Your Rowan Favorites
Place to Eat: Salty Caper
Outdoor Activity: Home
Event or Festival: Night Out on the Town
Derek Overcash
Senior Chemist, Innospec Performance Chemicals
Native of Rowan County
Industry: Chemistry
Derek Overcash’s co-workers at Innospec Performance Chemicals are from all over the world, but he says the growing company retains “a small-town vibe” that he prefers in his professional and personal life. “Everybody gets to know everybody,” he says of Innospec, where he has worked for eight years. Employees in Salisbury can be from Brazil, China, England, or other states, he says, with the global company producing formulations for personal care, agriculture, industrial use, and home care at the local manufacturing plant.
With research and design located at the Rowan County location, Derek does formulations and measurements for personal care products, producing materials used in shampoos, lotions, soaps, body wash, and make-up. As part of its growth, a new, enlarged lab was recently built at the Rowan County plant for chemists. Fuel specialties are manufactured at other locations, with facilities now in 25 countries.
Derek is proud of the fact that Innospec helps the community through its Innospec Cares program. The company has matched his personal fund-raising efforts for Sole Hope, an organization that provides shoes and clothing for children. Sole Hope has as its mission: “Equipping the vulnerable to walk in freedom from life-threatening diseases and exploitation; through education, empowerment, and medical relief.”
Innospec employees also contribute to the United Way’s Day of Caring, Life Choices Rowan’s Walk for Life, Meals on Wheels, and Rowan Helping Ministries.
Derek also works as a volunteer for non-profit organizations with his church, Life Church, where he is an elder. His family enjoys downtown events where they catch up with friends and their families and meet and learn from other professionals in the community.
“I love our growing community that still has that small-town, know-most-people or get-to-know-you, hospitable vibe,” he says. Another draw to his home county is the beauty he sees around him, “from the countryside/farmlands, to High Rock Lake, to our historic downtown.”
His favorite outdoor space in Rowan is his home just outside Salisbury in western Rowan. “We have a small farm for chickens, our dog, rabbits and a garden,” he says. He and his wife, Heather, have three children, Maddie, 10; Emma, 7; and Greyson, 4.
The family’s favorite restaurant is Salty Caper in Salisbury for its good food and atmosphere. They meet friends there for group meals.
A special event for the Overcash family is a night out downtown. “My kids like walking around downtown and there’s Bell Tower Green Park,” he says.
That’s what he would advise a newcomer to Rowan County to do — visit downtown. “I love the historic buildings, the restaurants, and shops,” he says. “There are so many hidden gems. Rowan County is well balanced with farmland and the downtown.”
Derek, a graduate of North Rowan High School, chose to come home to Rowan after receiving his chemistry degree from N.C. State University. “Rowan County offers so many opportunities for business, careers, and raising a family. I am a working for a great international company in Rowan County,” he says.
He identifies with the county slogan, Be an Original.™ “I believe being a Rowan Original means that I am shaped by this community. This community made me who I am, sent me off to college, and then I chose to come back and raise a family here because I love and am proud of our community. I want to continue to add its history and give back to help it continue to flourish.”
Your Rowan Favorites
Place to Eat: Salty Caper
Outdoor Activity: Home
Event or Festival: Night Out on the Town