Bill Carteaux Passes Away
Early on the morning of December 10, Bill Carteaux, president and CEO of the Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS) passed away due to complications from acute myeloid leukemia (AML). He was 59.
Carteaux was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in 2016, undergoing multiple rounds of chemotherapy and a bone-marrow transplant to treat it. The disease had gone into remission, before returning in July 2017 and again in November 2018. Carteaux had most recently been receiving treatment at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Annandale, Va.
In a statement, Susan Krys, PLASTICS VP Trade Shows and Marketing, said the association’s officers of the board have asked Patty Long, currently chief operating officer, to step in as interim President & CEO. PLASTICS said it would provide further information about transition plans in the future.
Carteaux took charge of PLASTICS in February 2005, shepherding the association through the economic downturn of 2009, including the successful staging of PLASTICS trademark triennial event, NPE, in Chicago that year, despite widespread economic uncertainty and travel fears boosted by global “Swine flu” pandemic.
Under Carteaux’s direction, PLASTICS and its biggest event, NPE, underwent tremendous change, including a name change from the Society of the Plastics Industry, and the decision to move NPE from Chicago and McCormick Place—its home since 1971—to Orlando and the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC) in 2012.
Carteaux also sought to raise PLASTICS’ stature as an advocate for the industry, pulling together different groups and companies within the industry to collaborate on combating anti-plastics information and legislation, including work against bag bans and efforts to curb plastics debris in the oceans. He also sought to bring associations together for the mutual benefit of the plastics industry globally, most recently working alongside Canada’s and Mexico’s trade associations to present a united front on the renegotiation of NAFTA.
On the advocacy front, Carteaux and PLASTICS rolled out the This Is Plastics campaign at NPE2018 this May in Orlando, seeking to give industry participants the knowledge and resources to vouch for plastics in the public sphere.
Prior to leading PLASTICS, Carteaux held leadership positions at multiple plastics machinery manufacturers, including time as president and CEO of Demag Plastics Group (1998-2005) and president of Autojectors (1990-1998). Carteaux graduated with a BS from Purdue University in 1984; he later earned an MBA from Indiana Wesleyan. Carteaux also served as a board member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as well as the National Association of Manufacturers.
