Names in the news, Jan. 30

Roger Stehr has been appointed managing director of Automatik Holding GmbH (Grossostheim, Germany), assuming overall responsibility for the coordination of corporate development within the Automatik Group. He will also serve as a co-managing director of pelletizing machinery manufacturer Automatik Plastics Machinery GmbH, alongside the current managing director, Harald Zang.

Automatik Plastics Machinery GmbH is the former Rieter Automatik GmbH, with the name changed last year soon after it was acquired by Swiss equity investor CSC Management AG (Pfäffikon) from Switzerland’s Rieter Group.

Stehr has climbed the corporate ladder at a number of firms over the last decade. He moved from blowmolding machinery manufacturer Bekum (Berlin, Germany) to take a post as technology director at one of Bekum’s competitors, then called Krupp Kautex. It was acquired by SIG and he became managing director of SIG Kautex until its sale to a finance investor, at which point he moved to take management roles at film conversion machinery manufacturer Jagenberg.

Vassili Modlinski has been named general manager of Wittmann Battenfeld’s Russian sales and service subsidiary, OOO Battenfeld Injection Molding Russia. Modlinski has been active in the Russian plastics industry for more than 15 years, including as a sales engineer for the Moscow office of Wemex GmbH from 1993 to 2003; from 2003 to 2006 for the Russian subsidiary of KraussMaffei as its sales manager for injection molding technology; and since 2006 as head of the extrusion and recycling technology product groups at the Moscow branch of Siegfried Schumacher GmbH.

Plastics films and foams processor Toray Plastics (America) Inc. (North Kingstown, RI) has named Richard Schloesser as the company’s chief executive. He is the first American to fill that position. Toray Plastics (America) is a subsidiary of Japanese chemicals and textiles manufacturer Toray.

Last June, Schloesser was named the company’s first American president and COO. As CEO he succeeds Kojiro Maeda, who returns to Japan to assume the deputy general manager position in Toray Industries’ films division. Schloesser joined Toray Plastics (America) in 1990 after working at ExxonMobil Chemical.

Film-extrusion equipment supplier Gloucester Engineering Co. (Gloucester, MA) has hired Scott Ryan as its process manager, making him responsible for technical and process support of all Gloucester technologies. Ryan has 32 years of experience in manufacturing and management, including his most recent work with competitor Kiefel Inc., where he was the technical sales manager for blown-film equipment.

Telles, the bioresin-producing joint venture of Metabolix and Archer Daniels Midland Co., has appointed Robert Engle as general manager. Engle joins Telles from thermoplastics supplier Ticona, where he worked for the last 10 years, most recently as VP of affiliate management.

The Polymer Chemistry Division of the American Chemical Society has awarded Frank Kelley with the 2008 Paul J. Flory Polymer Education Award, its highest honor. Kelley is dean emeritus of The University of Akron College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering. Kelley studied at the university and, after work with Goodyear Tire & Rubber and Union Carbide, returned to teach there in 1978.

Thermoset plastics compounder Menzolit has hired Roberto Lazzari as a sales manager for Italy and Southeastern Europe. He will be responsible for customers in Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Greece, Romania, and Bulgaria—countries Menzolit considers major growth markets, especially for automotive, electrical, sanitary, and building applications. Lazzari comes to Menzolit after stints at Rio Tinto Borax, Lonza Polymers Intermediates, and Interexport Italia.—[email protected]