PPA Adds Four to 2015 Membership Roster

The Plastics Pioneers Association (PPA), McHenry, Ill.,  this month announced that four new members have been selected to join the organization.

The new inductees are:

Stan Glover: Glover currently is director of sales for Zeiger Industries, Canton, Ohio, where he has been employed for 15 years. In this role, he is responsible for all sales and promotion of Zeiger’s screw tips and end caps for injection molding. Glover also worked nine years for Crucible Materials Corp., where he was responsible for all sales and marketing, and new product development. He also worked for Herzog Corp. as vice president of sales, responsible for the company’s sales of injection molding shut-off nozzles in North America.       

Glover routinely speaks around the world on issues concerning wear and corrosion technologies related to injection molding. He has also been actively involved in writing The Society of the Plastics Industry’s (SPI) Machinery Safety Standards since 1997. He has been a member of the SPI Equipment Council, serving a term as vice chairman; the SPI Equipment Council Executive Committee; the SPI Board of Directors; the NPE Operations Committee; and has been a member of the NPE Rules and Regulations Team the last three NPE show cycles.

Alexander (Sandy) Guthrie: Guthrie has been involved in the plastics machinery business for more than 35 years. He started his career in New Jersey at Sterling Extruder, where he worked for 11 years, rising to the position of director of sales. He was also co-founder, CEO and president of Connecticut-based Merritt Davis/Merritt Extruder/Merritt Electric. When Merritt was sold to Davis-Standard, Pawcatuck, Conn. in 2010, Guthrie was retained as Davis’ business director.

For the last four years, Guthrie has been president and CEO of ADG Solutions, Fairfield, Conn., a company he founded that represents numerous other machine builders focused on plastics recycling.

Guthrie has been a member of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) for 25 years. He has been involved in numerous committees for the SPI for the last 12 years, including the National Board of Directors, the executive board of the Equipment Council, the treasurer of the Equipment Council, the Committee for Equipment Statistics, and the Recycling Committee. Guthrie has also served three terms on the board of the Wire Association.

Dr. Charles Pratt. Over a career that spanned five decades, polymer veteran Pratt held technology and R&D leadership positions for DuPont, G.E. Plastics (now SABIC) and Owens Corning. Pratt has been an SPE member for 36 years. From 2010-2011 he served as president of the Pacific Northwest Section, and sits on its board today. He has also been a member of the American Chemical Society and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. Pratt is the holder of 19 patents and currently is a consultant based in Gig Harbor, Washington.

Charles Sears: Sears has been in plastics machinery since 1980, having served in numerous management positions for Polymer Machinery, Automated Assemblies, and AEC/Nelmor. Since 1984, Sears has been president of Dri-Air Industries, East Windsor, Conn, a company that he and his wife Esther founded. Today, Dri-Air has desiccant-bed drying equipment running at plastics processing plants all over the world. Sears has been involved with the SPI and SPE in many capacities over the years. At SPI, he is currently a member of the Auxiliary Equipment and Standards Committees.

The four officially joined the group during its bi-annual meeting, held Feb. 19-23 in San Antonio.

The PPA also announced that long-time SPE official Gail Bristol was named president of the organization. Veteran machinery executives Al Hodge and Wolfgang Meyer were named vice president and secretary, and Ashley Rice was appointed treasurer.

Founded in 1944, the PPA is a non-profit organization with a roster of more than 200 members, all of whom have at least 25 years of experience in plastics. The group’s primary purpose is to award scholarships to students seeking a career in plastics and to preserve the history of the industry.