La Jolla, Calif. — Frank Pogson of Plastek Group was named Plastics News' Chief Financial Officer of the Year.
Plastek is an Erie, Pa.-based injection molder and toolmaker. Pogson has been the company's CFO since 2022.
Asked how his role has changed, Pogson said “it’s definitely grown.”
“I mean, 30 percent of my time is dealing with closing the books, working with auditors, working with bankers, but it’s so much more,” Pogson said in a March 12 panel discussion at the PN Executive Forum in La Jolla.
“The rest of my time is working with the leadership. So I live in the world of AI and cyber security and worrying about if we’re doing everything that we need to do.”
Pogson said a lot of his time is spent on strategic planning.
“What’s going to happen in the next five to 10 years? It’s quite exciting,” he said.
Plastek was founded in 1956 by Joseph Prischak and specializes in plastics packaging for personal care, home care, food & beverage, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical packaging. The company ranks as No. 21 in PN’s annual sales-based listing of North American injection molders, with sales in the region of $445 million.
In addition to the United States and Mexico, the company has plants in England and Brazil.
Plastek is currently managed by the second generation of the Prischak family, and Pogson said a third generation is moving into leadership roles.
The other two CFO of the year finalists were Misti Hagy of Fawn Industries Inc. and Eric Lanz of Morris Packaging LLC.
Fawn Industries is a full-service supplier of decorative injection molded plastic components and assemblies, as well as metal-fabricated components based in Hunt Valley, Md., with manufacturing facilities in Chihuahua, Mexico, and Shenzhen, China.
Morris Packaging is a Bloomington, Ill.-based manufacturer of flexible packaging with plants in Jefferson City, Mo., and Plymouth, Minn.
Nominations were judged by Plastics News along with an independent panel of professional financial practitioners. Criteria included leadership, ethics, business growth, strategic transactions, challenges met and industry/civic contributions.
Previous Plastics News CFO of the Year winners include Shane O'Keeffe of Mergon Group; Jim Beadle of Teel Plastics LLC, Angela Breitbach of Radius Packaging (previously known as Schoeneck Containers Inc.), LaStacia Dalton of Zeon Chemicals LP, Michael Plotzke of Plastipak Holdings Inc., Paul Hogan of Nelipak Healthcare Packaging, Glenn Fish of Tekni-Plex Inc., and Morgan Endecott of Innovative Injection Technologies Inc., also known as i2tech.
The sponsors of the 2025 CFO of the Year award were P&M Corporate Finance and Plante & Moran PLLC.