During the last spring meeting of the US “Plastics Pioneers Association” (PPA) the board of the Association welcomed eight new members. The event organized in April 10-13 in Santa Fe, N.M. New inductees are: Mike Friend, Wayne Hertlein, Ed Laird, Chris Landis, Mike Mattina, Ron Oberstar, Lynnette Russo and Ed Schott.
Mike Friend
Friend has had a long career in the plastics industry in Arizona. After graduating from Arizona State University in 1978 with a mechanical engineering degree, he worked for custom injection molder Pixley Richards Inc. in Tempe, Ariz.
In 1988, Friend left Pixley Richards and joined Top-Seal Corp., a proprietary molder of caps and closures that was then part of Tech Group Inc. He left Tech Group two years later and founded UPT Plastics Group. Working with a group of partners, UPT grew to $12 million in sales by 1999.
When ATP Engineered Plastics bought UPT Plastics in 2000, Friend stayed on for nearly three years during the transition as president and general manager.
After a brief retirement, he founded Integrity Mold Inc. in Tempe in 2005, growing the company to $10 million in sales. Westfall Technique Inc. bought Integrity Mold in 2017. Friend manages the business as vice president and general manager.
Friend was sponsored by PPA members George Yule and Wendy Hoenig.
Wayne Hertlein
Hertlein has more than 40 years of experience in molds and tooling for automotive, telecommunications, military and medical applications. That includes prototyping and production tools for close-tolerance, high precision molds, mold construction, processing and engineering, and product development.
Hertlein currently is the tooling manager at Letica Corp. in Rochester, Mich. He has worked at many plastics companies, including Wilbert Plastic Services, MMI Engineered Solutions, IAC Group and Plastech Engineered Products Inc.
Hertlein is very interested in plastics industry education and learning. He is an avid historian who has a collection of more than 8,000 books about the industry.
PPA members Glenn Beall and Fred Steil sponsored Hertlein.
Ed Laird
Laird has worked in plastics coatings for more than five decades. He received a polymer science degree from RM Technical Institute and began working at Chrysler Coatings lab.
He gained much experience in both automotive and aircraft coatings, and eventually started Laird Coatings Corp.
Laird is now a consultant for air-quality standards for coatings. Currently, his company, in an alliance with PPG Industries, is building a $14 million facility for painting plastics.
He has served as president of the Society of Plastics Engineers’ Southern California Section. In 1992, he received the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc.’s Western Region Distinguished Service Award. Laird was the 2018 Hall of Fame honoree for the Western Plastics Pioneers Association.
PPA members Lance Neward and George Yule sponsored Laird.
Chris Landis
Landis began his career designing advertising for a national dealer of used plastics machinery. By 1978, he was the founding partner of Coast Polymers, which soon became a pioneer trader in recycled and virgin wide-spec plastics. Running granulators and extruders, he introduced novel methods of scrap collection, sorting and cleaning.
Bamberger Polymers Corp. bought Coast Polymers in 1992. Phasing out of the recycling business, Coast managed local resin distribution for Bamberger. Over 26 years, Landis built the western region, adding a sales team to ultimately sell more than a billion pounds of commodity plastics.
Landis is active in community service. Using his degree in art, he led the local Parent Teacher Association “Art Reflections” program, holding children’s workshops and competitions. As president of the high school band boosters, he helped raise more than $75,000 to buy a trailer, kilts and instruments.
Landis recently retired from Bamberger. He plans to reinvent his creative career in the arts.
He was sponsored by PPA members JoNell Kelly and Dennis Don.
Mike Mattina
Mattina graduated from Stephen F. Austin University in 1985 with a bachelor of business administration in finance and a minor in chemistry. He started his 32-year plastics career at Exxon Chemical Co. in 1985.
While at Exxon from 1985 to 1991, Mattina was involved in many roles, including financial analyst for olefins, sales representative for polyethylene and polypropylene, technical service for PE films and market development for PE.
From 1991 to 1999, Mattina worked at Chevron Chemical Co., initially in PE sales and market development and later as product manager for HDPE injection and blow molding products. From 1999 to 2001, he worked for Muehlstein Compounded Products as marketing manager.
From 2001 to 2017, he worked at Westlake Chemical Corp. He was vice president for polyethylene, president and general manager of Westlake’s North American PVC pipe division and senior vice president for PE and corporate supply chain.
PPA members Mark Bruner and Dennis Don sponsored Mattina.
Ron Oberstar
Oberstar started off in plastics in 1976 with Harshaw Chemical. Under the tutelage of color expert Robert Charvat, he spend his formative years in Harshaw’s technical services department learning the basics of color pigment performance in various resins.
After a few years in technical service, while attending night school at John Carroll University, he earned a degree in both chemistry and business administration. Then he moved into customer service and sales.
Oberstar relocated to California in a sales capacity for Harshaw and from there moved upward with BASF and Dainichiseika Chemical Co. Ltd., with sales responsibility for the western United States, before becoming sales manager for the Americas.
After 20 years in sales and management, and as a result of mergers and acquisitions activity, Oberstar started his own business, forming Fortune International Technology, which is a sourcing agent and chemical distribution company specializing in color pigments, pearlescent pigments, plastics additives and process equipment.
PPA members Dennis Meade and Stu Swain sponsored Oberstar.
Lynette Russo
Russo enjoyed a 39-year career in the plastics industry, working for Bamberger Polymers in sales and marketing of commodity resins, where she experienced the growth and change of industry.
She witnessed an era of growth where processors’ trial and error paved the pathway for the continued improvement of resins and processes.
Russo’s various responsibilities at Bamberger eventually led to a focus on sales. She sold to end-users in the south and southeast regions of the United States and to accounts throughout the country. She also handled export traders focusing on resin needs for India, Africa and the Far East.
She is a member of Bamberger’s Million Dollar Club. She was an SPE member from 1984 to 2015.
Russo is well-known for organizing and hosting the Frank Padula Memorial (SPE) Golf Outing from 2001 to 2016, a fund raiser for education at several Texas universities.
Ed Schott
Schott has more than 46 years of experience in the plastics industry. After graduating from Lakeland University in Wisconsin, he served four years in the U.S. Army. Then he joined Gulf Oil Chemical Co. in its polyethylene plant in Orange, Texas. He worked in various roles in sales, moving to Indianapolis, Dallas, Cincinnati and back to Houston.
As the company merged with Chevron and then later with Conoco Phillips, Schott took on larger and different roles. He worked not only in olefins but also in the aromatics division. He spent many years managing distributor sales for non-prime resins in domestic and overseas markets.
Schott was a member of the SPI and SPE for all of those years, and he regularly participated in group outings. In addition to work, he active in his community. He has served on various Home Association board of directors, is Sergeant of Arms at his local VFW, and works with Habitat for Humanity.
He and his wife are very active in their church, and he enjoys playing golf and working out at the gym.
