People in Composites: March 2021

Chromaflo Technologies hires new territory sales manager

Chromaflo Territory Sales Manager, Coatings and Thermosets – Southwestern U.S., Benjamin Woeste.

Chromaflo Technologies (Ashtabula, Ohio, U.S.) global provider of colorant technology solutions, recently hired Benjamin Woeste as territory sales manager, coatings and thermosets – Southwestern U.S.

In this role, Benjamin will be responsible for the overall management of coating and thermoset products sold in the southwest region through market development and conversion of primary sales targets, including the proliferation of existing product lines and new product line introductions. Benjamin will also manage the distribution network in his territory.

“Ben’s previous experience with developing business in the coatings, adhesives, sealants, elastomers, plastics, foam and other ancillary markets translates well to our existing markets,” says Liz Campbell, business director coatings – Americas. “His technical knowledge along with his previous roles as a territory sales manager and account manager will benefit our customers greatly and help us grow sales in the southwest region.”

Prior to his new role, Benjamin most recently served as a territory sales manager at Bostik (Wauwatosa, Wis., U.S.), where he was responsible for existing sales accounts and new business development for the mideast region. He also served as senior account manager for the Cabot Corp. (Boston, Mass., U.S.), where he was responsible for managing accounts in the mideast region. Prior to this, he was with Palmer Holland (North Olmsted, Ohio, U.S.) as an account manager.

Benjamin earned a bachelor’s degree in business from the Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.

Spirit AeroSystems names General Counsel

Spirit AeroSystems (Wichita, Kan., U.S.) has named Mindy McPheeters as senior VP, general counsel and corporate secretary, effective immediately. McPheeters will be a member of Spirit's executive leadership team and report directly to Tom Gentile, president and CEO for Spirit AeroSystems.

McPheeters had been serving as interim general counsel for Spirit AeroSystems prior to her permanent placement in this role. Previously, McPheeters was VP, deputy general counsel, for Spirit AeroSystems.

“Mindy has gained an understanding of the many facets of our business and our industry during her tenure with the company,” says Gentile. “I look forward to her contributions as a member of our executive leadership team as we continue to transform Spirit into a more diversified company.”

During her six years at Spirit, McPheeters has also held positions overseeing various aspects of legal, including litigation, commercial, employment and compliance. Prior to joining Spirit, McPheeters served as in-house counsel for Delta Dental of Kansas.

Virgin Galactic appoints new CFO

Virgin Galactic (Mojave, Calif., U.S.) announced on Feb. 25 the appointment of Doug Ahrens as its new CFO, effective March 1, 2021. Ahrens will succeed Jon Campagna, who is stepping down as CFO following Virgin Galactic’s successful transition from private to public company.

Michael Colglazier, CFO of Virgin Galactic, says, “I’m thrilled to welcome Doug Ahrens to the Virgin Galactic team. Doug’s deep experience helping global manufacturing companies scale and grow, combined with his tremendous capital markets and M&A expertise, will be incredibly valuable as we expand our production capabilities and work to monetize the business. Doug is an excellent leader and developer of talent with a proven track record in building and sustaining growth. I look forward to partnering with him as we continue to execute against our strategy.”

Ahrens is a seasoned executive with over 25 years of operational and strategic finance experience at multinational corporations. He has led global teams at rapidly growing public and privately held companies in complex technology and manufacturing environments.

Ahrens most recently served as CFO at Mellanox, a public company in the semiconductor industry, where he was responsible for all finance functions until the successful acquisition by NVIDIA Corporation in 2020. Prior to Mellanox, Ahrens served as CFO for GlobalLogic, a large software engineering company, where he led the finance, IT, and legal teams to support the rapid growth of the business.

Earlier in his career, Ahrens spent more than a decade at Maxim Integrated Products (San Jose, Calif., U.S.), leading financial planning and coordinating M&A activities. Prior to that he served in a variety of financial roles at Intel Corp. (Santa Clara) for six years and as an environmental engineer at Chevron Corp. (San Ramon). Ahrens holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of California, San Diego, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He also has an active CPA license in California, as well as a private pilot license.

“I’m very excited to join Virgin Galactic at such a significant time in the company’s journey,” says Ahrens. “I look forward to being a part of this exceptional team as it makes history in the evolution of human spaceflight.”

UAMMI announces new board member and marketing director

The Utah Advanced Materials & Manufacturing Initiative (UAMMI, Kaysville, Utah, U.S.) announced on March 29 the addition of TJ Marshall with Parker Aerospace, to the UAMMI Board of Directors and Dustin Cederholm as marketing director.

“UAMMI is pleased to welcome TJ Marshall, director of Operations, Parker Aerospace to the Board of Director,” says UAMMI Board chairman, Randy Philpot with Advanced Composites Inc. “We are also excited to add Dustin Cederholm to our team as marketing director.”

TJ Marshall is currently the OEM operations director for the Commercial

Flight Controls Division of Parker Aerospace (Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.). He has an extensive background with more than thirty years of experience in the aerospace industry. Having worked for Lucas Aerospace (North Springfield, Va., U.S.), Parker Hannifin (Cleveland) and a small private equity firm, TJ held positions as a machinist, manufacturing engineer, as well as various leadership roles in Operations, Program Management, Manufacturing Engineering and Supplier Development. In 2019, he rejoined Parker Aerospace as the commercial business unit OEM operations manager for the Control Systems Division. TJ has a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from Weber State University and an MBA from the University of Utah. He is also a Master Six Sigma Black Belt.

Dustin Cederholm has more than a decade experience in digital marketing and is a founding member of the Utah Outdoor Association. In addition to developing the communications program for the UDMC, he will be expanding UAMMI’s footprint in outdoor recreation manufacturing. He holds a B.A. in international studies from the University of Utah.

“Dustin expands UAMMI’s capabilities to better meet the growing communications requirements of the Utah Defense Manufacturing Community (UDMC) program,” explains Dr. Tulinda Larsen, UAMMI executive director. “He will work with GrowUtah to meet the mission of UAMMI to elevate the advanced materials and advanced manufacturing industry in Utah.”