For nearly four decades, Scott Thomas has played a key role in helping Sherwin-Williams build its sustainability programs. Known by colleagues as one of the Company’s longest-running sustainability champions, Scott has spent his career focused on setting and maintaining standards across global operations and in a continually evolving regulatory landscape.
Scott joined Sherwin-Williams in 1988 as an Environmental Specialist in our Corporate Environmental Affairs department. This team concentrates on environmental protection and regulatory compliance, helping manufacturing sites understand their role in environmental affairs through written standards, programs and auditing. In 1993, he became an Environmental Manager in what is now our Consumer Brands Group, focusing on aerosols, caulks and applicators. Six years later, Scott returned to lead the Environmental Affairs team he had once been part of as a young professional – a role he has now held for more than 20 years. Today, his team of engineers, geologists, biologists and scientists serves as environmental subject matter experts supporting more than 120 manufacturing and distribution locations worldwide.
Scott has also been deeply involved in developing Sherwin-Williams sustainability reporting. In the early 2000s, the team received a growing number of customer inquiries around sustainability, and Scott was one of the first to volunteer to join the initiative. What started as basic spreadsheets and surveying manufacturing plants to respond to customer sustainability requests evolved into robust data collection systems, goal setting and transparent reporting. Environmental Affairs prepared the first carbon footprint estimate for the Company in 2005.
“It started as voluntary, because we recognized it was important,” Scott remarks on the Company’s sustainability reporting strategy. “Then it became a business paradigm. Now, it’s become a regulatory requirement.”
Over the next several years, the Company established and matured systems to track energy, emissions, waste and water, laying the foundation for the advancements reported today. “Once we started measuring and publishing the data, the improvement became visible,” Scott says.
Looking ahead, Scott is encouraged by how sustainability has become integrated across our organization. “Naming sustainability as one of the six Enterprise Strategic Priorities was a big step for Sherwin-Williams,” says Scott. “We have always appreciated the principles of sustainability, and we have made meaningful progress. It is rewarding to have momentum across the organization and the resources behind it to equip us for the future.”
Outside of work, Scott enjoys staying active through tennis and golf, traveling and giving back to the community. For the past decade, he has served on the board of the Lake Erie Nature & Science Center, helping introduce children to nature, biodiversity and environmental stewardship.
“It’s about passing along what you know,” Scott says. “And hopefully you can inspire others with your passion for protecting what we have on our planet.”
