AMN Drivetime: Valvoline's Roger England

When asked if he was currently in his “dream job,” as VP and Chief R&D officer for Valvoline, Roger England’s response says it all about his infectious enthusiasm for all he does.

“Heck yeah. I have a great time. I enjoy going to work,” England shares with Bill Babcox in the most recent AMN Drivetime podcast. “I hired into Cummings Technical Center after high school as a janitor. No one in my family really went to college. My high school advisors told me that I wasn’t smart enough to go to college, that I needed to get my butt to trade school. And at the time, that was a union position to be a janitor there and paid pretty good money. My dad ran a garage, so I’d kind of grown up working in the garage and there were a lot of guys who were engineers at Cummins that would work second shift at the garage for my dad. They were really smart guys and I thought, ‘You know, hanging out at someplace like that with a lot of smart people is not a bad idea.’”

Turns out it was not a very bad idea at all. As England shares, he walked into Cummins with a high school diploma and walked out with a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering. “When I left, I was leading intellectual property, advanced manufacturing and materials engineering for the corporation. I spent a lot time working – most of my time – working at the R&D Technical Center in Columbus, Indiana.”

In this latest AMN Drivetime podcast, Bill and Roger dive into a number of other interesting topics, including:

01:37 How Roger landed his dream job at Valvoline
02:36 Fun experiences pursuing his other passion – racing
04:49 Scoop on Valvoline’s sale of its Global Products Business to Aramco
08:15 Valvoline’s approach to the EV market and Roger’s take on the market as an “Internal Combustion” guy
11:56 Valvoline’s growth strategy, including expanding into the heavy-duty segment
15:03 What it’s like to hold 13 patents
16:49 The best career advice Roger ever received from his Grandfather
18:31 Lightning Round

As MEMA commemorates its 120th anniversary, it’s an opportunity to reflect on the organization’s profound impact on the automotive aftermarket. Founded on March 2, 1904, MEMA has evolved from a modest gathering of parts manufacturers in Cleveland to a pivotal force in the global automotive landscape.

Over the decades, MEMA has been at the forefront of several key initiatives, including: the introduction of credit reporting services in 1914 to ensure financial stability within the industry; the co-sponsorship of the inaugural automotive service industry show in 1933, paving the way for what would become the AAPEX events; the establishment of divisions and market segments within MEMA to cater to the diverse needs of its members, from heavy-duty manufacturers to the aftermarket suppliers; and the advocacy for critical legislative measures, including the National Vehicle Safety Act of 1966, the USMCA in 2019 and today’s battle for the Right to Repair.