People in composites: July 2023

ACMA welcomes new board chairwoman

Megan Multanen, female chair of ACMA’s board of directors.

On July 1, the American Composites Manufacturers Assn. (ACMA, Arlington, Va., U.S.) officially welcomed its first female chair of the board, Megan Multanen, MPA. She is currently an owner and CEO of long-time ACMA member, Bestbath.

An Idaho native, Multanen earned her undergraduate degree in sociology and conomics from Boise State University (Idaho, U.S.), followed by a masters of public administration from the University of Arizona (Tuscon, U.S.). In 2010, she returned to Idaho to work for Bestbath and has worked in the marketing, commercial sales and dealer sales departments.

“Having previously served as the treasurer/chair-elect for ACMA’s Board of Directors, Megan brings a wealth of experience into her new role as board chairwoman,” Cindy Squires, ACMA president and CEO, says. “I look forward to her leadership as ACMA continues to work toward making composites the sustainable material of choice.”

Watersports board shaper joins Cobra International team

Cobra International (Chonburi, Thailand), manufacturer of advanced composite products for the watersports, automotive, marine and industrial sectors, announces that renowned watersports board shaper Aurelio Verdi has joined its team.

Verdi, a 25-year industry veteran, and shaper of current world speed record holder Antoine Albeau’s 53.27 knot windsurf board, will join as technical specialist for composite boards (Windsurf, Wingboard, Kiteboard and SUP) effective immediately, optimizing Cobra’s production operations and coordinating with the global brands and OEMs it manufactures for in Thailand.

“For me, joining Cobra is an incredible opportunity. I get to work with the leading customers in the sport as well as the talented production teams at Cobra, and together we share one simple goal — to build better boards,” says Verdi. “Carefully controlling every aspect of a board’s shape, we combine high-volume production with custom-board quality that is tailored to the specific requirements of each individual brand.”

In 1997, Aurelio Verdi shaped his first boards in his hometown of Grosseto, Italy, at Roberto Ricci’s RRD factory. Quickly establishing himself as a talented shaper in the golden age of windsurf board development, Verdi was soon shaping the entire RRD range of boards including those for team riders such as Josh Angulo. After a short stint in Hawaii, he continued his partnership with RRD and, in 2007, made the first of many trips to Cobra, rapidly building a strong technical partnership with Cobra’s chief innovation officer Paolo Cecchetti.

Aurelio Verdi, technical specialist for composite boards at Cobra International.

Verdi created the custom speed board used by Antoine Albeau for his, still unbeaten, 53.27-knot, 500-meter speed record run in 2015. Verdi then went on to form his own company, AV Boards, focusing on high-end composite materials and technology to maximize board quality and durability. During this period, he observed firsthand the challenges of maintaining custom-board quality as production volumes scale up.

In his appointment at Cobra, Verdi will oversee the technical and quality side of board production across the company’s numerous production lines, as well as applying his decades of processing expertise to additional composites manufacturing throughout the Cobra group.

“We are delighted to welcome Aurelio Verdi to the Cobra International family,” Danu Chotikapanich, CEO of Cobra International, adds. “His board shaping skills combined with an ability to translate how tiny variables of a board’s shape will impact both the rider experience and the composites production process make him almost unique in the industry. Having Aurelio onboard will undoubtedly enhance our ability to deliver cutting-edge watersports composite products to our customers and with Aurelio joining forces with industry icons and existing Cobra team members Bruce Wylie and Paolo Cecchetti, we have assembled a truly formidable technical team.”

Archer hires chief commercial officer

On July 20^th, Archer Aviation Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif., U.S.) announced that Nikhil Goel has joined as the company’s chief commercial officer (CCO). Goel will lead the execution of Archer’s global commercialization efforts as the company prepares to bring Midnight to market in 2025 in the U.S. in partnership with United Airlines. Goel brings deep industry expertise to Archer after cofounding Uber Elevate (San Francisco, Calif., U.S.), Uber’s air taxi division, and jointly authoring the Uber Elevate whitepaper that is widely credited with establishing the vision for the commercial electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft industry.

Nikhil Goel, Archer Aviation chief commercial officer (CCO).

As CCO, Goel will be responsible for spearheading Archer’s commercialization strategy with a focus on bringing New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco online as Archer’s initial domestic markets and capturing additional international demand by stewarding partnership opportunities across several key markets, including the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. Goel’s addition is timely as Archer is continuing to rapidly advance its commercialization efforts after receiving a $10 million pre-delivery payment from United Airlines for 100 eVTOL aircraft that it anticipates deploying into the multiple point-to-point routes it has announced alongside United in the U.S.

After starting at Uber as a product leader on the emerging markets and rider experience teams, Goel cofounded Uber Elevate. Working alongside NASA and Uber executives, Goel helped spearhead the vision for Uber Elevate which has, in turn, inspired the approach to commercializing the industry. In 2020, Goel helped spin off the Uber Elevate business in a strategic sale to Joby Aviation.

Goel has been a senior advisor to Archer since 2020 and prior to Uber held roles at McKinsey & Co., Google, Microsoft and NASA. He attended Vanderbilt University (Nashville, Tenn., U.S.) and earned his Bachelor of Science in engineering with a double major in computer engineering and economics.

“Having recently traveled around the world to the largest international markets and seen firsthand how strong the demand for our aircraft is outside the U.S., it’s clear that now is the right time to make this strategic hire and bring Nikhil on to capitalize on the sizable market opportunity for domestic and global expansion,” Adam Goldstein, Archer’s founder and CEO, says. “Since day one, we’ve laid out an aggressive goal to be the first to bring an eVTOL aircraft to the UAM [urban air mobility] market, and adding Nikhil to our senior leadership team significantly bolsters our efforts to reach that goal.”

“My career has been focused on transforming the way people move in and around cities and enabling the future of on-demand, urban air transportation,” Goel points out. “I’ve been working with Adam and the team for several years, and I believe Archer is the most well-positioned eVTOL aircraft OEM to make this vision a reality with the industry’s leading team and product.”

TPI Composites appoints chief quality officer

TPI Composites Inc. (Scottsdale, Ariz., U.S.) has hired Neil Jones as its chief quality officer, effective August 1^st. In this newly created position, Jones will oversee all quality processes, systems and controls relating to TPI’s wind business and will report directly to TPI’s president and chief executive officer (CEO), Bill Siwek.

Jones brings more than 25 years of experience in quality and engineering positions in the wind and automotive industry. He spent more than 13 years with Vestas Wind Systems (Aarhus, Denmark) in a variety of quality leadership roles, with the last five years as senior vice president – quality, health, safety and environment. Before joining Vestas, Jones spent over 20 years in the automotive industry, including engineering and quality leadership roles with TRW Automotive (Livonia, Mich., U.S.) and a senior quality leadership role with Eaton Automotive.

Jones holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical, electrical and fluid dynamics engineering from the University of Bath (U.K.).

“We are thrilled to have Neil join TPI,” Bill Siwek, TPI’s president and CEO, says. “I am confident that Neil will bring fresh insights, innovative ideas and an unwavering dedication to quality excellence and help enhance the quality culture at TPI.”