PPA Members In The News

Plastics Pioneers Association Inc. inducted seven industry veterans as new members during the group\u0027s spring meeting April 28 to May 1 in San Diego.

On Monday, May 2, your peers, and industry professionals will come together to celebrate the positive impact of 16 well-known and respected plastics industry leaders who will be inducted into the 2021 Living and 2020 Posthumous Classes of the Plastics Hall of Fame. This year’s gala will be held at the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel in downtown Chicago, IL. This…

Lance Neward, a longtime plastics executive, is the newly elected president of the Plastics Pioneers Association. The PPA elected Neward at the organization's fall meeting in Syracuse, NY, on September 30. Neward has been a PPA member since 2006, serving in various positions including vice president and chairman of the Education Committee which selects PPA scholarship recipients each year. He…

Jay Gardiner, a Plastics Hall of Fame member known for volunteering for numerous plastics industry causes, died Oct. 15 after a battle with cancer. He was 70.

Plastics Hall of Famer Martin Stark has retired as chairman of Bekum America Corp. after 50 years in the industry, mostly with the U.S. operations of the German extrusion blow molding machinery builder Bekum Maschinenfabriken GmbH.

Dave Schultz, member of the Akron, Ohio Section of the Society of Plastics Engineers, was awarded the William C. (Bill) Zekan Award for his outstanding service to the Section during the tough times brought on by the pandemic. Zekan (1920-1991) spent his career at A. Schulman, based in the Akron, Ohio area, serving in the #2 position under Alex Schulman…

Vince Witherup carried the torch for the U.S. plastics industry around the world as an executive at Franklin, PA-based auxiliary equipment maker Conair Group Inc., and as an ambassador for the NPE trade show. He has been involved in plastics for more than 50 years, beginning as a salesman at Conair and working his way up to executive vice president.…

Wylie Royce is executive vice president of colorant and specialty chemicals company Royce Global, and a partner and director of Royce International, a supplier and manufacturer of epoxy resins, hardeners, diluents and specialty chemicals used in the coatings, construction, electronics and aerospace industries. Royce holds a U.S. patent in a proprietary method utilizing electron beam modification of resin to create…