People in Composites – January 2019

Altair

Altair (Troy, MI, US), provider of advanced software solutions to a broad array of industry verticals and business segments, announced Jan. 8 it has added Amy Messano as chief marketing officer (CMO), and Ubaldo Rodriguez as senior vice president of Global Sales.

Messano will lead Altair’s corporate, regional and solutions marketing. She was most recently vice president, Integrated Marketing & Communications at Aptiv (formerly Delphi) and previously held senior marketing positions at Microsoft.

Rodriguez will have responsibility for accelerating Altair’s worldwide revenue growth, reporting to Nelson Dias, Altair’s chief revenue officer. Rodriguez was most recently VP of Sales, Americas at ANSYS.

Former CMO Jeff Brennan has been named Chief Product Officer of Altair 365, the cloud collaboration platform for generative design, engineering analysis and manufacturability under a single, intuitive user environment. 

 

Interplastic Corporation

Scott Rinehart has joined the Interplastic Corp. (St. Paul, MN, US) sales team as a Regional Sales Manager. Rinehart will be responsible for managing sales covering the North Central states and Florida.

Rhinehart brings 25 years of composites experience to the position. He began his career as the general manager of a family fiberglass business in Iowa. Following that, he worked as a sales representative with Ashland Distribution, and then as a technical sales representative with Reichhold. Most recently he served as an account manager with AOC Resins.

 

Nexcelle

Patrice Provost has been appointed president of Nexcelle (Middle River, Md. U.S.), the joint venture of Middle River Aircraft Systems (Middle River, Md. U.S.) and Safran Nacelles (Burnley, UK) that provides engine nacelles for integrated propulsion systems on jetliners and business jets.
    
Provost is a Safran Nacelles employee who brings aviation industry expertise in customer support, program and IT management, along with airline-related engineering, maintenance and fleet planning. He is based at Middle River Aircraft Systems’ facility in Maryland.
    
Provost has been an executive vice president of Nexcelle, representing Safran Nacelles. He retains the executive vice president duties at Nexcelle in addition to his new role as the joint venture’s president. At Safran Nacelles, Provost previously worked in the Customer Support & Services Division (CSSD), with responsibilities including the Head of Client Relationship Management; Vice President - Programs, Configuration, Support and IT Systems; and Deputy Vice President of the CSSD.

Prior to joining Safran Nacelles in 2011, Provost worked during 22 years at Air France and Union des Transports Aériens (UTA). Among his roles were serving as Air France's Resident Representative at Airbus in Toulouse, France for the A380 program, and at Boeing in Seattle, USA for the 777-300ER program; the Propulsion Engineering Manager with GE CF6-80C2 and GE90 engines for Air France and its customers; as well as the Manager for introduction of CF6-80C2 FADEC engines on UTA's fleet of Boeing B747-400 jetliners.
    
“2019 will be another important year for Nexcelle, and I am very honored to be leading this joint venture as it marks new milestones with the two current programs,” says Provost. “Nexcelle’s nacelle system for the GE Aviation Passport engine is now entering service on Bombardier's Global 7500 business jet; while the COMAC C919 jetliner – which is equipped with the innovative Nexcelle nacelle system on the CFM International LEAP-1C engines – continues to advance through test and certification, including the recent first flight of the no. 3 prototype aircraft.”
    

Web Industries

Web Industries Inc. (Marlborough, MA, US), provider of precision converting services for flexible materials and a value-added outsource manufacturer for businesses in the aerospace, medical, personal care and industrial sectors, has named Mark Pihl chief executive officer. Pihl advanced from his previous position as Web’s president and COO and assumed the role of CEO Jan. 1. He succeeds outgoing CEO Donald Romine.

“Mark Pihl brings strategic foresight, leadership and business intelligence to Web that is inspirational,” Romine says. “His clear-eyed vision for the future, a passion for excellence and a strong knowledge of our markets and customers will accelerate advancements in technology, systems and scale to support growth.”  

“Customers depend on Web to deliver highly engineered solutions that bridge capability gaps and accelerate go-to-market success,” says Pihl. “Look for us to extend our geographic reach and increase the rate of innovation and execution in new ways that meet our global customers’ converting and outsource manufacturing needs.”

Pihl joined Web Industries in 2000 and focused his extensive experience in executive and operations leadership roles on the business’s scalable growth, talent development and financial health. He was named Web Industries COO in 2010, a member of the board of directors in 2012 and president in 2015. Prior to joining Web, Pihl held executive roles at Sony Chemicals, USA (San Diego, CA, US), and Flexcon Company (Spencer, MA, US).