AUTOLIV INC. - Automotive safety systems group Autoliv of Stockholm, Sweden, appointed S. Jay Stewart chairman, replacing former chairman and chief executive officer Gunnar Bark who retired in April. Stewart has been an Autoliv board member since 1997. The company also appointed Magnus Lindquist, chief financial officer of Swedish chemicals and materials technology group Perstorp AB, as Autoliv's CFO and vice president. Autoliv also named Tetsuo Sekiya, president and CEO of Tokyo-based global bearing company NSK Ltd., to the board of directors, and named Hans-Goran Patring vice president for human resources. Patring, who is group vice president of human resources at the global automation division of ABB Group of Zurich, Switzerland, will join Autoliv in September 2001.
BESPAK PLC - The King's Lynn, England-based medical device manufacturer named Mark Throdahl chief executive officer, replacing Peter Chambre. Throdahl joins after 12 years with healthcare device company Becton Dickinson.
BRITISH VITA PLC - The Middleton, England-based foam, sheet and compounding company named Huub van Beijeren to the board to take over responsibility for worldwide cellular polymer operations. The company also appointed David Outen chief executive officer and John Salmon head of sales and marketing at Doeflex-Vitapol, the merged PVC compounding business of Vita subsidiary Vita Thermoplastic Compounds Ltd. Outen was previously business manager at Doeflex Vinyl Ltd. in Swindon, England, while Salmon was responsible for sales at the same business.
CANADIAN PLASTICS INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION - The Mississauga, Ontario-based group gave its 2001 Leader of the Year Award to Alan Power, president and chief executive officer of plastic auto parts molder Decoma International Inc. of Concord, Ontario. CPIA also honored two other people with Canplast awards for their commitment to and support of the plastics industry: Gilles Decelles, president of MAC Closures Inc. of Waterloo, Quebec; and Janet Jarvela, public policy communications manager for Dow Chemical Canada Inc. of Calgary, Alberta.
CLARION TECHNOLOGIES INC. - The Holland, Mich.-headquartered injection molder named Mark Copping chief financial officer, Jeff Norr vice president of engineering and technology, Tony Norko vice president of purchasing and John Brownlow vice president of sales. Copping joins the company from Avon Rubber and Plastics Inc., and Norr and Norko both join from Johnson Controls Inc.
COLLINS AND AIKMAN CORP. - The Troy, Mich., supplier of automotive floor and acoustic systems, fabric, interior trim and convertible tops named Mark Allen director of Midwest plastics operations, Andrew Halls director of Canadian plastics operations, Ken Telfer director of lean manufacturing of plastics, David Ball plant manager for Stratford, Ontario, and Charles Thompson plant manager for St. Joseph, Mich.
CREATEC CORP. - Alan Lewis was named president of the Indianapolis custom foam molder for automotive and packaging markets. Lewis takes over for his father, Richard, who founded the company.
GUSMER MACHINERY GROUP - The Lakewood, N.J.-based supplier of equipment for polyurethane foam production named Michael Kolibas president of Gusmer Corp. and Gerret Peters Jr. vice president of Gusmer Corp.
SILBERLINE MANUFACTURING CO. INC. - Joseph Dowd was named executive vice president for the Tamaqua, Pa.-based supplier of effect pigments. Dowd joins the company from BASF, where he most recently served as director of manufacturing for dispersions and paper chemicals.
SONY DISC MANUFACTURING - Michael Mitchell was appointed vice president and general manager of the Terre Haute, Ind., facility, which makes prerecorded optical discs.
TRANSILWRAP CO INC. - The Chicago-based supplier of plastic sheet and film named Dick Crowell operations manager for the manufacturing division.
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TEKNOR COLOR CO., a Pawtucket, R.I.-headquartered supplier of color concentrates, named Joseph Majewski western regional sales manager, William Clarke business development manager and Stephanie Fromm sales representative. ... Fred Steil, manager of mechanical engineering and technical services for Madison Heights, Mich.-based D-M-E CO., a supplier of mold tooling, mold components, hot-runner systems and electronic controls, was awarded the company's first annual I.T. Quarnstrom Spirit of Technology award. ... Farmington Hills, Mich.-headquartered REGLOPLAS USA, a supplier of temperature control units, named Mitch Newton engineering service manager. ... Dan Choi was named director of sourcing for CLARIANT MASTERBATCHES, a Charlotte, N.C., supplier of color and additive masterbatches.