SCL

Stepan Co

A maker of the specialty chemicals that quietly power everyday cleaning and comfort, Stepan is one of the world's largest producers of surfactants — the sudsy, foaming ingredients in soaps, shampoos, laundry detergents and dish liquids — plus the polymers used to make insulation and foam. It began in 1932 when Alfred C. Stepan Jr., whose surname gave the company its name, borrowed a small sum from his mother to resell cleaning solvents from a rented desk at Chicago's North Pier Terminal; within a few years he was making sulfonate surfactants, and the business grew into a global chemical supplier.