People in Composites: August 2022

Exel expands U.S. team to introduce pull-winding to North and Central America

Following private and public infrastructural funding across North and Central America, global composites manufacturer Exel Composites (Mäntyharju, Finland and Chesire, U.K.) has invested in expanding the sales team based at its factory in Erlanger, Northern Kentucky. The team, comprising Francesco Ierullo, John Mertic, Marc Tagher and Roger Gastineu, serve customers in the North and Central American markets and opens up customers to Exel’s global network. This includes increasing the awareness and benefits of pull-winding technology, which the company is known for.

Francesco Ierullo, head of sales for the Americas markets, has worked with Exel Composites in Europe since 2015. He recently relocated to Kentucky from Italy to help strengthen the company’s visibility as head of sales. He is joined by two area sales managers for North America, John Mertic and Marc Tagher, and a North American sales representative, Roger Gastineau.

Exel Composites U.S. sales team.

Mertic brings his experience managing the sales for multimillion-dollar accounts to help increase Exel’s market share across the continents in a targeted, strategic manner. His expertise in telecommunications, electrical composites and conductor cores will reportedly enable Exel to grow in line with the pending infrastructural investments across the Americas. In addition, Tagher’s technical skills gathered from 25 years in the field of engineering makes him an ideal consultant and collaborator for a growing customer base. He specializes in airports, defense, aerospace and marine transportation, and construction. Gastineau, the American agent for transportation, has been an integral team member at Exel for many years.

Exel says it combines a large but local “made in USA” manufacturing footprint with the expertise of a global company to provide efficient sales support, technical consultancy, and customer service from its Erlanger factory. The company has seven production factories throughout the globe, providing manufacturing support and development of specific products in targeted applications. The team’s collaborative, forward-thinking approach to manufacturing will ensure an efficient service, while helping customers overcome their challenges with composite solutions, according to the company.

IntegriCo announces return of original formula and leadership team

After a brief hiatus in production, IntegriCo Composites (Sarepta, Calif., U.S.) says it returns to the railroad industry full steam ahead with a new C-suite armed with decades of combined leadership experience in the industry. Integrico named Douglas Fox, former senior vice president (VP) at Stella-Jones Corp. (San Francisco, Calif., U.S.), as CEO, to elevate the brand and assemble a solid team to grow IntegriCo’s footprint across the country. Fox brings 40 years of leadership experience in the railway industry and currently oversees all business operations at IntegriCo.

“We have an experienced team and are turning out a unique and sustainable product,” Fox explains. “With current R&D activities, we will be launching a new product that addresses the concerns of Class 1 railroad engineers with composite ties. We look forward to meeting with industry representatives this fall in the launch of the next generation of composite ties.”

Rejoining IntegriCo leadership this year is general manager Ken Webber. Webber was part of the original IntegriCo team and is responsible for developing the original composite material formula that turns hard-to-recycle plastics into sustainable products.

Vice President of Sales, Scott Moe, has been with the company since 2015 and continues to work towards growing IntegriCo’s client base. With his extensive knowledge of the railroad industry and railway ties, Moe has been an invaluable asset to IntegriCo, having grown the company by 500% with the acquisition of the military, transit agencies, overseas customers and alternative products.

Scott Stewart, chief operating officer (COO), has been with the company since 2020. From 2014 to 2022, Stewart worked as an engineering and operations consultant and held positions such as principal consultant, project management office (PMO) direct and portfolio manager. Prior to this, Stewart served as a submarine officer in the U.S. Navy, where he reached the rank of commander. Stewart also holds a master’s degree in management from Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass., U.S.) with a focus on corporate sustainability and has multiple degrees in mechanical engineering and engineering management.

New to the IntegriCo leadership team is Glenn Jackson, director of finance. Jackson has served in accounting and management positions for nearly 30 years, including CEO of Valair Aviation (Oklahoma City, Okla., U.S.) and CFO of Aviation General and Dirt Motorsports.

With leadership at IntegriCo stronger than ever, GM Ken Webber reflects on what his return to IntegriCo means for the future of the company. “I have always believed in IntegriCo’s proprietary technology and how it could greatly benefit our environment as well as the end user,” Ken says. “When Scott Moe approached me about returning, I had a lot of questions. After discussions with Doug Fox and Scott Stewart, it became clear to me that the right management team was now in place to move the company forward with their vision and expertise.”

ASM International announces new COO and CIO

Ryan Milosh, COO, ASM International.

Sandy Robert, executive director of ASM International (Materials Park, Ohio, U.S.), has announced two key changes to the Society’s leadership structure: Ryan Milosh is being promoted to chief operating officer (COO), and Kelvin Scott is joining ASM International as chief information officer (CIO). The new roles were effective July 16, 2022. With this change, Robert’s direct reports in addition to Milosh and Scott, will be Veronica Becker, CFO; Leslie Taylor, manager, executive office; and Patti Semancik, human resources.

As COO, Milosh will be responsible for oversight of all ASM International operations, excepting the Data Ecosystem and Information Technologies groups. As CIO, Scott will work across the organization to develop and deploy ASM’s digital strategies and information technology systems, both internal and customer-facing. Both the Data Ecosystem and Information Technologies Teams will report to Scott.

Kelvin Scott, CIO, ASM International.

In his most recent position, Milosh has served the organization as chief sales and marketing officer. He is said to have a wealth of experience in understanding industry requirements, building partnerships and collaborations, and launching new products and services. Scott is joining as a full-time staff member after five years in an IT counsel role with ASM International. His background includes more than 22 years of running international consulting businesses, providing IT strategy, enterprise architecture and program management.

Robert will continue to work with Milosh on capabilities planning for the rest of the organization with an eye to aligning the Society with its lines of business and strategic priorities, as well as maximizing its value to members and customers.

Fourth-Generation French family member promoted to vice president

Tayte French Lutz, vice president, French Oil Mill Machinery Co.

In January 2010, Tayte French Lutz, fourth generation of the French family leadership, joined French Oil Mill Machinery Co. (Piqua, Ohio, U.S.) as marketing coordinator. Since then, Lutz has made notable achievements through her work with the company in the areas of marketing, manufacturing and management. Most recently, Lutz graduated from the Harvard Business School Owner President Management (HBS OPM) program on June 15, 2022. Upon completion, Lutz was promoted to VP of the company, becoming part of the four-person management team that leads it.

Lutz has more than 12 years of experience with the company in materials management, production support, scheduling, brand management, marketing and business analysis. Before Lutz joined the company over a decade ago, she embarked on a professional journey in the retail and fashion industries that contributed to her well-roundedness.

Starting in junior high school, through her high school years and while receiving her undergraduate degree, Lutz worked at French for several summers. She graduated from the A. B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University (New Orleans, Calif., U.S.), with a Bachelor of Science in management (BSM) in marketing. She also studied marketing in the European Union at the MBA Institute (Paris, France).

She started her career in the Buyers Training Program at Bloomingdale’s in New York City, then moved to the vendor side with a position at DKNY before ultimately returning to the family business in 2010.

According to the company, Lutz’s continued education and promotion is part of a strategy for the future strength of French and signifies its intent to maintain operations as a family-led company for the benefit of its partners.

“Our family business is long known as a global leader for its continuous innovation, quality design and manufacturing, [and] has always been an important part of my life,” Lutz notes. “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to serve the company at this level, and to continue our family’s history.”

IACMI seeks new CEO for composites

The Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI, Knoxville, Tenn., U.S.) is seeking a CEO with significant expertise in composites. Read the full position description.

As a Manufacturing USA Institute, IACMI was established in 2015 in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Manufacturing Office in DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

IACMI’s vision is to improve everyday lives through the power of composites. Through convening, connecting and catalyzing this community to accelerate advanced composites design, manufacturing, technical innovation and workforce solutions, the organization hopes to enable a cleaner, more sustainable, more secure and more competitive U.S. economy.

KraussMaffei Corp. announces personnel change

Effective May 16, 2022, Mike Gunner joined KraussMaffei Corp. (KMC Florence, Ken., U.S.) in the role of VP, Automation. Gunner comes to KMC, the U.S. subsidiary of an international automation solutions provider, Mikron Group (Biel/Bienne, Switzerland), where he held roles of increasing responsibility including applications engineering manager, VP of sales and general manager/president. During his 12 years with Mikron, Gunner led significant growth in the U.S. business according to KMC.

Mike Gunner, VP, Automation, KraussMaffei Corp.

Prior to Mikron, Gunner worked for Advanced Automation (Des Moines, Iowa) and the Doerfer Companies (Greenville, S.C., U.S.), where he held numerous operational roles including control engineering manager, project manager and applications engineering management. Gunner has been in the automation industry for his entire career and has experience in providing solutions to many of the vertical markets KraussMaffei supplies equipment to including medical, automotive and general industry.

In his new role, he will be responsible for creating the strategic plan for KMC’s automation integration business in the U.S., as well as the cross -functional organic and inorganic growth of KMC’s automation capability in the U.S., including responsibility for all external automation partnerships.

Gunner has a background in electrical engineering and controls, and holds a Bachelor of Science with Honors, as well as a Ph.D., from the University of Hull (England). He has officially relocated to Northern Kentucky and will be based out of the Florence, Ken., U.S., location. Mike will also be working closely with the KraussMaffei team in the Brighton, Michigan, location.

Revved Industries names new president and CEO

Rob Wesson, president and CEO, Revved Industries.

Revved Industries (Denver, Colo., U.S.) a provider of carbon fiber- reinforced thermoplastics to the bike industry, has announced that Rob Wesson has been named president and CEO. Former CEO, Ken Friedman, has moved to the Board of Directors.

Wesson brings more than 20 years of engineering and senior management experience, most recently leading Giro Sport Design (Scotts Valley, Calif., U.S.) as VP and general manager. Wesson was responsible for leading the Giro team in launching many new, innovative and groundbreaking products such as the Synthe, Air Attack and Switchblade helmets along with Vivid goggle and Spherical helmet technologies. Additionally, Wesson helped guide Giro through an acquisition into a Public Company. Prior to Giro, Wesson held senior engineering roles with QBP’s (Bloomington, Minn., U.S.) proprietary brands and Toyota Motor Corp. (Plano, Texas, U.S.).

“Rob is the right leader for Revved at this time,” Larry Thuet, Revved Industries’ chairman of the Board, says. “Rob’s extensive engineering background, business development skills and bicycle industry experience will help Revved strengthen our OEM partnerships, develop strategic alliances and scale our manufacturing footprint here in North America and Europe.”

According to Wesson, “I believe Revved is uniquely positioned to fundamentally change the bicycle industry through our development of thermoplastic materials and proprietary processes, near-shoring production to reduce lead times and de-risk the supply chain as well as improve the sustainability and circularity of carbon fiber.”