After graduating from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts with a bachelor's degree in management engineering and concentration in chemistry, Casey Tsougranis was hired as a business development manager at Mack Molding.
She previously interned in program management with the company and "was fortunate to get a lot of firsthand exposure to the validation process of a large tooling package for the orthopedic industry." Her summer spent at Mack helped develop her interest in the molding processes, which has grown in the past decade.
In 2022, she was promoted to the director of business development at Mack Prototype Inc., a subsidiary of Mack Molding.
"I head up all new business development coming into our prototype division in Gardner, Mass.," said Tsougranis, who is based in New Hampshire. "My responsibilities include identifying, driving and executing sales and growth; establishing and growing customer relationships; developing business plans and sales strategies for each market segment to align with company goals; and outlining and driving marketing strategies to support sales activities.
"In addition to plastic injection molding, additive manufacturing and cast urethane molding, Mack Prototype specializes in CNC [computer numerically controlled] machining, finishing and painting, and new product introduction services," she added.
Her biggest challenge is working to gain more brand recognition around Mack Prototype. Before she joined, there was no focus on growth, "so working to educate existing customers, potential new customers, vendors and general industry colleagues who we are, what we do and have them entrust their new products with us or think of us when they need a part manufactured has been a hurdle." The support of company leadership has enabled her to work with key personnel and advocate for the brand, she added.
Tsougranis said she is most proud of the fact that, as a younger woman in a male-dominated industry, she has succeeded in her career thus far, something she said she is "and will always be" working toward.
"I have built my technical and business acumen to prove myself as a leader/ decision-maker in C-level discussions and have become promoted to a director to lead a strategic growing business segment, focused on prototyping and low-volume manufacturing," she said.
Tsougranis said she looks up to her parents; her mother works at Mack "and has had an extremely successful career in plastics," and her father established himself in the software industry in the 1990s before starting his own athletic training facility from scratch. "My parents both have worked harder than most to succeed, and growing up surrounded by such driven, passionate hardworking people has shaped me into who I am today."