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 will serve as president until 2023.
Lance was introduced to his first plastic molding machine at the age 5, when his father (the late Ted Neward) took him and rest of his family to watch a thermoset molding machine “belch fire and steam,” or so it seemed. Lance grew up in the industry; one of his first “jobs” was assembling test shots of Revell model kits from molds made by Caco-Pacific to make sure everything fit correctly—a dream job for an 11-year old. Later jobs were cleaning machines, sweeping floors, and driving trucks, not so much fun at the time, but useful in the career, nonetheless. Over his life, Lance worked as a moldmaker, molder, mold and product designer, and industry consultant. He also served in the US Navy during the Viet Nam conflict, during which he and his crew received a commendation for action off the coast of Viet Nam.
In the 70’s, he took a sort-of break from plastics for 10 years, serving in various management capacities with Trans World Airlines (TWA), and returned to plastics in 1981. In 1993, he was elected the international president of the 40,000 member Society of Plastics Engineers. In 1990 he received the SPE Southern California Section Willard Lundberg Man of the Year Award, and in 2013, Lance was honored to be elected to the Western Plastics Pioneers Hall of Fame.
He is an Airline Transport Rated pilot, a professional Registered Parliamentarian, and strong supporter of the education of young people intending to enter the plastics field. He currently serves on the scholarship committees for WPP. Lance and his wife reside in Sandy, Utah.
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