People in Composites: November 2022
New hires, appointments and changes in executive leadership have been announced by Wickert, Michelman, Altair, Fortify, KraussMaffei and the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA).
Dr. Chuck Xu appointed to Michelman Board of Directors
Dr. Chuck Xu, Michelman board of directors.
Michelman (Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.) announces the appointment of Dr. Chuck Xu to its board of directors. Xu is vice president and general manager, strategy and M&A, electronics and industrial segment, DuPont de Nemours Inc. (Wilmington, Del., U.S.).
Michelman looks forward to Xu’s strategic growth leadership contributions based on his deep general management and M&A experiences. His broad commercial and technical acumen, in both industrial and consumer markets, cuts across the advanced printing, automotive, aerospace, electronics, advanced materials, biomaterials, medical and consumer industries. Xu has acquired valuable corporate experience in roles of rapidly escalating responsibility while working at DuPont in multiple business units as well as at Honeywell (Charlotte, N.C., U.S.) and at Telephotonics Inc. (Wilmington, Mass., U.S.), an integrated fiberoptics startup. Xu’s fluency in Mandarin and expertise on Chinese business culture will help fuel Michelman’s growth in China.
Moreover, Michelman anticipates leveraging his extensive expertise while guiding Michelman’s growth across the company’s digital printing, flexible packaging, fibers and composites, architectural, wood and metal coatings, and advanced agricultural coatings businesses.
His educational background includes a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Peking University (Beijing, China), a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Southern California (Los Angeles) and an MBA from Columbia University (N.Y.).
According to Xu, he looks “forward to working with a very experienced and diverse board as well as the executive team to drive Michelman’s substantial growth trajectory.” His term begins Q4 2022.
Altair announces new chief product and strategy officer
Ravi Kunju, Altair chief product and strategy officer.
Altair (Troy, Mich., U.S.) a global company in computational science and artificial intelligence (AI), has announced that Ravi Kunju has been named Altair’s chief product and strategy officer.
In this role, Kunju will be responsible for the strategy and vision of Altair products, which includes facilitating the development, sales, pricing and marketing of Altair’s solutions for industry verticals and business lines.
“For nearly 25 years, Ravi has been an indispensable member in so many areas of our organization, and I am certain that he will continue to play a vital role in this new position,” James R. Scapa, founder and chief executive officer, Altair, says. “As we compete across the globe, it is imperative to go to market with strategic solutions that help customers solve their toughest problems. We need to keep our foot on the pedal in thoughtful innovation that moves the needle and solves problems that might not even exist yet.”
Prior to this role, Kunju served in several leadership roles within Altair, including senior vice president of business strategy across all business lines, vice president of strategy for enterprise computing, managing director of enterprise computing for the Americas region and managing director of the U.S. North Central region. Before joining Altair, Kunju was a project engineer at Ford Motor Co. (Dearborn, Mich., U.S.) and a structural analyst at Chrysler Corp. (Auburn Hills).
Kunju holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Osmania University (Hyderabad, India), a Master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Wayne State University (Detroit, Mich., U.S.) and a master’s in business administration (MBA) from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.
Fortify appoints Lawrence Ganti to CEO
Lawrence Ganti succeeds Josh Martin as Fortify CEO.
Fortify (Boston, Mass., U.S.), a full-stack materials science and additive manufacturing (AM) company, has named Lawrence Ganti to succeed Josh Martin as company CEO. Martin is a co-founder and will take on a new role as chief product officer.
“Fortify has spent the last several years productizing our technology and cultivating key strategic partnerships. Leading the Fortify team to where it is today has been a great journey,” Josh Martin, Fortify co-founder, says.
“We’re moving from the phase of initial product introduction to the market to commercial scale-up, and I, along with my co-founders and the board, felt it was the right time to bring in some outside expertise to help lead Fortify to the next level.”
Ganti has more than 25 years of experience in leading global businesses, scaling startups, and executing the delivery of new commercial models. Most recently, Ganti was president of SiO2 Materials Science (Auburn, Ala., U.S.) where he led the commercialization efforts and grew the company’s customer base 10 times and manufacturing footprint four times. As part of the U.S. government’s Operation Warp Speed COVID-19 response, Ganti secured more than $250 million in grant funding for onshore advanced manufacturing.
Prior to SiO2, Ganti was the CEO of Innoplexus Holdings (Iselin, N.J., U.S.), a provider of data as a service (DaaS) and software as a service (SaaS) solutions. Ganti spent the majority of his career with the chemical and pharmaceutical company, Merck (Rahway, N.J., U.S.), leading various business units and country organizations. His last role at Merck was CEO of Latin America where he led the scale-up and growth of a $1 billion business. Ganti graduated from Babson College (Mass., U.S.).
“The Fortify team has built a technology portfolio that is changing the paradigm of high-value manufacturing. The Digital Composite Manufacturing platform is a game changer for 3D-printed parts for custom microstructures in high-resolution,” Ganti says. “It’s an honor to lead such a smart group of pioneers who have invented a technology stack which can make the impossible possible by using advanced materials science coupled with geometry to enable the development and commercialization of high-value, high-performance parts using additive manufacturing [AM].”
Martin has led Fortify from its inception as the CEO and is excited to take on the chief product officer role. “I am looking forward to driving alignment between our growing product portfolio and our customers’ strategic applications,” Martin says. “Having Lawrence on board is going to be a huge catalyst for Fortify’s next phase of growth.”
Wickert announces management board, advisory board additions
Wickert Maschinenbau (Landau in der Pfalz, Germany) has begun passing the family business on to the next generation. Stephanie Wickert, 33-year-old great-granddaughter of company founder Jakob Wickert, joined the management team as managing director on Sept. 1, 2022. She has headed the company alongside Stefan Herzinger since.
Meanwhile, after 46 years as managing director, her father, Hans-Joachim, has relinquished his operational management duties and joined the advisory board. During his 46 years at the helm, the company reportedly enjoyed a major upswing. He launched numerous innovations, among others initiating the development and production of cleanroom presses for the pharmaceutical industry and fully automated heat treatment systems for the automotive industry.
The transition at top management level goes hand in hand with a redistribution of executive responsibilities. Stephanie Wickert will gradually assume all commercial responsibilities of the management board. Currently, she is responsible for human resources, marketing and corporate development. The areas of purchasing, accounting, controlling and IT will follow. Stefan Herzinger, who has assumed responsibility for technical management from Hans-Joachim Wickert in addition to his responsibility for sales, will remain in charge of these areas for now.
Hans-Joachim Wickert feels strongly that the company is in a solid position: “We constantly monitor what is happening in the market and continue to develop our products. This way, we succeed in combining stability and growth. Thanks to our highly skilled technicians and engineers, I have confidence that we will continue to be successful well into the future.”
With Stephanie Wickert, the fourth generation of the family is assuming responsibility of the company 121 years after it was established in 1901. She intends to focus the company more intensely than before on future technologies. Innovative industries in particular, such as the production of fuel cells, promising thermal insulation materials and semiconductors, will be increasingly acquired. “An entire series of successful projects in these industries demonstrates that we have the ability to implement efficient manufacturing solutions for an array of different customers with our press systems,” Stephanie notes.
At the same time, she wants to emphasize digital marketing and boost human resources development. “Alongside economic issues, social responsibility is close to my heart — towards our staff, society and my home region in Germany's Southern Palatinate. This is why my goal is to continue our family business as a successful and sustainable enterprise so that I, too, can pass it on to future generations."
With a background in banking, she holds a Bachelor’s degree in business administration and a Master’s degree in sustainable marketing and leadership. Following professional positions abroad, she has been employed in her own family business since 2018, serving as marketing manager until the end of August. She is a member of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (Pfalz) General Assembly, the association “Die Jungen Unternehmer” (The Young Entrepreneurs) and the Wirtschaftsjunioren Südpfalz.
KraussMaffei Group announces CEO changes in 2023
Li Yong, KraussMaffei Group 2023 CEO.
At its November 29 meeting, the KraussMaffei Group (KMG, Munich, Germany) Supervisory Board acknowledged CEO Dr. Michael Ruf’s personal request not to extend his contract, which expires at the end of March 2023, and named Li Yong as his successor. Since 2018, KraussMaffei Group GmbH has been part of KraussMaffei Co. Ltd., a stock corporation listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Ruf will remain KMG management board chairman and CEO until Dec. 31, 2022, with his responsibilities transferred to Yong on January 1. Until his contract’s expiration on March 31, 2023, Ruf will continue to work to ensure a comprehensive handover and a smooth transition. He will also remain involved in some ongoing projects.
Ruf has been a member of the KMG management board since April 2019, initially as chief operating officer (COO) and, since April 2020, as CEO for KMG and for KraussMaffei Co. Ltd.
New CEO Li Yong has been with majority shareholder Sinochem (Beijing, China) for nearly two decades in a variety of executive, operational and project management positions. Having spent a third of his career abroad, he has intensive intercultural cooperation experience. He has already been involved in KraussMaffei’s business since June 2022.
“Dr. Ruf has successfully steered KraussMaffei with a sure hand through some unprecedented challenges in recent years,” Supervisory board chairman Bai Xinping says. “He has also significantly developed the company and comprehensively modernized its processes, technology, strategy and site development. His committment to KraussMaffei’s future is greatly appreciated. The shareholders and the supervisory board thank Dr. Ruf for his commitment and wish him all the best for the future.”
Ruf thanks KraussMaffe’s employees for their contribution and their representatives from the works council for their trust during the transformation. “And I would like to thank my colleagues for the time we spent together, as well as the supervisory board and the shareholders for their support,” he adds.
According to Yong, he is looking forward to his new role at KraussMaffei and to working with new colleagues. “Dr. Ruf has decisively driven KraussMaffei'’ transformation and set an important course for the future, for which I am very grateful,” Yong continues. “Together, with our main shareholder Sinochem, KraussMaffei is now ready for the next step. We will expand KraussMaffei’s technological lead and continue to drive forward the company’s internationalization.”
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