Names in the news: Reifenhauser, Conair, LyondellBasell, Stork, and Chase Plastics

Robert Weeks has been named president of the Reifenhäuser Group's U.S. subsidiary Reifenhauser Inc. (Danvers, MA). Weeks' background includes a lengthy stint as an executive at the former Battenfeld Gloucester Engineering Co. Inc. He comes to Reifenhäuser from the flat-die extrusion manufacturer, Cloeren Inc.

Dori Raybuck has been named director of marketing at the Conair Group, where she has served in a variety of marketing roles since joining the company in 1994. Most recently, Raybuck worked as the marketing communications manager. In her new position, she is responsible for all promotional and technical marketing/communications activities, including advertising, public relations, tradeshows, print materials, technical documentation, digital media, and the company website.

Raybuck holds a bachelor's degree in communications, with a concentration in marketing, from Clarion University of Pennsylvania. Prior to joining Conair, she worked for several newspapers as a staff writer and as an advertising account manager.

LyondellBasell has named Tim Roberts its senior VP for olefins and polyolefins in the Americas region. Roberts will be based in Houston; he comes to LyondellBasell from Americas Styrenics LLC, a joint venture between the Dow Chemical and Chevron Phillips Chemical, where he was president. He holds a bachelor of science degree from Ball State University.

Stork Climax Research Services has hired on two new researchers, with Ganiyu Jaiyeola added to Stork's Corrosion and Metallurgical Engineer and Todd Menna becoming the engineering manager for Stork Technimet (New Berlin, WI). Menna is an active member of the American Society of Materials (ASM) and the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE), as well as being a committee member of ASTM International's plastic piping systems and consumer products committees.

North American distributor of engineered, specialty, and commodity resin, Chase Plastics (Clarkston, MI) has recently added 21 sales and administrative staff. The company says it has enjoyed sustained growth during the last two years, despite volatility in resin supplies and pricing, and an overall market marked by distributor consolidations and closings.

"The downturn in 2008 forced us to take an objective look at what Chase Plastics was, and what it would be going forward," said Kevin Chase, president and founder of Chase Plastics. "We determined that we wanted to focus 100% on our key strength: distribution. Our passion has always been to deliver unmatched customer service and value to plastic processors throughout North America. Now, we've realigned all of our business operations in that direction, and it's paid off."