PlasticsNews.com readers who don't see all of our weekly print editions may be wondering what's going on this week with all the profiles of industry CEOs.
The profiles come from our Nov. 23 issue, which was a special report we called our CEO issue. Our reporters profiled 27 CEOs. It was a fun project, and I'm proud of how it turned out.
Consider this: Our profiles included CEOs of some of the largest plastics processors in North America — spread across a wide variety of processes. We also got to show off our global reach, with representatives from China, Austria, India, South Korea and Hong Kong.
Focusing on North America, most U.S. plastics company CEOs are white men, but it's not an exclusive club, and our project reflected that, including five women and one African American man.
Where did the profiles come from? You may recall that a few months ago I put out a call for CEOs interested in participating, and that generated about half the participants. The rest came as suggestions from Plastics News' staff reporters and correspondents. Some of those were CEOs we were already familiar with, but most were executives who we wanted to profile to get to know better.
I learned a lot about the CEOs we featured, including a few who I already knew. I didn't know, for example, that Jeff Kuhman of Glycon Corp. played college football at the University of Vermont, or that Darrell McNair of MVP Plastics Inc. wrestled at Kent State University.
I guess the sports stories always make an impression on me.
I also learned a lot about how Jim Cline got pulled out of retirement and turned around the business at Trex Co. Inc. And that Jon Rich of Berry Plastics Group Inc. has a resume that includes stints at General Electric Co. and Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
So I suppose you could say there's a bit of Stan Gault in Jon Rich.
I encourage you to read all the profiles, there's plenty of fascinating tidbits about the CEOs, their companies and what they think about the future — including their own legacies.
We plan to do the CEO issue again next year, so if you're interested in participating drop me a line, or watch for next year's call for entries.