Tessy Plastics Corp. has appointed a new president, Stafford Frearson, to manage day-to-day business operations across 13 locations in New York, Pennsylvania, and Shanghai. Frearson has worked with Tessy since 1997, most recently as vice president of engineering.
Roland Beck, owner, former president of Skaneateles, N.Y.-based injection molder Tessy and the son of founder, Henry Beck, becomes CEO.
"This has been in the works for about a year and a half," Roland Beck told Plastics News in an interview. "I had picked [Frearson] … to be my successor. There's not going to be any big sudden changes."
Since that decision, Beck said, Frearson has taken on "more and more" responsibilities as Beck has stepped back.
Roland Beck took over as Tessy's president in 2002 after his father, Henry, had held the position for "nearly 30 years," the release said.
In the 20 years that Roland Beck held the role, Tessy "changed a lot," he said. "We're much more technically advanced, a lot of automation."
"I was a good molder and understood tooling. … [Frearson] works really well with our technical staff. He can answer all the questions for our most technical customers. He's definitely ready for it."
"We've had plenty of time to spend together, we meet often discussing the future," Frearson told PN. "The transition should be pretty simple and smooth. Business as usual for most everybody."
"I am excited to work beside Stafford to continue building on our success," Beck said in a Sept. 19 news release. "I am confident that he will continue to lead the company towards the sustained growth we have had our first 50 years in business.
"Throughout my career, I've been privileged to work alongside some of the most talented people in the injection molding industry," Frearson said in the release. "I am excited for the next chapter in my career with Tessy and to continue building on the success of both Henry and Roland."
Frearson began his career working part time at a mold manufacturer through high school and college in England. He moved to Syracuse, N.Y., to begin his time at Tessy in 1997.
He worked in various management roles, including engineering manager for the tooling group and project tooling engineer, managing injection mold builds for Tessy's medical business, until he was promoted to vice president of engineering in 2018.
Frearson oversaw the research and development, tooling, engineering, automation and information technology departments. Frearson also managed the acquisitions of two Tessy subsidiaries: Tessy Automation and Tessy Tooling.
"Roland has ... led Tessy's monumental growth to over $500 million in annual sales and has grown the business to eight facilities in entral New York, three in Webster, N.Y., one in Erie, Pa., one in Meadville, Pa., and two in Shanghai, China," the release said. "Beck and Frearson have worked alongside each other and created an incomparable approach to influencing and progressing the company."
Tessy is No. 16 in the most recent Plastics News ranking of North American injection molders with $502.6 million in annual sales in the region. It was PN's Processor of the Year in 2000.