2025 Covia Excellence Award Winners: A Celebration of Talent

Now in its fifth year since its 2021 launch, the Excellence Awards continue to spotlight some of the most impactful work across Covia. This year marked the second time the awards were presented in person, further establishing a tradition of recognizing the exceptional achievements of teams and individuals. With over 100 nominations submitted from Covia’s various locations and departments, the selection process reflected an outstanding pool of candidates and the high level of performance in 2025. Ten awards were presented in total, which is an increase from previous years, including the introduction of a new category. Covia introduced the Mission Impact Award to recognize a nominee whose contributions exemplify our values and directly advance the mission.

 The 2025 Covia Excellence Award winners are:

• President’s Safety Award (Large Plant) – Ahuazotepec Plant (Mexico)
• President’s Safety Award (Small Plant) - Tamms Plant (Illinois)
• Plant of the Year - Portage Plant (Wisconsin)
• Leaf Environmental Award – Emmett Plant (Idaho)
• Team Impact Award - Ashleigh Snyder, Customer Service Supervisor
• Support Impact Award - Chase Charron, Business Process Specialist
• Operations Impact Award - Wlices Ramos, Operations Director
• Commercial Impact Award - Jonathan Cockrell, Senior Sales Manager
• Mission Impact Award - Steve Schilling, Director Technology & Application Development
• Volunteer of the Year – David Gatto, Operator

President’s Safety Awards

The President’s Safety Award is presented to Covia facilities that demonstrate the highest level of safety performance across a rigorous set of criteria, reflecting our unwavering commitment to keeping people safe. The award recognizes excellence across key metrics including recordable and lost-time incidents, self‑assessment actions, exposure monitoring, incident investigations, and near‑miss reporting. With zero always the goal, only sites achieving an exceptionally high, and nearly perfect, safety record are eligible. This year, Covia introduced separate award categories for small and large plants to better reflect the differing operational challenges, while maintaining the same uncompromising safety expectations for all facilities.

President’s Safety Award (Small Plant)

The Tamms Plant (Illinois) received the President’s Safety Award for a Small Plant. The Tamms team not only met the strict qualifying criteria but also distinguished itself by completing more than 250 days of Soter wearable monitoring. By wearing the monitoring, participants reduced their risk of injury,, achieving an average spine hazard improvement of more than 20%. The site completed three of four MSHA inspections with zero citations, reported no dust exposure exceeding internal occupational limits, and continued to reliably and effectively serve customer needs.

President’s Safety Award (Large Plant)

The Large Plant President’s Safety Award was presented to the Ahuazotepec Plant (Mexico), marking the third consecutive year of perfect safety performance. The plant has also earned Plant of the Year honors in each of the past two years. In addition to meeting all qualifying criteria, the Ahuazotepec team corrected 376 identified hazards, reported nearly 40 near misses, completed over 2,000 safety behavior interactions, and conducted 24 safety and health committee tours, identifying over 240 unsafe conditions. The site logged over 7,700 hours of safety training and nearly 300 hours of fire training for 35 members. It also became "Safe Company" certified for self-management of safety, setting a powerful example of what sustained safety excellence looks like.

Plant of the Year

The Covia Plant of the Year award recognizes excellence in safety, manufacturing performance, environmental stewardship, and community engagement. It is presented to a facility that meets all safety and environmental KPIs while demonstrating exceptional operational results, including achieving cost-per-ton performance at or below budget and maintaining zero plant-controllable customer complaints. 

Covia is proud to name the Portage Plant (Wisconsin) as the 2025 Plant of the Year. Portage stands out not only because the team met these demanding standards, but also because of how they did so. Despite being one of Covia’s smaller, older facilities with limited capital investment, Portage achieved remarkable results through focused leadership, creativity, and persistence. The team deepened its understanding of customers, implemented innovative scheduling and workforce adjustments in response to volume changes, and optimized operations to reduce electricity costs. These efforts dramatically improved the plant’s cost profile and reflected a strong growth mindset across the organization. Thanks to the team’s determination to continually improve and make the most of every opportunity, Portage had a fantastic year and exemplified well-rounded excellence.

Leaf Award for Environmental Excellence

The Environmental Leaf Award recognizes a Covia facility that demonstrates an extraordinary commitment to environmental compliance and impactful environmental and community projects. The Emmett Plant (Idaho) was selected for this honor in 2025 based on its significant positive environmental impact and strong alignment with Covia’s environmental goals. The Emmett plant distinguished itself in every area. Highlights include completing 99% of Cority compliance activities on time, proactively managing environmental projects, earning Gold Certification through the Wildlife Habitat Council for its award-winning conservation program, and engaging the local community through school field trips, bird banding efforts, and supporting at-risk populations. The plant also reported zero spills and celebrated an exceptional milestone: 30 years of safe operations. These accomplishments exemplify environmental excellence and responsible stewardship, making the Emmett plant the 2025 Environmental Leaf Award winner.

Impact Awards

Operations Impact Award

By nature, plant operations are complex, requiring strong coordination across teams, disciplines, and priorities to deliver results. While Covia recognizes this through awards at the plant level for safety, environmental performance, and Plant of the Year, there are also individuals whose leadership and dedication create a meaningful operational impact. 

Covia is proud to present the Operations Impact Award to Wlices Ramos, Operations Director at the Canoitas, Mexico Plant. Through multiple independent nominations, Wlices was consistently recognized for driving a significant operational transformation at Covia’s largest plant in Mexico, achieving substantial improvements in safety, cost, quality, service, and culture. Through strong leadership, employee empowerment, a zero-incident mindset, and strong financial, customer, and quality results,  Wlices embraces Covia’s values and is making a lasting, positive impact on operations.

Commercial Impact Award

The Commercial Impact Award recognizes individuals who exemplify leadership and professionalism in all areas of commercial excellence. For 2025, Covia is proud to honor Jonathan Cockrell with this distinction. A senior sales manager, Jon was nominated by colleagues from Sales, Operations, and Logistics, reflecting his highly collaborative, cross-functional approach. He is known for operating beyond his formal role and has driven significant revenue, margin, and volume growth through major renewals and long-term contracts, as well as his involvement in the opening of Covia’s Innovation Center. Jon has not only generated tens of millions of dollars in annual revenue but has also successfully navigated complex customer transitions and negotiations while demonstrating strong commercial judgment and a commitment to winning business the right way.

Support Impact Award

The Support Impact Award recognizes individuals whose contributions to critical processes often occur behind the scenes. Covia is pleased to recognize Chase Charron, Business Process Specialist, for his support of IFS functions for the Operations team in 2025. Chase led the successful implementation of the Shipment Management Portal (SMP) at the Marston, North Carolina Plant, whi`ch is Covia’s largest shipping location in the Performance Materials market. He executed a seamless rollout in their 24/7 operating environment, allowing for real-time shipment visibility and near-instant customer invoicing. Chase has also supported multiple plants with SMP deployments and other IFS initiatives, earning consistent recognition as a collaborative, hands-on expert who adapts quickly, solves complex challenges, and demonstrates a strong growth mindset that helps drive lasting success.

Team Impact Award

The Team Impact Award evolved from the Prism Award to better align with Covia’s values by recognizing individuals whose results are driven by collaboration and strong team leadership. Covia is proud to recognize Ashleigh Snyder, Customer Service Supervisor, for her ability to guide customer service teams and cross-functional partners through significant change. Ashleigh is consistently described as approachable, patient, and generous with her time. She is known for listening, welcoming feedback, and recognizing the contributions of others. These qualities made her a stabilizing leader during key transitions and enterprise initiatives. Through her partnerships with Sales, SIOP, Logistics, IT, and Operations, she helped maintain alignment, engagement, and execution. She ensured continuity for customers, even during periods of transformation, and demonstrated the power of Covia’s Team Value in action.

 Mission Impact Award

Alongside its established awards, Covia introduced the Mission Impact Award for 2025 to recognize a nominee whose contributions exemplify Covia values and directly advance its Mission. For 2025, this new award recognizes Steve Schilling, whose leadership delivered impact across strategy, execution, and results. Steve played a pivotal role in opening the new Covia Innovation Center in Concord, North Carolina, a state‑of‑the‑art lab that opened on time and under budget, while simultaneously accelerating product and R&D pipelines. His team has helped support the successful commercialization of MinexST and the advancement of 20 new product ideas into Covia’s formal stage‑gate process. In parallel, Steve partnered closely with Sales to institutionalize customer engagement, strengthen technical credibility, customer interaction, and demand generation. He also partnered with a cross functional team to rebuild audit-ready reporting for new product sales and vitality metrics. Steve is repeatedly described as a selfless, high‑standards leader who elevates teams, challenges the status quo, and focuses on building durable capabilities rather than one‑off wins. Ultimately, his work consistently converts innovation into profit, customer‑visible results that drive commercial growth, and create scalable capabilities that enhance Covia’s competitive position both today and well into the future. 

Volunteer of the Year

Covia is proud to help our team members invest in their communities, and the Volunteer of the Year Award recognizes a standout individual whose consistent service makes a difference in their area. Nominees were selected from team members who earned the President’s Volunteer Service Award by completing at least 200 volunteer hours. This year’s nominee pool included more than 15 individuals, with David Gatto standing out for his exceptional service. David volunteers extensively with Possibilities International, supporting humanitarian efforts such as medical aid, food distribution, housing assistance, and the delivery of essential supplies to individuals facing hardship, while also providing transportation for volunteer teams. David’s dedication to service embodies the spirit of community impact at the heart of this award. 

“It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the world’s problems, but I believe we can change the world by sharing hope with the people who need it most.”
 — David Gatto, 2025 Volunteer of the Year Winner

Congratulations to all of our 2025 award winners! Each winner exemplifies Covia’s values through outstanding performance, leadership, and teamwork. These achievements reflect the meaningful difference our people make every day, from operational and commercial excellence to environmental stewardship and community impact. We encourage you to take a moment to congratulate the winners. Their accomplishments set a powerful example and help move Covia forward.