PPA names four new members

McHenry, Ill. — The Plastics Pioneers Association has announced four new members: David Furholmen, Greg Hannoosh, Robert Malloy and Jeff Mengel.

PPA announced the new inductees at the group's meeting in Charleston, S.C., March 15-19.

​ David Furholmen, who earned a bachelor's degree from Northwestern University, has been active in the plastics industry since 1963, when he started his own business, Furnel Inc., as a sales representative for thermoplastic and thermoset molded parts. He sold the firm in 1996, but stayed on with the new owners until he retired in 2001.

Furholmen has been active in the Society of Plastics Engineers since 1971, serving in various roles on the board of directors of the Chicago section. He has presented numerous instructional seminars and earned several SPE awards.

Greg Hannoosh received a bachelor's degree in journalism from St. Michael's College in Winooski, Vt., in 1981 and began his plastics career in 1986 as marketing communications manager for Kona Corp. in Gloucester, Mass. In 1992 he became director of marketing communications for Dynisco Inc., Franklin, Mass. In 1996, Hannoosh started Next Step Communications Inc., a full-service marketing and public relations firm serving clients in industries including plastics, packaging and electronics. He has been joined by his son Mitch in this business endeavor.

Hannoosh has been a member of SPE since 1997. He has won several advertising awards from plastics trade magazines for design and readership.

Robert Malloy, professor emeritus at the plastics engineering department at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. He earned a bachelor's degree, and doctorate's degrees in both in plastics engineering and polymer science from UMass Lowell. He joined the UMass Lowell faculty in 1987.

Malloy is a member of the Plastics Hall of Fame.

Malloy has been president of the New England Section of SPE, past president of the SPE Molding Division and a member of the American Society of Engineering Education. An SPE fellow, he has received the society's International Award for education. He holds 14 patents and has written 65 journal and conference papers.

Malloy also worked with the Plastics Pioneers Association to establish its first endowed scholarship at UMass Lowell, helping to set up what is now PPA's first self-funding scholarship for PPA. He has continued to supports his alma mater by serving on dozens of UMass Lowell service committees, including serving as chair of the Graduate Policy and Affairs Committee.

Jeff Mengel earn a bachelor's degree in accounting from Michigan State University. He is a partner at Plante & Moran, where he leads the plastics industry team.

Mengel has more than 30 years of experience in providing consulting services in operational and strategic planning, tax planning and financial audits.

Mengel conducts the North American Plastics Industry Study, which benchmarks performance metrics of plastics companies. He has extended this level of benchmarking to the food and beverage industry. He has also been active in such plastic industry organizations as the Plastics Industry Association, SPE and the Manufacturers Association of Plastics Processors.

Founded in 1944, the PPA is a non-profit organization with a roster of more than 160 members, all of whom have at least 20 years of experience in plastics. The group's primary purpose is to award scholarships to students seeking a career in plastics, to provide grants to various plastics educational programs, and to preserve the plastics industry's history.