Conference Committee Members

Conference Chairs

Neil Fuenmayor
LyondellBasell (Retired)
SPE Detroit Section President
nfuenmayor (at) auto-tpo.com

Rob Philp
Sirmax
rphilp (at) sirmax.com

Michael Balow
Auxin Consulting
mbalow (at) auto-tpo.com 

Technical Program Chairs

Dr. Norm Kakarala
SPE Fellow
nkakarala (at) auto-tpo.com

SPE Detroit Section / Conference Coordinator

Karen Rhodes-Parker
SPE Detroit Section

Phone: +1.248.244.8993 ext. 3
karen (at) auto-tpo.com 

Operations, A/V, and Website Lead

Rob Philp
Sirmax
rphilp (at) sirmax.com

House / Venue Management

Bill Windschief
Advanced Innovation Solutions
bwindscheif (at) auto-tpo.com

2023 Technical Program Sessions & Co-Chairs

Materials Development Session

• Catherine Wilson, Ford Motor Company
• Bin Sun, SABIC
• Quentin Boll, LyondellBasell

Innovations in Interiors Session

• Pravin Sitaram, Haartz Corporation
• Austin Wagenhals, Ford Motor Company
• Hoa Pham, Sonoco

Process Enabling Technologies

• Suresh Shah, SPE Fellow
• Matt Sprouse, Washington Penn Plastic Company

Sustainable Materials and Parts

• Mark Allen, Dow
• Murali Reddy, CPK IP
• Petya Yaneva, SABIC

Polyolefin Elastomers and Vulcanizates

• Bhavesh Shah, Lion Elastomers
• Dave Patel, GuruTech Systems, Inc.
• Nadeem Bokhari, Sumitomo Chemical Group

Performance Additives and Colorants

• John Mara, Amfine
• Heejung Kwon, Songwon
• Jungdu Kim, Songwon

Exterior Trim and Structural Applications

• Charlie Yang, LyondellBasell
• Mark Pilette, Magna Exteriors
• Kevin Degrood, Borealis

Sheet and Thermoforming Applications

• Paula Balhorn, Highland Plastics
• James Hansil, Spartan Polymers