Paul Blanchard joined IHS Markit Chemicals (formerly CMAI) in 2007 as a senior consultant focused on the launch of the Global Engineering Resins market advisory service. Paul has over 30 years of experience in the engineering plastics business. Prior to joining IHS Chemicals, Paul’s held product management, sales and marketing management and financial management positions at GE Plastics, Clariant, LNP Engineering Plastics and Albis Plastics. Paul began his career with GE in Finance where he held multiple positions, the last of which was manager of finance, composite polymers operation. He has a bachelor’s degree in finance from La Salle University.

James Bos serves as vice president of global purchasing for Yanfeng Automotive Interiors. In this role, he is responsible for leading all purchasing activities on a global basis. Prior to this position, Jim was vice president, purchasing – interiors for Johnson Controls. In July 2015, Johnson Controls and Yanfeng Automotive Trim Systems formed a joint venture for the interiors business of both companies called Yanfeng Automotive Interiors. He joined Johnson Controls in 1985. Jim earned a bachelor’s degree in business from Hope College. Bos also is a graduate of the company’s Leadership Development Program and “eXtreme Learning Program.”

William Crane is a serial entrepreneur and experienced executive in supply chain with demonstrated results starting, launching and enhancing procurement, logistics, supplier quality and manufacturing organizations for startups and established companies globally. He formerly worked in purchasing and business advisory services for Bright Automotive, Grant Thornton and Chrysler Corp. William has an MBA in finance and entrepreneurship from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree in integrated supply management from Western Michigan University.

David Dunford is the vice president of engineering, tooling and global innovation for SRG Global. In this role, David leverages the company’s global footprint to provide customers additional value through delivery of global design and engineering solutions, flawless launch initiatives and new product innovations. He also oversees the Innovation and Advanced Development Centers in Taylor, Mich. Before joining SRG Global, David worked at TK Holdings, an automotive manufacturer of safety restraints and interior trim, and he began his career at Jaguar Cars Limited, first serving as a craft apprentice working his way to principal engineer. David earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Coventry University in England.

Spanning more than 45 years in the automotive industry, Elizabeth Griffith’s career has been diverse. In her role as the director of engineering for Faurecia Interior Systems, Griffith supports a team of 14 people on the GM Global account. Before coming out of retirement to join Faurecia in 2010, Griffith held various positions—among them vice president of advanced engineering and program management—at Magna’s Intier Automotive and as vice president of engineering and program management at Peregrine Inc. Elizabeth’s career began at General Motors, where she was part of the first large class of women to go through the General Motors Institute program. Elizabeth was named one of the “100 Leading Women in Automotive” by Automotive News in both 2005 and 2015. She holds a bahelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from General Motors Institute (Kettering University).

Eric Haiss is the executive vice president of Continental Structural Plastics (CSP), a role he’s held since January 2017, when CSP was acquired by Teijin. In this role, Haiss is responsible for the integration of CSP into Teijin and the alignment of strategies between the two organizations. Eric has been with Teijin in positions of increasing responsibility since joining the company in 2009. Prior to his current position, he served as vice president and a member of the board of directors for Teijin Advanced Composites America. Before joining Teijin, Eric held a number of engineering and sales positions with Tier One suppliers including Nobel Automotive, ITT industries, Solvay and Delphi. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from General Motors Institute (now Kettering) and a master’s degree in labor law from Central Michigan University.

As president and CEO of Harbour Results Inc., Laurie Harbour leads a team of analysts and manufacturing consultants to help small- to medium- sized manufacturers develop short- and long-term strategies, improve their operations, reduce risks and optimize business. Spending most of her life around the manufacturing industry, she utilized her experience and knowledge to found HRI in 2005. Prior to Harbour Results, Laurie was vice president and company officer at Harbour Consulting. Additionally, she was responsible for development and management of The Harbour Report, the landmark study of labor efficiency for automotive OEMs. Laurie earned a bachelor’s degree in operations management and human resources from the University of Michigan-Dearborn and is on the board of directors of Focus: HOPE and a small injection molding company based in Michigan.

Reeshemah Howard is global resin commodity manager at General Motors Corp., where she creates vision and executable action plans for the resin buying team. Throughout her career, Rae has developed and implemented new paint technologies, resolved manufacturing throughput concerns, managed multi-million dollar contract negotiations and led high performance teams. Previously, she was a subject matter expert for phosphate, electrocoat and both liquid and powder primer surfacer paint layers at General Motors. She also headed the Paint Creativity Team and led the Interior Garnish Trim and Overhead Systems purchasing teams to success in supplier relations enhancements and business metrics. Rae holds holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and an MBA with a finance concentration from the University of Michigan.

Jeffrey Helms has been employed by Celanese Corp. in the Engineered Materials business since November 2008 and is the global automotive corporate accounts director. In this role, Jeffrey is responsible for driving and coordinating the growth of Celanese product lines at the OEM level for Celanese priority global OEMs. He previously was employed by Ford Motor Co.and held positions in the Ford Research Laboratory. Jeffrey received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and his Ph. D. in chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In addition, he received an MBA from Michigan State University through the Executive MBA program.

Robert Kinney currently holds the role of vice president of engineering and R & D for Faurecia interior systems (FIS) in North America. In this role, he leads the FIS engineering team, which is comprised of approximately 300 innovation, research, product engineering, product design, and process tooling experts. Prior to joining Faurecia in 2007, Robert was the executive director of engineering, design, development and interior systems integration at Magna International. Robert has had roles at Commercial Intertech, Atlantic Automotive Components and Ford Motor Company. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Lawrence Technological University.

As vice president and publisher of Plastics News, Brennan Lafferty is responsible for all aspects of the brand’s business. Lafferty also serves as group publisher of the eight publications within the Crain Global Polymer Group. Before joining Plastics News in 2013, Brennan served as publisher of Waste & Recycling News, another brand of Crain Communications Inc., based in Detroit. Lafferty joined Crain in 1997. Brennan earned his bachelor’s degree from John Carroll University near Cleveland.

After earning a degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in 1983, Don Loepp worked as a reporter for The Milwaukee Journal in Milwaukee, Wis., at the Daily Press and Times-Herald daily newspapers in Newport News, Va. He joined Plastics News in 1991 as a reporter with beats including packaging, recycling and medical. He was promoted to new editor in 1993, and became managing editor two years later. Don was named Plastics News' editor in 2011.

Robert S. “Steve” Miller is the president, chief executive officer and director of International Automotive Components (IAC) Group, formed in 2006. Steve previously served as chairman of insurance giant American International Group (AIG) from 2010 to 2015 and served as a board member of Federal-Mogul Corp. from 1993 to 2005 and as interim CEO during a portion of that period. He served also as chairman and CEO of Delphi Corp. from 2005 until 2006 and held the executive chairman position from January 2007 until Delphi’s Chapter 11 emergence in 2009. Steve began his automotive career in 1968 at Ford Motor Co. and after more than a decade there joined Chrysler Corp., where he worked for 13 years, eventually serving as vice chairman. He is a graduate of Stanford University and received his J.D. from Harvard Law School and his MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Joel Morales joined IHS Markit in March 2013 to cover polyethylene and polypropylene in North America. He is currently the service leader of three market advisory subscription services: The Global Plastics and Polymers Report, the North American PE Report and the North American PP report. He began his career with polyolefins manufacturer Solvay Polymers, which later became Ineos, in technical services and product development before he was moved into field sales. After five years at Solvay Polymers, Joel moved into resin distribution sales for both Muehlstein and then United Polychem. In his most recent role prior to joining IHS, Joel was a purchasing manager for Silgan Plastics. Joel graduated from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1999 with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and a minor in psychology.

Chris Oster is General Motors’ director of global talent development. In 2010, Chris assumed responsibility for global talent development and began building a new leader approach to bolster the leader body skills, provide learning and professional development for all employees, lead the engagement and Workplace of Choice initiative and foster tools and resources for career development. Chris previously had led global change management and organizational development after serving many divisions of GM in various human resources roles. She has a master’s degree in labor and industrial relations with a human resources emphasis from Michigan State University.

Joe Pryweller leads a team in organizing events, recruiting speakers, creating agendas and moderating sessions for Plastics News' industry-leading conferences. Prior to that, for eight years, Joe was editor of Packaging Strategies, a trade newspaper, where he directed a weekly business newsletter and organized five annual packaging conferences in North America. Before joining Packaging Strategies in 2005, Joe was a senior reporter at Plastics News covering the packaging industry. He also spent three years as the publication's primary automotive reporter in Detroit. Joe has a B.A. degree in Communications from Michigan State University and a masters degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri.

Anita Quillen, along with three others, established Diversified Engineering & Plastics LLC in 2011 as the succession company of MidAmerican Products, Inc. At the end of 2012, she purchased the membership interests of two partners. She now owns a majority of the business, which is a certified Hispanic Woman owned company. She is the president & CEO and oversees day-to-day operations as well as sales and engineering. She joined MidAmerican Products in 2003, working part-time, and advanced rapidly throughout the company from office assistant to eventually becoming executive vice president. She holds a bachelor’s degree in microbiology pre-med and fashion design from Michigan State University, a bachelor’s degree in business from Sienna Heights University and an MBA from Spring Arbor University.

Dr. Ryntz obtained a Ph.D. degree in polymer/organic chemistry from the University of Detroit in 1983. She was employed at various companies (Dow Chemical, DuPont, Ford Motor, Akzo Nobel, and Visteon) prior to her current role as Director of Material Engineering at International Automotive Components (IAC) North America.
Dr. Ryntz served as President of the FSCT from 2005 – 2007 and was elected as a Fellow to the Society of Plastics Engineers in 2006. She currently serves on the board of directors of the Detroit Section of the SPE.

Jeff Schuster is senior vice president of global forecasting at LMC Automotive and a member of the LMC Automotive board of directors. He oversees the entire global light vehicle analytics team and activity for both sales and production forecasting, as well as operations responsibility for the Americas region. Jeff has been tracking and analyzing developments in the global automotive industry for more than 20 years and has been with LMC Automotive since its inception in 2011. Jeff holds a bachelor’s degree in finance and a master’s degree in corporate finance from Walsh College. .

Tim Shih is vice president, design, for Yanfeng Automotive Interiors (YFAI).He is responsible for design strategy, future concepts and the global design team at YFAI’s three studio locations in China, Germany, and the United States. Tim is based at the company’s global headquarters in Shanghai, China. He started his career in 1998 at Volvo Trucks North America as an industrial designer and has worked at the former Johnson Controls and at BMW Group, where he advanced to senior manager, design, for BMW-Brilliance Automotive in Shanghai. Tim holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental design in Architecture from North Carolina State University and completed a one-year post-graduate certificate in vehicle design from the Vehicle Research Institute of Western Washington University.

Sanghamitra Sircar is the global product manager for SMC at Owens Corning (OC). In this role she is responsible for the strategy, new product development, marketing and business of SMC. Besides working on SMC, she also provides leadership to the transportation business within OC for understanding trends that impact composites and the marketing strategy. Sanghamitra has been with OC for the last 18 years and has been in various roles in manufacturing, quality, continuous improvement, technical support and product management/marketing. She has a PhD, from Manchester Materials Science Center in England.

Uday Vaidya serves as chief technology officer for IACMI. He has a joint appointment with The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He is the UT/ORNL Governor's Chair in Advanced Composites Manufacturing. Prior to joining UT/ORNL, Vaidya served as the department chair for materials science & engineering and the center director for the Composites Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Vaidya has more than 28 years of experience in a broad range of composites for defense, transportation and industrial applications. Uday holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from GIT Belgaum and Ph.D. in mechanical and materials engineering from Auburn University.

Paul Spadafora joined Magna Exteriors in 2017 as global vice president of product development. In this role, he focuses on new and improved products in support of business-growth objectives for the company and its customers. Prior to joining Magna, Paul held numerous assignments of increasing responsibility at General Motors Corp. in engineering, program management, purchasing, supplier integration and manufacturing. Most recently, he served as the chief engineer of the all-new 2017 Cadillac XT5 and 2017 GMC Acadia. Paul holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and and master of engineering degree from the University of Detroit Mercy, where he serves on the Board of Advisors. He also has an MBA from Oakland University.