People in Composites: September 2022

Overair welcomes Airbus executive as chief commercial officer

Dr. Valerie Manning, Overair chief commercial officer.

Electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle (eVTOL) company Overair (Santa Ana, Calif., U.S.) has announced that Dr. Valerie Manning will join the Overair leadership team as its chief commercial officer (CCO), transitioning from her current role as senior vice president (VP) of training and flight operation services at Airbus (Tolouse, France). Dr. Manning’s diverse, global experience in aerospace and commercial aviation will help guide the organization’s commercial and operational launch as it prepares to fly its all-electric prototype in the second half of 2023. The transition will take place on Sept. 1, 2022.

Dr. Manning will lead Overair’s commercial strategy, business development, marketing, sales, support and in-service operations infrastructure as the company finalizes its full-scale prototype vehicle and prepares for commercial launch. She will take charge of Overair’s business model, to create customer and company value and to enable business growth through Overair’s products and services.

“I am proud that Valerie is joining us. Having known Valerie for years, I have a deep appreciation for her capabilities and character, and I know that her addition will be a game changer for us, accelerating our path toward commercialization,” Overair CEO Ben Tigner says. “Valerie’s unique combination of corporate, military and aviation experience, on top of her world-class technical capabilities, will help us convert Overair’s technology and product advantages into real-world value for communities and Overair’s stakeholders. As an accomplished pilot, Valerie also understands the benefits eVTOL will bring to urban areas, and she will be key to unlocking our success.”

Prior to joining Overair, Dr. Manning served as a senior executive at Airbus, where she has led worldwide training and flight operations services, customer support and aircraft modification services. Throughout her Airbus career, she has worked with the company’s customers, partners, and suppliers worldwide on a wide range of commercial and operational topics related to their aircraft and associated services. A retired U.S. Air Force officer, Dr. Manning holds a doctoral degree in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University (Stanford, Calif., U.S.). She is also an EASA flight instructor and jet-rated commercial pilot.

“I’m excited to join the Overair team and to address the challenge of building the company and bringing its business ambitions to fruition,” Dr. Manning says. “I chose Overair due to its state-of-the-art technology, innovative and inclusive spirit, and deep commitment to advancing sustainable aviation through eVTOL. I’m motivated by the idea of bringing my experience to a new industry sector, so when this opportunity presented itself, I accepted with pleasure!”

Belzona announces first Chinese board of directors

Belzona, a global designer and manufacturer of polymer repair composites and industrial protective coatings, announces the  appointments of Charli Yu Walton and Fred Lu as corporate development director (China) and technical director (China), respectively. The appointments follow the establishment of Belzona Molecular Technology (Nanjing) Ltd. in 2019, as a wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE), making the next significant step in the company’s international expansion strategy.

Charli Yu Walton, Belzona corporate development. 

Walton, originally from Harbin, China, joined the company’s marketing team in 2011. Prior to this, she worked as an international business coordinator in the Japanese automotive industry, having previously obtained two Masters degrees from U.K. universities. These include an Masters in communications studies from the University of Leeds (U.K.) and a Masters in educational studies from the University of York (N.Y., U.S.).

Walton has reportedly acquired considerable experience in B2B marketing and will be responsible for creating and implementing marketing strategies to consolidate and accelerate Belzona’s growth plans in China. In addition, she will be providing the nexus between the Chinese company, Chinese distributors and Belzona’s various international headquarters.

Fred Lu, Belzona technical director.

Lu has been promoted to technical director. He holds an MSc in applied chemistry and accumulated engineering experience in top international companies before joining the company 14 years ago as a technical service engineer at its Asia Pacific branch. He will continue to lead Chinese business from the technical perspective and, in light of his new role, will head up the development of Belzona’s training program and technical service support in the region.

Both Walton and Lu are “homegrown” employees who have been promoted internally through the ranks. These promotions are the most recent of several homegrown directorship appointments, and are said to demonstrate Belzona’s ongoing investment in its staff.

KraussMaffei bolsters sales team

Dan Rozelman, KraussMaffei territory sales manager, RPM. 

Effective Aug. 26, 2022, Dan Rozelman has started with KraussMaffei Corp. (KMC, Florence, Ken., U.S.) as a territory sales manager, RPM in the western, Midwest and eastern regions. Rozelman comes to KMC from the RPM industry where he has held roles in technical sales, account management and business development. Most recently, Rozelman spent three years with what is said to be one of North America’s largest customer formulators of polyurethane systems, Chemline (St. Louis, Mo., U.S.). Prior to Chemline, Rozelman spent three years with Hennecke Inc. (Bridgeville, Pa., U.S.) and two years Component Repair Technologies Inc. (Mentor, Ohio, U.S.).

In his new role Rozelman will initially report directly to Nolan Strall but will soon report to the pending position of sales director, RPM. Rozelman’s scope of responsibility will be inclusive of all technologies under the RPM product portfolio including polyurethane, foam and composites technologies. He will be based out of his home office in Willoughby, Ohio, and will be traveling to Florence as needed to support customer visits and sales meetings.

Web Industries promotes Kathrin Arena 

Kathrin Doyle, Web Industries VP of human resources.

Web Industries Inc. (Marlborough, Mass., U.S.) has promoted Kathrin Doyle Arena to the position of VP of human resources (HR). In her new role, Arena will focus on fostering the company’s employee-owner culture, helping to sustain and grow the business in the U.S. and globally.

Arena joined Web Industries in 2016 as corporate human resources manager and was promoted a year later to senior director of human resources. Her first mission at the company was to develop and execute a multi-year strategy to refine and scale the HR organization. As an employee-owned company (ESOP), Web Industries places serious emphasis on the development, satisfaction and retention of its workforce.

In announcing the promotion, Web Industries CEO Mark Pihl points to Arena’s many successes: “During Kathy’s six years at Web Industries, she and her team have made great strides in building a global HR infrastructure that can keep up with our growth. She oversaw the implementation of a modern HR information system, fostered professional and executive development for our employee-owners and helped implement a new compensation management system.”

Like most businesses, Web Industries says it faced COVID-19 pandemic-related challenges and disruptions. Arena and her team worked diligently to protect employees’ health and well-being, while striving to keep facilities open. 

Arena notes that evolving the HR organization and keeping employees happy, healthy and successful are essential parts of her job. “I am looking forward to continuing to meet the needs of our global family of employee-owners as our company moves into the future,” she says. “We plan to attract, develop and retain the best people possible at Web Industries.”

Boom Supersonic adds global propulsion industry leader to board of advisors

Professor Richard Parker, Boom Supersonic senior advisor.

Boom Supersonic (Denver, Colo., U.S.) announced that Professor Richard (Ric) Parker will serve as a senior advisor to the company’s leadership. Parker will lend his deep technical, commercial and sustainability experience as Boom industrializes the propulsion system for the Overture supersonic airliner.

Parker’s appointment is the latest strategic milestone following a series of critical accomplishments at Boom this summer including unveiling the production Overture and launching relationships with several Tier 1 suppliers, Northrop Grumman and American Airlines.

“As we prepare to announce our engine partner and transformational new economic model for Overture later this fall, Ric will continue to bring relevant and valuable insight to Boom,” Blake Scholl, Boom founder and CEO, says. “Ric’s broad experience at Rolls-Royce and in Singapore will benefit us greatly as we bring Overture to market.”  

Currently, Parker is chair of the Singapore Aerospace Program, the country’s flagship research project to strengthen its aerospace industry, and he additionally oversees Singapore’s Low Carbon Energy Research Program. Prior to his work in Singapore, Parker spent nearly 40 years at Rolls-Royce Group (London, U.K.), most recently as the company’s chief technology officer (CTO), for 15 years. In this role, Parker was responsible for the company’s entire technology portfolio and future programs spanning the fields of aerospace and defense, marine and power generation. During his time as Rolls-Royce CTO, he chaired the €4 billion Clean Sky Joint Undertaking. Parker is currently president of the International Society of Air Breathing Engines (ISABE). He is a Distinguished Visitor at the UK National Physical Laboratory, and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Aeronautical Society, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the Institute of Physics.

“Supersonic flight is the next frontier of air travel, and Boom is well positioned to tap this significant market opportunity,” Parker says. “Boom has mobilized a strong technical team and the right industry partners to deliver an economically and environmentally sustainable supersonic aircraft in Overture, and I am looking forward to making aviation history with this team.”