In serving the third largest U.S. manufacturing sector, SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association works to protect and promote nearly 900,000 plastics jobs spanning across every state.
Each year, members of the SPI board of directors elect volunteer leaders from across the industry supply chain to lead both the organization and industry as a whole on a path of continued growth.
Leading the officers will be Kureha America Inc.’s president Fred Daniell. In his current role, Daniell is responsible for carbon fiber products and engineering plastics, among others. His expertise stems from a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and an Executive MBA from Duke University, as well as various professional roles at Celanese/Ticona, Dow and GE.
Daniell’s advancement to the chairmanship comes with new priorities for the SPI Board, chiefly to provide guidance to its members on recent health care changes. Launched this spring SPI HealthLINK aims to be a solution to many of the plastics industry’s questions and concerns about current health care options for their employees.
“While health care is a necessity in today’s workforce, it’s often seen by those who administer it as a step backward in what our members really want to be doing – advancing the plastics industry,” Daniell said.
By creating a predictable cost structure and letting companies get back to the business they know and do best, this private exchange health care program is just one of the tools Daniell will have at his disposal to point SPI’s members and the industry in the right direction for future growth and sustainability.
SPI’s new chairman will not be alone in this effort. In addition to the other newly elected officers and the immediate past chair, there are 24 industry experts comprising the board of directors, eight of whom are elected by SPI’s industry councils. As SPI’s president and CEO, Carteaux is also a member of the board of directors, but may not vote in the group’s deliberations.
New members to the board of directors include: Michael Gilbert, general manager at SABIC Innovative Plastics; Randy Herman, president Advanced Technology Group at Bemis Manufacturing Company; Allen Jacoby, general manager at Milliken & Company; Daniel Mohs, CEO at Placon Corporation; and Jim Russler, vice president of Commercial Development at Bemis Manufacturing Company.
The newly elected officers are:
•Fred Daniell, Kureha America Inc., SPI chairman;
•James Murphy, David-Standard, LLC, SPI vice chair;
•Wylie Royce, Royce Associates, SPI treasurer;
•Tad McGwire, Industrial Heater Corp., SPI secretary;
•Jamie Clark, Printpack, Inc., officer-at-large;
•Phil Wilson, BASF, officer-at-large; and,
•Jay Cude, ITW Medical, immediate past chair.
Published in the June 2014 Edition of American Recycler News