People in Composites: August 2021

Markforged names John Howard vice president of engineering

Markforged (Watertown, Mass., U.S.) has announced that John Howard joins the company as the vice president, engineering. In his role, Howard will lead Markforged’s hardware engineering team and will report to President and CEO Shai Terem.

Howard brings to Markforged more than 30 years of experience in engineering and product design, during which he has developed and launched multiple cutting-edge, high-volume products for Fortune 100, mid-cap and startup companies. Howard spent 10 years at Lab126 (Sunnyvale, Calif., U.S.), Amazon’s development group for the Kindle eReader, Fire TV and Echo products, most recently leading advanced product development as the director of advanced products. Earlier in his career, he managed PowerBook product design at Apple for a decade, and also held senior development and engineering positions at medical device companies, including Intuity Medical (Fremont, Calif., U.S.) and Nektar Therapeutic (San Francisco).

“At Markforged, we’re constantly innovating to ensure our customers can overcome very real manufacturing supply chain challenges,” says Shai Terem, president and CEO, Markforged. “John has spent more than three decades leading teams dedicated to building and evolving complex platforms so that they meet both today’s and tomorrow’s needs. His creative thinking and extensive innovation skills are just what Markforged needs as we accelerate our product roadmap and enable our customers to print whatever they imagine at the point of need.”

Since 1989, Howard has been a consulting associate professor in mechanical design at Stanford University. As a student at Stanford, he earned his Bachelors of Science in mechanical engineering as well as his Masters in Science in manufacturing systems engineering.

“I’ve spent my career creating products and platforms that deliver real value to their users’ lives,” says Howard. “Since the launch of its first printer, Markforged’s creative approach to solving manufacturing and supply chain challenges has made it one of the additive manufacturing industry leaders. I’m looking forward to being part of this engineering team as Markforged continues to expand the reach of the Digital Forge and position itself for even more growth in the years to come.”

Inhance Technologies appoints new chief financial officer

Andrew Leeser, Inhance Technologies CFO.

On July 13 Inhance Technologies (Houston, Texas, U.S.), an international provider of polymer material science solutions, appointed a new chief financial officer (CFO).

Andrew Leeser has joined the organization after four years at Cimarron Energy (Houston), a private equity-backed oil and gas business, where he led all aspects of finance and accounting, treasury, credit/banking, and broader business support.

“I’m delighted to welcome Andrew to the Inhance Technologies family. He has an excellent track record in organizations spanning a range of industries, and I’m sure that his experience will help us continue on our upward trajectory,” says Andrew Thompson, president and CEO of Inhance Technologies. “We look forward to working with him to build a bright future for the company and our customers as we help them make a conscious choice towards more sustainable plastics.”

In addition to Inhance Technologies’ global finance, accounting and treasury functions, Leeser will be responsible for human resources and information technology.

“I’m pleased to have joined Inhance Technologies and I look forward to helping the organization achieve its goals over the next few years,” says Leeser. “With the significant growth in demand for our fully recyclable barrier technology Enkaseä, as well as our global expansion, there is no doubt I’m joining the company at an exciting time.”

Highlights for the company in the last 18 months include the acquisition of German company Fluor Technik System GmbH (FTS, Lauterbach, Germany) and the opening of new headquarters in Houston, as well as a new facility in St. Louis, and the launch of Fixpure.

Inhance Technologies has also received backing from Suez Circpack, the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) and Plastics Recyclers Europe (PRE) who all deemed the company’s barrier packaging technology Enkase to be fully recyclable, as well as be in accordance with existing recycling streams for plastic packaging.

Lockheed Martin announces chief financial officer transition

Lockheed Martin (Bethesda, Md., U.S.) announced on Aug. 3 that CFO Kenneth R. Possenriede has decided to retire immediately due to personal reasons. John W. Mollard, vice president and treasurer, has been appointed acting CFO, effective immediately. In his almost four decades at Lockheed Martin, Mollard has held several positions of increasing responsibility within the Finance and Business Operations team, including the past five years as the corporate treasurer.

“Over the past 14 months, Ken has been an integral part of my successful transition as Lockheed Martin CEO,” says Lockheed Martin Chairman, President and CEO James Taiclet. “We thank Ken for his many contributions during his three plus decades of service to the company and wish him the best in his retirement.”

Taiclet notes that, given his nearly four decades with Lockheed Martin and familiarity with the company’s businesses, stakeholders and capital structure, Mollard is uniquely suited to lead the company’s finance organization while its search process is underway. “We are proud to have a deep-bench of talent and thank John for stepping into the CFO role on an interim basis,” Taiclet says.

Exel Composites appoints new area sales manager for North America

John Mertic, Exel Composites area sales manager for North America.

Exel Composites (Vantaa, Finland) has appointed John Mertic to the role of area sales manager for North America to handle growing business across the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean. With experience in growing sales leads, Mertic takes up the role from the organization’s production team in Erlanger, Kentucky, and will lead the business’ telecoms offering across the continent. The appointment comes at a time where the company is looking to expand its footprint in North America.

Mertic joins Exel from M. Holland Co. (Northbrook, Ill., U.S.) where he was a sales representative in resin distribution. He has reportedly built a wealth of leadership experience, previously holding managerial positions at automotive door lock manufacturer, GECOM Corp. (Greensburg, Ind., U.S.), and is well positioned to support the business development and growth strategies for Exel in North America.

A recipient of a prestigious soccer scholarship for the University of Michigan-Dearborn, Mertic completed his marketing degree and started working as a sales intern for DENSO, exploring sustainable technologies for the automotive and transportation industry. Upon completion, he took on an account manager role at GECOM where he managed global automotive manufacturer Toyota, overseeing $20 million in annual sales.

“My career beginnings were in sales, which is how I came to understand the importance of new business development and growth,” says Mertic. “I feel my experience reflects well in my ability to understand any customers’ needs and, hopefully, I can use it to help Exel expand its footprint across the U.S. and Canada. Exel has a some very innovative composite solutions for the 5G market, and I’m looking forward to meeting with new and existing customers to see how we can solve their challenges with composites.”

Mertic continues: “Beyond the industries with which Exel is well established, such as telecoms, there are numerous potential growth sectors in North America. For instance, my experiences within the automotive and plastics sectors have given me the drive to explore how thermoplastics could be used to make transportation more sustainable. My role here will not only help to integrate composites into these applications, but also to expand Exel’s visibility and market share across the U.S. as a whole.”

“The U.S. and North America are of great strategic importance to Exel, and John’s experience in sales and customer care across two key industries makes him an asset to the global team,” comments Olli Teva, SVP marketing and sales at Exel Composites. “Having John on the Erlanger team will help ensure that all our customers, present and future, are well equipped to solve their challenges and save resources using composites.”

Firefly names former SpaceX and Blue Origin veteran as chief operating officer

Firefly COO Lauren Lyons.

Firefly Aerospace Inc. (Cedar Park, Texas, U.S.) announced that Lauren Lyons will join the team as chief operating officer (COO), working out of the company’s corporate headquarters in Cedar Park, Texas. This appointment comes on the heels of Firefly’s recent component business announcement and preparation for its upcoming launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

Lauren will be joining Firefly from Blue Origin (Kent, Wash., U.S.) where she was a lead systems engineer in Blue Origin’s Advanced Concepts. Prior to Blue Origin, Lyons spent several years at SpaceX (Hawthorne, Calif., U.S.) where she held leadership roles on the Dragon, Falcon 9 and Starlink programs, and with responsibilities in vehicle engineering, safety and mission assurance, chief engineering, business development and mission management.

“Firefly is entering a pivotal and exciting phase of its growth,” says Lyons, “I’m thrilled to take on the challenge of leading the efforts in scaling the company’s infrastructure to support rapid growth, high execution rate and deliver exceptional value and service to our customers.”

Tom Markusic, CEO of Firefly notes that he’s excited to partner with Lyons to take Firefly to new heights. “In addition to her strong engineering, project management and mission assurance experience, she is a great communicator,” Markusic says. “Her ability to build productive relationships with the full spectrum of co-workers, collaborators and customers is perfectly aligned with Firefly’s vision of ‘Making Space for Everyone.’”

As Firefly looks towards its first Alpha launch, and the development of the Blue Ghost lunar lander, Lyons’ priorities will focus on transitioning Firefly from an R&D environment to a production environment that streamlines delivery to customers on schedule and with high reliability, while maintaining the essential capacity to innovate, execute quickly and respond rapidly to changing market dynamics.

Fiberline Composites announces new CEO

Fiberline Composites A/S (Middelfart, Denmark) announces Lars Fuglsang as the company’s new CEO. Lars has spent the last 20 years in the wind turbine business, with his latest position as general manager, business operations, at GE Renewable Energy (Paris, France).

Fiberline Composites says it is on an ambitious growth path creating a global platform to supply the most competitive solutions for structural members of wind turbine blades. This involves establishing factories close to its key customers globally to improve the entire supply chain, as well as developing and maturing the technological platform. Lars’ profound knowledge of blade structures and the business around it, his experience in the sector and his strong leadership skills makes him the ideal CEO for Fiberline Composites.

In connection with his appointment, Lars Fuglsang says, “I am excited to join the Fiberline team on the journey to support our customers by localization in a global footprint to drive down cost and inventory and improve supply chain flexibility. Add to this the technology development effort to meet customer specs using of a range of input material — a capability that is essential in a market with constraints in order to help our customers keeping their plants running.”

Lars will take up his assignment beginning Nov. 1, 2021.