You probably don't know it, but you likely encounter subtle reminders of Jon Huntsman's presidential campaign frequently in your day-to-day activities.
That's because Huntsman Corp., the company started by the former Utah governor's father in 1970, manufacturers chemicals that are used in everything from food packaging to fertilizer to car dashboards -- and even your Nike running shoes.
Huntsman Corp. is pivotal to the Republican's presidential aspirations. His campaign website touts his involvement as an executive at the company and, in particular, his work to help save the company from collapse in 1985.
A closer look, however, reveals few specifics about Huntsman's role in a company that by most accounts has been run by his father and brother Peter, the company's CEO since 2000.
It also has green groups raising some long-term environmental and public health questions about the company's products -- including Huntsman Corp.'s original cash cow: Styrofoam and polystyrene food packaging like egg crates and the original McDonald's Big Mac "clamshell," which it no longer produces.
With 2010 revenues of $9.3 billion, Huntsman Corp. is one of the biggest companies in the world. It currently ranks 264 on the Fortune 500, ahead of other chemical behemoths like Sherwin-Williams Co. and Eastman Chemical Co.
Jon Huntsman Sr., the former governor's father who spent some time working in the Nixon administration, launched what was originally the Huntsman Container Co. in 1970. He was one of the country's first Styrofoam peddlers, immediately selling packaging to the nation's largest fast food chains.
The company did not expand rapidly, however. Problems in the Middle East limited the company from obtaining polystyrene, a chemical building block of Styrofoam and plastic polymer that has recently come under increased scrutiny as a possible carcinogen. The company went through years of tumult, including being on the brink of bankruptcy at least three times.
In each instance early on, Huntsman Sr. leveraged his company to acquire new companies, including polystyrene plants, saving the corporation. During the 1980s, the company bought at least five polystyrene plants from companies like Shell Oil Co., according to the Huntsman Corp. website.
From 1986 to 2000, Huntsman Corp. made millions but, after naming Peter Huntsman CEO, the company headed toward trouble again, leading Huntsman Sr. to intervene and briefly retake control of the company.
Interestingly, it was Peter who led the company to greatly diversity its products following the 2000 crisis, according to media accounts.
Huntsman Corp. started producing high-end specialty products like UV reflecting paints, insulation foams, computer parts, coatings for airplane wings and even substances used in athletic shoes. The shift added more stability to the company's revenue streams and turned out to be hugely profitable in part because it capitalized on environmental concerns surrounding Styrofoam food packaging in the 1980s and '90s. In 2005, the company went public and made the family millionaires.
But don't expect to hear too much about Peter's leadership of the company on the campaign trail from Jon Jr. According to a Fortune magazine profile, Peter is the "political black sheep" of the family, having voted for Barack Obama in 2008.
Junior's role
Jon Huntsman Jr.'s role at the company remains somewhat hazy.
The Republican worked as an executive at the company on three occasions, each time between stints in public office. He started at the company in 1983 when he was a project manager. By 1987, he was vice president and director of an arm of the company, according to his campaign website.
Jon Jr. left the company for the first time in 1989, when he was named deputy assistant secretary at the Trade Development Bureau of the Commerce Department. He went on to become ambassador to Singapore in 1992.
From 1993 to 2001, he served as vice chairman of Huntsman Corp.'s board and was an executive committee member. During that time he also served as president of the Huntsman Cancer Foundation, spearheading a project and institute to which Jon Sr. -- a cancer survivor -- has given and raised at least $350 million.
