HOUSTON/PASADENA, TEXAS — The Gulf Coast has never been shy about building big things. Refineries. Chemical plants. Ports. Pipelines. Careers. Communities. And, increasingly, the technology powering America’s next economic chapter.

On Thursday, September 17, 2026, two Texas industrial heavyweights will sit down for a timely fireside conversation about what comes next.

Peter Huntsman, Chairman, President and CEO of Huntsman Corporation, will join Ryan Sitton, founder and CEO of Pinnacle, for “The Next Industrial Age: A Conversation with Peter Huntsman” at the Gulf Coast Industry Forum at Pasadena Convention Center. Huntsman and Sitton take the stage at 1:40 p.m.

Houston Style Magazine, serving as a media sponsor, is proud to help amplify a conversation that directly affects Houston-area families, businesses, workers and the next generation of innovators.

And the timing could hardly be better.

Just weeks before the forum, shareholders of Huntsman Corporation and Olin Corporation approved their proposed merger of equals, moving the companies another major step toward creating OlinHuntsman, a North American chemicals powerhouse with more than $12 billion in annual revenue. Upon completion of the transaction, Peter Huntsman is expected to become non-executive chairman of the combined company.

Translation: Huntsman isn’t simply coming to Pasadena to predict industrial change. He is living it.

The fireside chat will range from the future of Gulf Coast manufacturing and American industrial leadership to the global competition surrounding artificial intelligence, technology, energy, talent and innovation.

Sitton brings an equally Houston-sized résumé to the conversation. An engineer, entrepreneur and former Texas Railroad Commissioner, he co-founded Pasadena-based Pinnacle in 2006. The industrial reliability company applies data, engineering and risk analysis to help large processing facilities operate more safely and efficiently.

Together, Huntsman and Sitton can tackle a question that is becoming impossible for American industry to ignore: What must the United States get right now to lead the next industrial age?

That question reaches well beyond petrochemicals.

Artificial intelligence is reshaping manufacturing, data analysis, research and productivity. Advanced materials remain essential to everything from automobiles and electronics to construction and medicine. Meanwhile, global competition is putting renewed emphasis on American manufacturing capacity, supply-chain resilience, skilled workers and innovation.

For Huntsman, innovation also carries a deeply human dimension.

He serves as Chairman and CEO of the Huntsman Cancer Foundation, continuing his family’s extraordinary commitment to cancer research. Huntsman Cancer Institute is an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center where research now includes precision oncology, genomics, data science and artificial intelligence.

The fireside chat is part of the 2026 Gulf Coast Industry Forum, the Economic Alliance Houston Port Region’s largest annual event. For 17 years, the forum has connected industry, government and community leaders around the petrochemical, maritime, logistics and manufacturing sectors that make the Houston Port Region one of the world’s most consequential industrial corridors.

Doors open at 7 a.m., with networking, breakfast and exhibitor visits before the program begins at 9 a.m.

In Houston, we understand something the rest of the country occasionally needs reminding about: America’s industrial future isn’t arriving someday.

Much of it is already being built right here along the Gulf Coast.

 

EVENT DETAILS – Gulf Coast Industry Forum
Thursday, September 17, 2026 • Doors Open: 7 a.m. | Program: 9 a.m.
Peter Huntsman & Ryan Sitton Fireside Chat: 1:40 p.m.

Pasadena Convention Center
7902 Fairmont Parkway, Pasadena, Texas 77507

Registration & Information:

Gulf Coast Industry Forum — Economic Alliance Houston Port Region