David and Janey Quigley enjoy traveling when away from work.
As children, David Quigley and Janey Henley became fast friends who shared similar interests and ambitions. The University of Mississippi chemical engineering alumni, who married five years ago, make a formidable pair whose individual achievements have brought each significant career success within the DuPont Corp.
David Quigley is an operations manager for the packaging and warehouse area of the Chemours Ti-Pure (formerly DuPont) Plant in DeLisle, Mississippi. Janey Quigley is a manufacturing technology engineer at the DuPont Crop Protection Plant in Mobile, Alabama.
“With only four years working as an engineer, I have been recognized as an ‘up and coming’ leader in Chemours and have been selected to attend several leadership courses,” said David, who manages approximately 50 Chemours employees and 150 contract employees in such areas as budget management, program improvement and operations evaluations. “I have also been recognized by my plant’s management for several projects which have improved quality, uptime and safety.”
Janey oversees the process for making a product called Rynaxypyr, a commercial insecticide. Her role includes ensuring the production schedule is met, implementing safety-related projects and increasing their capacity and reducing waste.
“Like David, I have received several awards and recognitions,” she said. “In my previous role as a contractor at URS in New Orleans, (before working at DuPont) I received two Client Satisfaction Awards for my work on projects for Phillips 66 refinery. At DuPont, I have received recognition for my work in waste minimization and increasing capacity.”
The Biloxi natives have known each other since fourth grade and were always good friends while growing up. They dated during high school and eventually decided to attend the university.
“David was the one who originally interested me in Ole Miss,” said Janey, who grew up in a family of University of Alabama alumni. “They were quite surprised with my decision to ultimately go to Ole Miss, but after visiting the campus and Oxford, I fell in love with the college and they definitely understood why. The campus was beautiful, the university staff was very helpful and Oxford was by far the best town to live in when compared to other college towns I considered.”
David’s family has always been Rebels fans, and he was always interested in attending UM.
“I ultimately made the decision to go to Ole Miss based the great campus and the hometown feel of Oxford,” he said. “More importantly, I really appreciated the atmosphere of the engineering school with smaller class sizes and having professors who actually taught classes, instead of TAs for instance.”
The Quigleys’ said all their chemical engineering professors were great, even if they expected much from them and ‘ruined’ many nights and weekends with all the homework and studying. Among the most memorable are Peter Sukanek and John O’Haver, who welcomed students to spend time with them beyond the classroom.
“Dr. Sukanek was always infamous for hard tests and surprise quizzes,” David said. “I feel that he really prepared us for ‘real world’ engineering, always challenging us to ask why. Dr. O’Haver was not only a great professor, but he was the moral support for making it through engineering school. We always knew we could lean on him for guidance. He cares for each of his students and wants them to succeed.”
“But we don’t want to forget Dr. (Wei-Yin) Chen, Dr. (Paul) Scovazzo or Dr. (Clint) Williford,” Janey said. “They all cared for their students and wanted to give us the best opportunities and learn to be successful engineers.”
Asked how their Ole Miss engineering education has proven beneficial to their career success thus far, both Quigleys said they felt they received strong foundations in the fundamentals of engineering.
“This pride in our education was confirmed when we won honorable mention in the AIChE National Student Design Competition, along with Jonathan Jones, when we were seniors,” David said. “I think this experience was a major contributor to preparing us for our engineering careers.”
“Also, our education at Ole Miss taught us how to work as part of a team and network with others,” Janey said. “In school, we focused a lot on giving presentations and speaking skills which has helped tremendously in interviews and when presenting a business case to peers and management.”
Jones praised the achievements of his former peers.
“Throughout our core coursework, David and Janey developed the reputation of being among the most diligent, earnest and creative among our tight-knit group,” he said. “Not to be outdone with their classroom successes, the two led the class in dancing, humbling the rest of us regularly on Friday nights and commencing a beautiful wedding reception with their one-of-a-kind first dance. It is no surprise to me that the talented pair is excelling in professional engineering in each new role they undertake.”
The Quigleys immediate ‘family’ consists of a Rob the cat and Roxie, a French bulldog.
“They are both spoiled and loved very much,” Janey said. “Our favorite leisure activities are boating, fishing and scuba diving. We especially enjoy diving and try to plan trips at least two or three times a year.”
Presently, their primary leisure activity has been homebuilding.
“We are building a home in Grand Bay, Alabama, and expect to complete it next month,” David said.