People in Composites: July 2021

Exel Composites appoints wind account manager

Patricia Vázquez, Exel Composites global key account manager for wind energy.

Composites technology company Exel Composites (Vantaa, Finland) has appointed Patricia Vázquez to the role of global key account manager for wind energy. As part of Exel’s global wind team, Vázquez will work closely with customers in Spain, southwestern Europe and South America region to coordinate all activities and provide a focal point for contact. The appointment comes at a time when the company is looking to support the global surge in wind applications using composites.

Vázquez comes from a background as an industrial engineer specializing in plastics and rubber and 20 years of experience working in the composites industry. “Exel’s wind business has seen continued growth in recent years,” explains Vázquez. “In this role I’ll be able to provide more value to customers in Spain, southwestern Europe and South America, something we see as critical to sustaining this growth. I have extensive experience working closely with global clients and can bring new ways of engaging with customers.”

Hiring knowledgeable key account managers in this way is said to form a key part of Exel Composites’ business model, helping to grow the business in its strategic focused industries while providing a focal point to closely connect with customers.

“Our customers are building and delivering crucial wind infrastructure around the world. Our global manufacturing footprint and our technical expertise are ways we support them, and our key account managers are another,” adds Dag Kirschke, wind business segment owner at Exel Composites. “By working closely with her customers and becoming a key point of contact for them, Patricia will help to ensure that we serve them as efficiently as possible. 

Cygnet Texkimp grows international sales team with two senior appointments

Gareth Davies, Cygnet Texkimp international sales manager.

Fiber converting specialist and custom machinery manufacturer Cygnet Texkimp (Northwich, U.K.) has appointed Gareth Davies and Volker Koehler as its international sales managers. Their appointments come as the company targets further growth in the global technical fiber market for its creels, prepreg, coating, slitting, filament winding and automation and handling technologies.

Gareth Davies joins from the thermoplastics division of specialist chemicals group COIM (Cremona, Italy), having previously spent five years at Composites Evolution (Chesterfield, U.K.). He has more than 26 years of experience in commercial sales, specializing in materials engineering and technical solution development for the international polymers and composites markets. At Cygnet Texkimp, he will focus on developing the company’s interests globally, drawing on his understanding of materials, materials handling and processing to sell customer-driven solutions.

“Using the right materials in an application is essential, but they can’t perform at their best without good process,” says Gareth Davies. “Joining Cygnet Texkimp gives me the opportunity to use my knowledge of materials to sell machinery and solutions into a dynamic sector as part of a well-known and respected engineering brand.”

Volker Koehler, Cygnet Texkimp international sales manager.

Volker Koehler has also been appointed to support Cygnet Texkimp’s global growth initiative. Based in Germany, he has an extensive career in technical sales for capital equipment and large-scale projects. For the past seven years he has worked in the carbon fiber industry with considerable experience in the aerospace, automotive and industrial markets.

“I’m looking forward to building great relationships and supporting our customers in reaching their goals,” says Volker Koehler. “Cygnet Texkimp has an enormous amount to offer the industry in terms of experience and product capability and it’s an exciting time to join the company.”    

Commenting on their appointments, Cygnet Texkimp Director of Sales, Matt Clark, adds: “Gareth’s and Volker’s appointments mark an important new chapter in Cygnet Texkimp’s evolution as an international solution provider for the fiber converting markets. Both bring a wealth of technical knowledge and valuable experience that will help us maximize opportunities and expand our reach around the world.”

Strongwell names new general manager for Minnesota, Mexico operations

Josh Maggert, Strongwell general manager, Minnesota and Mexico Operations.

Pultrusion manufacturer Strongwell (Bristol, Va., U.S.) has promoted Josh Maggert to general manager, Minnesota and Mexico Operations, effective July 1, 2021.

In his new role, Maggert assumes responsibility for the operational management of the company’s Chatfield, Minn., and Apodaca, Mexico, manufacturing facilities, and will report to the president and CEO. He began his career with Strongwell in 2007 and most recently served as plant manager of the Chatfield facility. Maggert has also served as manufacturing and engineering manager, engineering manager and process engineer. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in composite materials engineering from Winona State University, and resides in Winona, Minn., U.S. with his wife and two sons.

Maggert replaces Mike Jaszewski, who recently retired from the position of vice president, Minnesota and Mexico Operations, after 23 years of service with Strongwell. Jaszewski joined Strongwell in 1997 and was named vice president in 2014.

“For nearly a quarter of a century, Mike Jaszewski has steered our Chatfield operations through unprecedented growth and an expanded product line that has increased customer demand in new and existing markets,” says David Oakley, president and CEO of Strongwell. “In addition, he has successfully overseen the startup and operations of our Mexico facility, which was built in 2016. His leadership has enabled us to be responsive to customer trends through sustainable growth.

“We are pleased to promote Josh Maggert to lead our operations in Chatfield and Mexico,” Oakley adds. “His experience with and understanding of our company and these locations will enable us to maintain our high standards in the development of top-quality, innovative solutions for our customers, and I have complete confidence in his ability to help position our company for continued successful, strategic growth.”

Strongwell’s manufacturing facility in Chatfield specializes in the production of pultruded fiberglass grating and handrail, and is also well-known for its line of fiberglass tool handles. Strongwell’s manufacturing facility in Apodaca, Mexico, specializes in the production of pultruded ladder rails.

TPI Composites appoints transportation business president

TPI Composites Inc. (TPI, Scottsdale, Ariz., U.S.) has hired Jerry Lavine as its president, Transportation, effective June 30, 2021. In this position, Lavine will oversee the company’s transportation business.

Lavine brings nearly 30 years of experience in the automotive industry in technical, operational and commercial roles. He has recently served as a consultant to new entrant automotive manufacturers and other automotive industry participants. Prior to his role as a consultant, Lavine served as the CTO and president North America of Bordrin New Energy Vehicle Corp. (Oak Park., Mich., U.S.) from November 2017 to January 2021. He also served as vice president, Product Development of Magna International Inc. (Aurora, Canada) from September 2016 to November 2017, and executive vice president, chief program officer of Dura Automotive Systems (Auburn Hills, Mich., U.S.) from June 2014 to September 2016. Lavine also served in senior engineering and technical roles at Ford Motor Co. (Dearborn, Mich., U.S.) for more than 15 years.

Jerry holds a Master of Science degree in management and engineering – system design and management from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Master of Engineering degree in mechanical engineering – mechanical analysis and design from Cornell University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from State University of New York at Binghamton.

“We are pleased to welcome Jerry to TPI as our new president, Transportation,” says Bill Siwek, TPI’s president and CEO. “He brings nearly 30 years of automotive experience with Tier 1 Suppliers and major manufacturers to this new position and his background and leadership will help us to accelerate the growth of our transportation business.”

Veelo Technologies welcomes General William M. Fraser, III USAF, as special advisor to Board of Directors

General William M. Fraser III, Veelo Technology special advisor.

Veelo Technologies (Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.) a General Nano company that develops advanced materials and manufacturing solutions for the aerospace and defense composites industries, announced on July 14 that General William M. Fraser III, former commander of the U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) has joined the company as a special advisor to Veelo’s Board of Directors. General Fraser will partner with Veelo’s Board, management team, and other key stakeholders to advance the company’s strategic goals.

General Fraser completed 40 years of commissioned service as the commander, United States Transportation Command — a Unified, Combatant Command — where he served as the single manager responsible for global air, land and maritime transport for the Department of Defense (DoD). Prior to this assignment, General Fraser was commander, Air Combat Command, the 34^th vice chief of staff of the Air Force, and assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs. General Fraser is currently a Senior Fellow for the National Defense University in support of the Pinnacle, Capstone and Keystone programs.

“Veelo Technologies is honored to welcome General Fraser to our team. His experience and strategic insight will further enhance our mission of developing and delivering capabilities that strengthen the warfighter, bolstering the U.S. domestic supply chain and ensuring we are doing our part to protect U.S. weapon systems from emerging near-peer threats,” said Joe Sprengard, CEO, Veelo Technologies. “General Fraser has served our country at the highest of levels, and we are honored that he has chosen to partner with Veelo Technologies to continue his passion for excellence and national security.”

General Fraser is a graduate of the ROTC program at Texas A&M University, where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in engineering technology. He also holds a Master of Science degree in management information systems from the University of Northern Colorado.

“I am excited about the capabilities that Veelo Technologies is offering to the defense supply base,” says Fraser. “I look forward to working with the innovative team at Veelo and their Board of Directors to further Veelo’s mission of delivering capabilities that impact 21st-century priorities in global security and sustainability.”

ChemQuest Group plans for strategic growth with new leadership roles and appointments

ChemQuest (Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.), a global business strategy and external technology development firm with focus and expertise specific to the specialty chemicals markets, announces appointments to the following roles: Mr. James E. (Jim) Swope as the ChemQuest Group’s CTO; Ms. Sapna Blackburn, Ph.D., as an additional ChemQuest vice president; and Ms. Lauren Tetterton as communications director of ChemQuest and the ChemQuest Technology Institute (CQTI) effective July 1, 2021.

In addition to these appointments, ChemQuest announces the retirement of Mrs. Aggie Lotz, ChemQuest vice president. The company congratulates Aggie for her role as a key part of their team since 2000. Lotz’s professional experience spans more than 25 years as a leader in trade associations in the protective coatings and adhesives industries. During her career, she has worn many hats within ChemQuest, serving as a project manager, trade association liaison and editor-in-chief of multiple published company reports, presentations, articles and social media posts.

“It has been my pleasure to work directly with Aggie for all of these years. She has been the consummate professional and always put 150% into each and every assignment. We are indebted to her vision and commitment for propelling us to our present position in the industry. Her work has assured our success into the future,” says ChemQuest CEO Dan Murad.

James Swope will now serve as the chief commercial office of the Chemquest Group. Swope has provided leadership to all aspects of the ChemQuest Group in his role as senior vice president since 2013. Prior to ChemQuest, his experience includes expertise in lean sales and marketing execution and “Blue Ocean” strategy. During his previous 35 year-long career in B2B experience in adhesives, sealants, coatings and automotive, Jim has held various leadership positions, including Sr. VP, Business Development at Dymax Corp. (Torrington, Conn., U.S.). Jim reportedly brings a unique financial view to his work born from undergraduate training in accounting as well as 19 years of ownership/management in Crosslink Technologies Inc. (Ontario, Canada), a niche supplier of reactive adhesive systems for assembly.

“Jim always provides action-centered, transformational leadership and continues to deliver valued expertise to our team and clients,” Murad states. “He works closely with our team in South Boston, Va., at the ChemQuest Technology Institute and is a true champion for innovation and expansion of our brand.”

Sapna Blackburn, Ph.D., joined ChemQuest in July of 2020. In her new role, Blackburn’s responsibilities will include project management in addition to intellectual property services. ChemQuest says she has been instrumental over the past year in a number of strategic assessment projects covering IP and commercial landscape analyses, market and value proposition analyses, strategic business assessment and M&A guidance. Blackburn is a 20+ year veteran in materials development and intellectual property generation and protection for a wide range of industries including optical, automotive, aerospace and transportation, consumer electronics and telecom and safety. She is passionate about teaching and furthering adult literacy, and volunteers at The Literacy Center in Evansville, Ind. Prior to joining ChemQuest, Sapna served as V.P. R&D and V.P. Technology at SDC Technologies Inc. (Irvine, Calif., U.S.), a division of Mitsui Chemicals (Tokyo, Japan). Sapna has a BE in chemical plant engineering from the University of Bombay, an MS in polymer science and a PhD in material science and engineering from Penn State University, as well as certifications in Lean Production as well as GE Black Belt – DFSS in Six Sigma.

Lauren Tetterton joined ChemQuest in January of 2017 and has reportedly been an invaluable team member assisting Dr. Doug Corrigan in making the CQTI successful. She will be engaged in the company’s marketing communication strategy development and will serve as the new direct media contact in addition to her current administrative responsibilities at CQTI. Tetterton is most passionate about marketing strategies, innovation efforts, small business development and rural economic development. Lauren earned her MBA from Averett University and a Bachelor of Science in health services and public policy administration from James Madison University.

“We are grateful for our company’s success thus far and proud of the dedication from all of our team members to propel our growth at this time,” adds Murad. “I look forward to the exemplary work our collective team will continue to deliver.”

9T Labs announces news hires for CTO and sale manager positions

9T Labs AG (Zürich, Switzerland) has expanded its executive team with Fabian Pusch as CTO and its commercial team with Arne Büttner, sales manager for the DACH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) region and Andrea Borlenghi, sales manager – Italy.  

“We have expanding our team and are happy to announce that Fabian Pusch, a molding expert with a strong business background, joins our executive team as CTO,” says Martin Eichenhofer, 9T Labs CEO and co-founder. “Fabian’s experience with plastics machinery as well as computer-aided engineering will be very helpful as we work to round out our team.”

Fabian Pusch, 9T Labs CTO.

Fabian Pusch joined 9T Labs’ executive team as CTO in April 2021. Previously, he spent six years at Geberit AG (Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland) as head of injection molding technology. Before that, he was head of testing at plastic machinery OEM KraussMaffei’s Netstal-Maschinen AG division (Näfels, Switzerland) for almost three years. Earlier in his career, Pusch spent three years as a CATIA supporter and process engineer for the Swiss Formula 1 team Sauber Motorsport AG (Hinwil, Switzerland) as well as three-and-half years as a consultant and team leader at Corway GmbH (Friedrichshafen, Germany), a startup focused on virtual reality and augmented reality. He holds a graduate degree in potential management from the University of St. Gallen’s School of Economics, Law and Social Sciences. Pusch also holds a Diplom-Ingenieur degree in systems engineering from DHBW Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University.

Arne Büttner, 9T Labs DACH region sales manager.

Arne Büttner  also joined 9T Labs in April as sales manager for the DACH region. Before that, he spent seven years as a sales manager at AFPT GmbH (Dörth, Germany), a leading supplier of laser-assisted tape placement and winding equipment. Büttner holds a Dipl.-Wirtsch.-Ing. in industrial engineering from the Technical University of Kaiserslautern.

Andrea Borlenghi, who says he likes to solve tricky problems, is the 9T Labs sales manager – Italy, a position he has held since April 2021. Previously, he spent three years in positions such as business territory manager – Italy and Eastern region and country manager – Italy at Roboze S.p.A. (Bari, Italy), which has developed a high-performance polymer additive printer technology. Further, from 2017-2018, Borlenghi was a junior account manager at 3devo B.V. (Utrecht, Netherlands), a polymer 3D printing auxiliary equipment provider. Borlenghi holds an M.S. degree in international management with a focus on business development and entrepreneurship from the University of Utrecht.

Michelman hires associates to lead in Regulatory, Environmental, Health and Safety (EH&S)

Jon Hunter (left) and Sonia Razzaque (right), Michelman’s associates leading EH&S and Regulatory Compliance and Product Stewardship.

On July 20 Michelman (Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.) hired two new associates to lead Environmental, Health, & Safety (EH&S) and Regulatory Compliance and Product Stewardship. Michelman says it remains committed to its triple bottom line (people, planet and profit), and the safety and well-being of its global associates. Additionally, Michelman is focused on being at the forefront of planet-positive change by advocating for and anticipating the impact of regulatory policy changes on its stakeholders.

Jon Hunter is Michelman’s new director, EH&S, responsible for global EH&S strategic leadership, oversight and team development. Hunter has recently been at Harsco Corp. (Camp Hill, Penn., U.S.) as north American EH&S director and global environmental director. He has more than 20 years of experience leading and managing EH&S at Harsco, Eaton Corp. (Beachwood, Ohio, U.S.), Honeywell (Charlotte, N.C., U.S.) and Delphi (London, U.K.).

Sonia Razzaque has been tapped as the new vice president of Regulatory Compliance and Product Stewardship. She will lead the company’s global Regulatory team to assure integration between product regulatory compliance, product stewardship, product management and supply chain. She joins Michelman from Celanese (Irving, Texas, U.S.), where she was the senior director Global Product Stewardship. Sonia has spent most of her 20+ year career in regulatory compliance and product stewardship, including leadership roles at Nexeo Solutions (The Woodlands, Texas, U.S.), Huntsman Corp. (Texas), Americas Styrenics LLC (Texas) and Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, Mich., U.S.) 

“Our industry’s acceleration in safety, environmental and product regulations continues to create a level of uncertainty throughout the entire value chain,” notes Jason Wise, Michelman’s chief financial and risk officer. “Jon and Sonia will lead our global teams to anticipate these changes and understand their impact on our associates, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders. We’re privileged and excited to welcome them to the Michelman team.”

Mahr appoints new CEO

Pictured from left to right: Udo Erath (COO), Manuel Hüsken (CEO), Dr. Lutz Aschke (CFO/CIO)

Mahr Inc. (Providence, R.I., U.S.) a global manufacturer of precision measurement equipment, has appointed Manuel Hüsken as the company’s new CEO. After almost 30 years at Mahr, Stephan Gais is leaving his post as CEO and joins the company’s advisory board.

Manuel previously served as the company’s CSO. In his new role as CEO, he will lead the executive board and will be responsible for group strategy, corporate communications and direction of various business unit metrology departments. Together with his colleagues Udo Erath (COO) and Dr. Lutz Aschke (CFO/CIO), the board managers are responsible for implementing the Mahr Group’s strategy.

“As a family-owned technology company, Mahr stands for trust and sustainability,” says Hüsken. “We want to live up to this claim for our employees at all locations and our customers worldwide, and lay the foundation for strong growth.”

Stephan Gais, the great-great-grandson of company founder Carl Mahr, will remain a member of the family company’s advisory board. Mahr was founded in 1861 and has its headquarters in Göttingen, Germany.

“In three decades,” notes Stephan Gais, “we have achieved a lot: Mahr has established an excellent brand reputation with customers all over the world and our portfolio is well positioned for the future.”