SPE announces 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award winner

Kevin N. Pageau, owner and president of International Marketing Alliance (IMA, Livonia, Mich., U.S.) and a major contributor to the SPE Automotive Division (Troy, Mich., U.S.) Innovation Awards Program for many years, has been named the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award winner by the Automotive Division of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE, Danbury, Conn., U.S.).  

For more than 40 years, Pageau has led key advancements in the automotive plastics industry including being an early pioneer in the application of computer-aided engineering (CAE) technologies — Pageau ran GE Plastics’ first 3D finite element moldflow analysis, and provided technical analysis of numerous leading edge applications at GE. He also developed warp analysis tools, where the melt flow angle for each element was calculated and used to predict fiber orientation in glass-filled materials. This led to additional roles at GE as project engineer, business development specialist and business development manager. As director of engineering at Plastics Engineering & Technical Services (PETS), he developed proprietary methods, computer programs and algorithms to optimize the analysis of hot and cold runner systems for complex automotive molds, as well as implementing some of the first commercial “mold cooling” analysis projects.

In addition, Pageau has led a team of tooling engineers, project engineers and quality engineers in the development of decorative plastics molds and processes as director of advanced engineering at Dott Industries. As a manufacturer’s representative at Mayne-McKenney, he built significant business for principals in the areas of satellite radio antennas, engineered foam and injection molding.   

The SPE Automotive Innovation Awards Competition and Gala has grown over the years to become known as the “Academy Awards of the Automotive Industry” with Pageau’s leadership.

Pageau joined IMA in 2003 and helped build it into a strong sales and marketing firm for automotive components. IMA represents seven domestic and international companies, with product areas including injection molding, decorative plastics of all types, engineered foam, LED lighting systems and advanced seat comfort systems, generating revenues of approximately $100 million dollars annually. 

His involvement in SPE goes back to his GE Plastics days, where he was on the development team that won an SPE award for the Chrysler 1990 Eagle Premier Azdel bolster. Pangeau became active in the Automotive Division in 1992 as newsletter editor, where he upgraded the quality of the newsletter, and increased ad revenue that enabled the newsletter to break even for the first time in years. He then held other positions in the Automotive Division leadership, including secretary, treasurer, vice-chair and chairman. Pageau was recognized as an Honored Service Member of SPE in 2004. 

The SPE Automotive Innovation Awards Competition and Gala has grown over the years to become known as the “Academy Awards of the Automotive Industry” with Pageau’s leadership. In addition to being awards program chair for a few years, he has managed and streamlined the nomination and judging process, worked with the team to upgrade the audio visual and other program features and reduced the “run of show” time to 2 hours, while still recognizing all winners and finalists in a professional event. He continues to manage the nomination and judging process, write the script for the show and produce the presentation files for the event.

Pageau’s formal education includes a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Michigan Technological University (MTU, Houghton).

His leadership is greatly appreciated by SPE Lifetime Achievement Award recipients and award chairs alike. “I am humbled and grateful to be honored with the SPE Automotive Division Lifetime Achievement award and especially thankful to my friends in the industry and to my family for their incredible support over the years,” Pageau says.

Pageau will be presented with the SPE Automotive Div. Lifetime Achievement award at the 52^nd annual SPE Automotive Innovation Awards Gala at Burton Manor in Livonia, Michigan, on Nov. 8, 2023. The evening begins with a VIP Cocktail Reception at 4:00 p.m. sponsored by Celanese Corp. (Irving, Texas, U.S.). At 4:30 p.m. the main exhibit area opens for general admission, and guests can review this year’s Automotive Innovation Awards nominations and enjoy the vehicles on display. Dinner will begin at 6:15 p.m. and the awards program will last from 7:00-9:00 p.m. For those who wish to extend merrymaking and networking activities, the ever-popular Afterglow — also sponsored by Celanese — runs from 9:00-11:00 p.m.

Past Lifetime Achievement Award winners include 2019’s Michael J. Whitens, retired formal global director at Ford Motor Co., and 2022’s Probir Guha.