Dr. Krishna Venkataswamy is the Executive Vice President at Star Thermoplastics, a leading TPE solution provider in North America. Krishna is responsible for Business Development, Marketing, Innovation and Engineering.
Krishna is an independent member of Board of Directors of Zylog ElastoComp, a Pune based TPE company. Krishna served as a Sr. Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Interface (Lydall)Performance Materials. Prior to that he has held senior global technology leadership positions at PolyOne/GLS, GAF Corporation and Advanced Elastomer Systems (Santoprene), JV of Monsanto and Exxon. His global responsibilities include organizational and business responsibilities spanning North America, Europe and Asia.
Krishna has been in the Thermoplastic Elastomer (TPE) industry for thirty years. He has worked in consumer, medical, industrial and automotive applications and his efforts have led to several commercial products. He is considered one of the most successful industry leaders in commercializing technologies. He has over fifty patents and technical papers to his credit.
Alan Banks is the Lightweight Structures Supervisor within Innovation and Research at Ford Motor Company. He started work at Ford in 1983 as an apprentice and worked in Chassis Engineering responsible for suspension systems on commercial vehicles until 2019 before his move to Innovation and Research.
His remit with the Innovation and Research team is to lead projects with light-weighting technologies and applications in design with mass production capability. This remit includes material choices from advanced steel to full composite structures, including hybrid technology to produce the best value for automotive applications.
Patrick Ellis qualified at the Borough polytechnic as a Plastics Technologist in 1959. He worked for Shell Chemicals first in the field of epoxy resins and later in the development of expanded polystyrene. He left Shell in 1963 to join Borg-Warner Chemicals, where he was responsible for the development of wide ABS sheet, particularly for small marine craft. In 1970 he joined GEP as Area Sales Manager and in 1972 he moved Monsanto to develop their position in the European automotive industry. In 1976 he joined Hercules Europe as Technical Manager responsible for injection and blow moulding PP business.
When Hercules and Montedison formed Himont, he was appointed European Market Development Manager. Later Neste Chemicals bought the Himont Belgium operation, when was asked to become part of Neste Polypropylene as Business Development Manager. In 1991, he left Nest to set up his own consultancy business, where he has carried out numerous single and multi-clients’ studies on polyolefins processes and catalysts, compounding of polyolefins and thermoplastics elastomers, as well as a number of global elastomer studies. He has recently finished a global elastomer study for Smithers and as well as one on global thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) and another on the European market for fibre reinforced thermoplastics (FRT).
Xuesong has 15 years of experience in the process industry, having led and performed a wide range of consulting engagements in petrochemicals and polymers and extended value chains. Recently, Xuesong assumed a managing role in NexantECA subscriptions and reports.
Xuesong holds MSc with Distinction in Technology Management from Queen Mary, University of London and BSc in Materials Science and Engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
Eva Haase works in the technical development for E-TPU at BASF. She obtained her master’s degree in business chemistry at the University of Münster. Afterwards she worked at the Project Management in Jülich and joined BASF in Lemförde in March 2019.
Aschak Damani is the Executive Director & CEO of Zylog, India’s leading manufacturer of TPO, TPV, & TPE compounds since 1984. Aschak joined Zylog in mid 2004; after completing his MBA from Chicago, USA and was instrumental in developing automotive customers Daimler, Renault, Nissan, Toyota, and Suzuki, Tata & Mahindra.
After demerging and selling PP Compounding business to LyondellBasell in April 2016, Zylog was restructured into 3 business verticals that include:
- Elastomer compounding – TPV, TPE and TPO compounds
- Specialty extruded sheets, skins & composite laminates – based on olefin and styrene elastomers
- Thermoformed parts and components – 3 mtr X 2 mtr large parts
Today, as India’s only fully integrated Tier I supplier, Aschak is driving growth in all 3 verticals in applications across automotive, medical & healthcare, wire and cable, building / construction, agriculture, appliances, consumer and industrial uses.
BOB ELLER is President of Robert Eller Associates LLC (REA), a firm specializing in technical, economic and market analysis in support of management decision-making in the plastics and rubber industries.
Bob and his associates have carried out numerous technology ,strategy, manufacturing analyses, acquisition due diligence analyses and product positioning analyses (usually at the advanced R/D - early commercialization interface). Automotive plastics and TPEs are REA consulting specialties.
His company is currently working on:
- Due diligence analyses for acquisitions in the TPE, TPO, and PP compound sectors
- Positioning new TPEs and their fabrication technologies
- The evolving role of thermoplastic composites and fabrication technologies
- Role of high heat resistant engineering thermoplastics in auto under-hood applications
- Positioning of new polyolefin technologies in the automotive sector
Bob is a graduate of M.I.T. (Chemical Engineering) and has an M.S. in Polymer Science and Chemical Engineering from Brooklyn Polytechnic. Employment experience includes ExxonMobil, A. D. Little, Phillip Townsend Associates, Charles River Associates (Vice President), Multibase (a French/U.S. TPE compounding company - General Manager) and Robert Eller Associates LLC (President, 1991 – Present).
Ryoji Usui is a senior research scientist at polymer materials laboratory, JSR Corporation, Japan. He is in charge of designing new concept for functional polymer alloys, especially works in poly olefin materials.
Work Experience:
2016-present: engaged in R&D of Polymer Alloy Materials
2015-2016: engaged in R&D of Synthetic Rubber Materials
Education:
2015:graduated from graduate school of Engineering Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering in Yokohama National University, Japan
2013: graduated from Faculty of Engineering Dept. of Applied Chemistry in Yokohama National University, Japan.
Dominique Strässler is an experienced senior business/marketing/strategy manager, having worked in regional and global roles in Europe and Asia, with formal education as a chemical engineer (ETH Zurich, MSc) and as a postgraduate master of business administration (CEIBS, Shanghai, MBA).
He is a specialist for engineering plastics and high-performance polymers, specialty carbon blacks and fumed metal oxides (silica), their markets and applications, in both established industries and new business development fields.
Professor Stefan Roth graduated from Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany, with a degree in Plastics Technology, and a PhD for his thesis entitled "Electromagnetic Shielding by steel fibre filled compounds“.
In 2007, he joined B.Braun Melsungen AG, a global medical device manufacturer and started in R&D of infusion systems by managing projects in development of infusion pumps.
Since 2010, he built up and was heading the Materials Science group within Pre-Development / Technical Laboratories. His working fields were plastics for medical disposables and pumps, formula development and refinement, polymer testing and analysis.
In 2017 he has moved his position and has become Professor for product development and design at the University of Applied Sciences Schmalkalden, Germany. His fields of research are plastics in medical applications and additive manufacturing. He is part of the laboratory for applied plastics technology (AKT).
Stefan Roth is chairman of the Association of German Engineers (VDI) committee “plastics in medical” that has been initiated the development of the new VDI guideline “medical grade plastics”. In its function as chairman of the guideline committee, he worked out this new guideline together with his colleague Prof. Thomas Seul and members of various partners of polymer and medical industry.
Walter Ripple is currently the Vice President, Sustainability at Avient Corporation, a $2.9 billion premier provider of specialty polymer materials, services, and solutions. Avient employs approximately 9,100 associates, is certified ACC Responsible Care® and Great Place to Work®, and is a founding member of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste.
Ripple first took on his current role in January 2019 to drive a comprehensive Avient sustainability strategy. He leads initiatives that help customers and the company achieve critical sustainability and performance goals. In addition, he interacts with key industry stakeholders – including customers, industry associations, suppliers, associates, and other influencers – to help Avient achieve world-class sustainability levels aligned with the dynamic changes in the industry, emerging technology, and the shared responsibility of caring for our planet.
An industry veteran with 29 years of experience, Walter has been with Avient since 1998, most recently as vice president and general manager for the GLS thermoplastic elastomers and engineered materials division. His leadership enabled the unit to nearly quadruple its profitability and more than double its sales. Walter has earned multiple sales and leadership awards throughout his career, and has forged strong, collaborative relationships throughout the supply chain.
Constance Ißbrücker holds a degree from the University of Jena, Germany, specialized in macromolecular and bioorganic chemistry. Before joining European Bioplastics in 2013, she worked in different research groups at universities in Berlin and Jena where she gained valuable experience in the modification and analysis of polysaccharide derivatives and the synthesis of chiral amines by biocatalytic processes. In 2016, she has been promoted to Head of Environmental Affairs at European Bioplastics and is, among other things, responsible for the Product Groups Biobased and Biodegradables, standardisation of bioplastics, and the Seedling trademark.
Anthony Marozsan
Manager Market Development
BS Materials Engineering Drexel University
MS Mechanical Engineering Georgia Tech
Anthony Marozsan has twenty years of experience in the plastics industry with progressive roles in technical service, application development and business development at GE Plastics, DOW, and Total. In his current role at Audia Elastomers he leads the market development engineering team with a focus on key global accounts and new technology initiatives.
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Nobuhiro Miwa joined Kuraray Co., Ltd. in 2001. He has twenty years of experiences in TPE industry. He worked for Kuraray America, Inc. in 2015-2017 and then joined Kuraray Europe GmbH as a Technical Service Manager in 2017. His activities include of Application Development, Technical Service. He represents the company’s Styrenic (SEPTON™ and HYBRAR™) and Acrylic based TPEs (KURARITY™). He received his B.S. and M.S. in Polymer chemistry from Kyoto University, Japan in 2001.
Director of Technology, Star Thermoplastics Alloys & Rubbers, Inc
Dr. Prakash is the head of product development, application development and analytical chemistry teams at Star. Prakash has led his team for over a decade with successful commercialization of various TPE applications including soft gels and non-halogenated fire-retardant grades. His prior stints at global entities include GE Plastics. Prakash has a Ph.D. in Synthetic Organic Chemistry specializing in Polymers from Loyola University Chicago, MS degree in Analytical Chemistry and Instrumentation from Bangalore University and a BS in Chemistry from St. Joseph’s College, Bangalore University.
Jobs:
10/2020 – until today: Director Technical Service Center at MOCOM Compounds GmbH & Co. KG in Hamburg
05/2020 – 10/2020: Director Technical Service Center at ALBIS PLASTIC GmbH in Hamburg
11/2016 – 04/2020: Product specialist TPE at ALBIS PLASTIC GmbH in Hamburg
04/2013 – 10/2016: Group manager at Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety, and Energy Technology UMSICHT in Oberhausen
01/2009 – 03/2013: Research assistant at Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety, and Energy Technology UMSICHT in Oberhausen
Education:
06/2009 – 11/2015: PhD Thesis with topic “Investigations on plasticizing and foaming of thermoplastic cellulose esters” at Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg
10/2001 – 12/2008: Study of business engineering with focus on plastics engineering and technology at Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg
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