materials Team

John Kehoe, Associate Partner and Practice Leader for our Advanced Materials division, brings more than 20 years in recruitment sales and business development, grounded in leadership experience from his service as a commissioned and non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Army Infantry. He’s built a deep, sector-specific understanding of advanced materials that he uses to match technical talent with the organizations pushing the field forward.

Robbie Villemarette, Senior Search Executive, spent more than 20 years in C-suite and commercial leadership roles in the specialty chemical and energy storage industry, including Albemarle, before moving into executive search. He works alongside John on searches across the advanced materials space, bringing an industry experience perspective to how clients move quickly and confidentially from intake to a qualified shortlist.

Our Specialized Approach

Boaz Partners isn’t a generalist shop. We’re built around a small number of niche sectors:

Types of companies we work with: Manufacturers and technical organizations building state-of-the-art engineered materials, from established primes to fast-scaling innovators.

  • Roles we recruit for: C-suite and president-level leaders, commercial and business development, operations, engineering, production, research and development, EHS, quality, regulatory, maintenance, reliability, and supply chain/procurement.
  • Verticals of focus: aerospace, military and defense, medical, energy, semiconductors, precious minerals, electric vehicles, and rare earth processing, an increasingly strategic corner of the industrial supply chain.
  • Confidentiality throughout: every search runs on a discreet, triple-screen process designed to protect both client and candidate.

Let’s Talk at CAMX

Whether you’re quietly planning for 2027 or actively searching for your next technical leader, a conversation now costs nothing and positions you well for whenever the timing is right.

If you’ll be in Atlanta September 21–24, reach out to John and Robbie directly via email:

John Kehoe John@boazpartners.com, Robbie Villemarette Robbie@boazpartners.com

Are you looking for top talent in the Specialty Chemical, Advanced Materials, or Animal Health industry?

Contact us to discuss how we can bring top leadership talent to your team. Boaz Partners is a premier executive search firm focused on the direct recruitment of executives and professionals in the specialty chemicals, advanced materials, and animal health spaces. We are your partner, and our focus is on custom recruiting solutions. Follow the link to learn more about how our advanced materials recruiters can help you.

References

American Composites Manufacturers Association. (n.d.). CAMX – The Composites and Advanced Materials Expo. Retrieved September 15, 2026, from https://www.thecamx.org/