People &
Places
Professional Plastics celebrated three promotions for long-time employees and announced several new hires.
Kim Ansel has been promoted to inside sales manager based in Seattle, WA. Ansel has worked for the company for more than ten years and has continually grown her expertise and responsibilities. In her new role, she is responsible for managing inside sales representatives to achieve a business plan that includes markets, key accounts and target accounts. Her continuous contributions, ambition, and extensive knowledge of the location and plastics industry, makes her the perfect fit for the job.
Beth Gee-Knotts, a new inside sales representative, is responsible for building and maintaining relationships with customers in the Northeast Georgia area. She plans to create new business, focus on customer retention, establish post-sales relationships and follow up with clients to ensure all expectations are met. Knotts brings 13 years of plastics distribution experience to her new role and she looks forward to becoming an integral part of the ProPlas team.
In his new position as Territory Manager, Tyler Metcalf will identify and develop new sales opportunities, expand current business, assess challenges and provide solutions to customers. He is based in Houston, TX, where he’ll focus on selling the Professional Plastics portfolio in the East Houston and Louisiana regions. Metcalf is excited to build upon his previous industry experience, market knowledge and skills to achieve continued success in high-performance plastics.
Bradley Pancoast has been named the new business manager of the Professional Plastics Cleveland, OH branch after exceling as a top-performing inside sales representative for the past four years. He will grow the business and manage the day-to-day operations of the branch, which serves the OH, MI, IN, KY, WV and western PA territory. Pancoast says he is grateful to work for a company that cares about its employees and promotes growth from within. He is excited to take this next step in his career and continue to work hard to help his branch, and the company, excel.
Gabe Purcell has been promoted to the new role of sustainability specialist to strenghten the company’s focus on environmental, health and safety. After 14 years of service, he will now focus on measuring and reducing consumption and waste to lessen the overall environmental impact. Additionally, Purcell will ensure that the majority of the products sold, and the scrap generated, are reprocessed and repurposed whenever possible.
Based in Sacramento, CA, new inside sales representative Fred Schifano will provide customers with quality products and services to achieve overall satisfaction. He aims to strengthen customer relations and enhance the overall company experience with each interaction. Schifano’s vision is to boost sales at the Sacramento branch while supporting the other branches in any way he can, to help grow the business with his customer-focused mindset.
Dave Snyder joined Professional Plastics as a territory manager in Cleveland, OH. He will cover sales in the Ohio and Kentucky regions, where he has worked throughout his career. His goal is to increase the company’s footprint by focusing on key markets and targeted accounts. Snyder has over 20 years of sales experience to apply to his new position. He is very familiar with the territory and the plastics industry, and is confident he can create success in those concentrated areas.
Interstate Advanced Materials is pleased to announce the promotion of two key members at their Sacramento, CA location.
Randy Black was promoted to branch manager of Interstate Advanced Material’s Sacramento facility. With over 30 years of service at Interstate Advanced Materials, Randy has been a pivotal contributor to Interstate Advanced Material Sacramento’s success and will lead the Sacramento team moving forward. Randy has displayed exceptional dedication to the company’s values and initiatives. Interstate Advanced Materials is confident that he will thrive in his new role.
Sony Dhillon was promoted to general manager. Sony began his career with Interstate Advanced Materials as inside sales and developed into a key contributor and true leader overseeing Interstate Advanced Material’s Sacramento location as branch manager. His success as a branch manager, with the focus on sales and branch operations, will be a great asset to Interstate Advanced Materials and all of its locations.
Ben
Smalley
Ben Smalley has been promoted to the new director of business development at SEKISUI KYDEX, LLC. Smalley will lead the business development team to growth in their strategic markets as well as new emerging markets. Smalley has spent the last six years building his network and guiding the SEKISUI KYDEX, LLC, aviation and design teams reimagining the way they collaborate with customers.
Smalley commented, “I am honored for the opportunity to lead our business development strategy and continue to grow within our organization. I look forward to learning more about other areas of our business and leading our teams into new markets and applications.”
IAPD – the performance plastics association, is pleased to welcome three new members to the association:
Mr. Plastic, Inc. – Distributor
Paneltim USA LLC – Manufacturer
Polymer Components – Manufacturer
Asahi/America, Inc. is pleased to announce the expansion of their team with two new hires.
Mike West joined Asahi/America on January 3, 2023 as district sales manager for the Midwest sales region comprised of Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota.
West will assist distributors and engineers with sales and specification efforts for Asahi/America’s full family of thermoplastic fluid flow products, including valves, actuators, as well as industrial, environmental and high purity piping. West has a background in water and wastewater treatment plant installations and brings a solid knowledge of valve and actuation sales.
Robert Cloutier has been hired as a valve and actuation team manager to its technical service team, effective as of February 27, 2023.
Cloutier will be responsible for developing and managing the company’s portfolio of manual and actuated valves, and accessory offerings in alignment with evolving market, industry and related regulations. He will be working closely with the sales team to support customers’ industrial valve applications.
Cloutier has experience in chemical manufacturing and custom equipment builders for the water treatment market. Among his credentials, Cloutier holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from Plymouth State University. He is also a certified Massachusetts Class II Physical/Chemical Industrial Waste Operator.