People in composites: November 2024

Anisoprint appointment to bolster leadership in AM

Composites 3D printing company Anisoprint (Singapore) announces the appointment of Tuan TranPham as president of the Americas and APAC. Tuan is a 20-plus-year 3D printing veteran with extensive experience and a proven track record in the additive manufacturing (AM) sector.

Tuan TranPham, Anisoprint’s president of the Americas and APAC.

As the president of the Americas and APAC, TranPham will play a vital role in driving Anisoprint’s strategic growth and enhancing its market presence across multiple industries. He brings a robust background in revenue generation and strategic leadership, most recently serving as chief revenue officer at Azul 3D where he enhanced the company’s growth and market presence.

TranPham’s expertise in developing innovative solutions and fostering key partnerships aligns with Anisoprint’s mission to advance composite 3D printing technologies. He has also successfully led revenue strategies at industry giants including Desktop Metal, GE Additive (Arcam), Stratasys and 3D Systems.

“I am excited to join Anisoprint,” says TranPham. “I believe Anisoprint’s composite fiber co-extrusion [CFC] technology will reinvigorate the 3D printing market and give our customers better and improved desktop solutions sub-$50,000 and I am thrilled to be a part of this company. I am excited to be working with our existing world-class channel partners and customers, while looking forward to building relationships with new channel partners and customers.”

In his new role at Anisoprint, TranPham will concentrate on refining the company’s sales strategies, accelerating the commercialization of its advanced 3D printing technologies and strengthening customer relationships. According to Anisoprint, his deep expertise and comprehensive understanding of the AM market will be crucial as the company continues to innovate and deliver solutions tailored to the evolving demands of many sectors, including aerospace, automotive, oil and gas, space, industrial, consumer and academia.

“We are delighted to welcome Tuan to the Anisoprint team,” says Rui Liu, CEO of Anisoprint. “His extensive industry knowledge and strategic acumen will be invaluable as we strive to expand our capabilities and redefine the possibilities of additive manufacturing.”

Anisoprint is dedicated to reinforcing its leadership position in the AM sector by attracting top-tier talent and embracing innovative ideas. The inclusion of TranPham on Anisoprint’s leadership team underscores the company’s commitment to enhancing its talent development and expanding its global market reach.

TPI Composites welcomes new member to board of directors

Effective Nov. 13, TPI Composites Inc. (Scottsdale, Ariz., U.S.) appointed Jennifer Lowry to its board of directors. Lowry will also serve on the Audit Committee of the board. She brings many years of broad finance experience in the electric power industry.

“We are excited to have Jen join our board,” says Bill Siwek, TPI’s president and CEO. “We will greatly benefit from her experience in the electric power industry to help support our long-term strategy.”

Lowry has served as an independent director of Clearway Energy Inc. since February 2022 and MYR Group Inc. since July 2018. She also served as VP of risk, treasury and corporate finance for McCormick & Co. Inc., a global food company, from 2016 until her retirement in July 2021.

Prior to that, Lowry spent more than 25 years in the energy sector, including serving as senior VP, generation strategy at Exelon Corp., and as VP and treasurer at Constellation Energy. She also held executive positions at companies within the electric power industry including the AES Corp. and Cogentrix Energy Group Inc.

Lowry attended Dartmouth College, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree and Bachelor of Engineering degree with a focus on electrical engineering. She also has a masters in management from the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management.

Volcopter introduces new CFO heading into 2025 eVTOL market to entry

Volocopter (Bruchsal, Germany) has appointed Oliver Vogelgesang as its chief financial officer (CFO), effective immediately. As an experienced financial executive of a listed company, Vogelgesang will steer the ongoing fundraising activities and future-proof financial activities following Volocopter’s aircraft certification in 2025 and entry into market. He takes over this position from Christian Bauer, who remains Volocopter’s chief commercial officer (CCO).

Vogelgesang has three decades of finance experience in the aviation technology sector, holding senior leadership positions across Airbus and, most recently, the CFO position at Lilium N.V. His expertise lies in building up strong and international finance teams, business modeling and raising capital for transitioning startups, which translate into Volocopter’s short- to medium-term financial targets. The appointment is well-timed as the company welcomes the shift from development to market entry in 2025.

Oliver Vogelgesang, Volocopter CFO.

“Financial stability of the company and the industry is timely and crucial; therefore, it is with great pleasure to appoint a dedicated CFO in Oliver Vogelgesang,” says Dieter Zetsche, Volocopter chairman of the advisory board. “His international finance and aerospace expertise will strengthen our ties with stakeholders and create opportunities for Volocopter’s future partners and shareholders. I would also like to thank Christian Bauer, who has held the financial and commercial management side together during these challenging market conditions.”

Vogelgesang states: “I have experienced impactful industry transformations while building my aviation career. I strongly believe that the company’s eVTOL technology and market approach will change the ways of electric future mobility.

Volocopter’s urban air taxi, the VoloCity, is in the final stages of aircraft testing to achieve the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification in 2025.

SGL Carbon appointment expands supervisory board

SGL Carbon SE’s (Wiesbaden, Germany) supervisory board has appointed Andreas Klein as CEO of the company, effective Jan. 1, 2025, with a 3-year term. Furthermore, the board extended the contract of Thomas Dippold (CFO) by another 5 years. Dr. Stephan Bühler has also been appointed to the board of management of SGL Carbon for a term of 2 years, also starting Jan. 1, 2025.

These decisions are the result of current CEO Dr. Torsten Derr’s announcement that he will not extend his management contract, which expires in May 2025. The supervisory board complied with Derr’s request and agreed to an early termination of his management contract effective Dec. 31, 2024.

Klein, the future CEO, has been head of Graphite Solutions, SGL Carbon’s largest business unit, since October 2023. He holds a degree in business administration and has extensive expertise in marketing and sales, strategy and supply chain, in addition to industry experience. Klein started his professional career at Bayer and Lanxess, where he held various management positions. In order to bring the board of management even closer to SGL Carbon’s operations, Klein will remain CEO and head of the Graphite Solutions division.

“We are pleased that we were able to win Andreas Klein, an experienced manager, for the position of CEO. He is very familiar with SGL Carbon’s key markets and has gained deep insights into the company’s structures and business units over the last 15 months,” says Prof. Dr. Frank Richter, chairman of the supervisory board. “With the contract extension of CFO Thomas Dippold and the appointment of Dr. Stephan Bühler as an additional member of the board of management, we ensure continuity and stability for SGL Carbon’s further strategic direction. On behalf of the entire supervisory board, I wish the new board of management great success. We would like to express our particular gratitude to Dr. Torsten Derr for his achievements at SGL Carbon. In recent years, he has returned SGL Carbon to a path of profitable growth and set an important strategic course.”

Andreas Klein, Thomas Dippold and Dr. Stephan Bühler.

Dippold, who holds a degree in business administration, has been CFO of SGL Carbon since October 2020. He began his professional career at HSBC Bank in London and Dusseldorf. After holding various commercial management positions in Germany and abroad, he was CFO at Schaltbau Holding AG. Dippold has successfully accompanied the restructuring of SGL Carbon and ensured a solid financial basis for the company as a result of the financial restructuring of recent years.

Bühler has been with SGL Carbon for more than 10 years and is responsible for legal, compliance and corporate audit. He was already a member of the board of management of SGL Carbon from October 2019 to October 2020. Bühler, who holds a doctorate in law, began his career at the Bundesverband der Deutschen Banken (Association of German Banks) in Cologne and then spent 21 years at Siemens in various functions in the legal department. He gained extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions. He will be responsible for the implementation of the strategic options for the Carbon Fibers business unit, the company’s legal and compliance matters and for ESG.

With the appointment of Klein and Bühler and the contract prolongation of Dippold, SGL’s board of management will consist of three members as of Jan. 1, 2025. With the internal succession for the position of CEO, the supervisory board is signaling continuity and stability.

Thermwood announces new VP of sales

Mike Iubelt, Thermwood VP of sales.

Thermwood Corp. (Dale, Ind., U.S.) welcomes Mike Iubelt to the company’s VP of sales position. In his new role, Iubelt will lead the Machining Products Division, overseeing sales and operations to drive growth and innovation within the organization.

Iubelt brings a wealth of experience to the position, having dedicated more than 22 years to Thermwood in various sales and service capacities. His deep understanding of the industry and proven leadership make him suited to this key role.

Iubelt lives with his wife and family in southern Indiana. Thermwood wishes him success in his new position.

Exel Composites develops new position for composite conductor cores

Exel Composites (Vantaa, Finland) has signaled its intention to capitalize on the expanding market for reconductoring electrical transmission infrastructure by creating a dedicated conductor cores product manager role. The appointment of Heini Kloster to this position will help support the company’s growth into a well-rounded global partner for R&D, consultation and regulatory conversations for transmission line reconductoring.

According to Exel, the mega-trend of electrification across transportation, manufacturing and many other industries is putting increasing pressure on existing power transmission infrastructure. Kloster will work with conductor producers, transmission system operators (TSO) and standardization bodies to help meet increased capacity and efficiency demands. In particular, Exel seeks to introduce a simpler and cheaper solution that will replace traditional aluminum conductor steel-reinforced (ACSR) cores with high-temperature, low-sag (HTLS) alternatives: carbon fiber cores.

Heini Kloster, Exel Composites conductor cores product manager.

In this role, Kloster will cover both the technical and customer support elements of conductor core technology. As well as supporting customers globally, she will help Exel react to changes in the market and relevant legislative and regulatory adjustments. At its core, her assignment is to steer Exel to the front of this developing market sector as electrical demand surges worldwide.

“It’s very important to Exel that we can be an ally to our customers in this rapidly advancing field,” explains Kloster. “Myself and the R&D team will collaborate closely with our partners and their end users to help get the most out of our carbon fiber cores.”

“Heini taking on this new role signals Exel’s ambition to lead this field worldwide,” says Francesco Ierullo, VP for sales and marketing in engineered solutions at Exel Composites. “We don’t want to be just one link in the supply chain, but an active part of this technology’s development and roll-out. We’ll work with various stakeholders, from the International Electrotechnical Commission to cable manufacturers and transmission system operators, to achieve this.”

Pultrusion, the continuous manufacturing technique Exel Composites is known for, is ideally suited to producing long, materially consistent carbon fiber cable cores. Exel pultrudes kilometers of carbon fiber cores at a time and delivers these cut-to-length reeled products to conductor makers based on their capacity and delivery needs.