T.O. Plastics Announces New Executive Team

    CLEARWATER, MN, February 20, 2014 /24-7PressRelease/ -- T.O. Plastics, a leading U.S. manufacturer of custom thermoformed packaging and parts in the food, medical, industrial, recreational, consumer products and horticulture markets, announced today the new members of its senior management team who will report directly to President Mike Vallafskey.

Tony Reinhardt, Vice President of Finance

Tony Reinhardt joined T.O. Plastics on September 16, 2013, as Vice President of Finance. As head of T.O. Plastics' finance team, Tony will be responsible for maintaining the company's financial well-being while strengthening the foundation for its future. Tony manages T.O.'s accounting and financial operations, including supervision of accounting and information technology staff, internal controls, preparation and analysis of financial statements, budgeting and forecasting, and risk management.

Tony has worked mostly within the Otter Tail Corporation family since 2005 when he joined Otter Tail as a financial analyst. He has also served as assistant controller and director of finance at two of Otter Tail's operating companies. Tony also has worked for Microsoft and TMI Hospitality.

Tony is a certified public accountant. He received both accounting and business administration degrees from the University of Jamestown, previously named Jamestown College.

Shawna Pearson, Director of Engineering

Shawna Pearson joined T.O. Plastics on December 4, 2013, as Director of Engineering. Shawna leads the Engineering, Tooling, Quality and Estimation departments at T.O. Plastics.

Shawna is responsible for executing on the company's technical vision and working with other functional leaders of the company to ensure the successful and efficient development of the company's products and the fostering of innovative solutions to customer needs.

Shawna has an extensive background in the medical device industry, working closely with new product and process development, manufacturing and quality. She has worked at Honeywell, Dynamic Group, Medtronic and Accellent where she gained experience in plastic and metal injection mold design and build, production molding, micro machining, automation and controls.

Shawna has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota and is a certified Six Sigma Master Blackbelt and TPS Lean Manufacturing Expert.

Charlie Mockenhaupt, Vice President of Sales

Charlie Mockenhaupt joined T.O. Plastics on December 9, 2013, as Vice President of Sales. Charlie has more than 20 years of strategic business-to-business sales and marketing experience and will oversee T.O. Plastics' Sales and Customer Service departments and all facets of their overall strategy. Charlie is customer-centric, constantly looking for value to enrich customer engagements, which will be a key contributor to realizing a sustainable sales plan that facilitates the company's long-term growth.

Charlie has an extensive background in the electronics market, supporting medical and industrial OEMs, engineering and supply chain, including contract manufacturing. Most recently, Charlie was managing the global sales and marketing function for Hysitron's electron microscopy group.

He holds an MBA from the University of Minnesota and a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Marquette University.

Arne King, Vice President of Operations

Arne King joined T.O. Plastics on January 6, 2014, as Vice President of Operations. Arne will be responsible for leading the direction, strategy, planning and execution for T.O. Plastics' manufacturing operations by focusing on and developing lean value streams and driving operational excellence in safety, manufacturing process, service, inventory and overall cost control.

Arne has experience in engineering/product development, supply chain and operations management. He has worked for Toro, Minnesota Rubber, Pentair and most recently was Group Head of Supply Chain, North America for The Weir Group.

Arne is a native of Alexandria, MN, and has a B.S. in Agricultural Engineering from North Dakota State University and a Master of Science in Business Management from Cardinal Stritch University.

Plan for growth

"T.O. Plastics is focused on producing high quality thermoformed products with an emphasis on lean processes and "Best-In-Class" manufacturing practices, but also believes in building great teams and a customer-centric, collaborative culture," said Mike Vallafskey, T.O. Plastics' President. "We successfully executed on a plan with very aggressive hiring goals and expectations for our new executive team. It is vital to have individuals of this caliber on board to not only recruit, train, and manage our top talent, but also to foster a sense of community and a must-win attitude in our growing company. We are excited to welcome Tony, Shawna, Charlie and Arne to the T.O. Plastics family."

About T.O. Plastics
Founded in 1948, the company got its start as a manufacturer of thermoformed refrigerator parts for the company known today as Frigidaire. Today, T.O. Plastics offers custom thermoformed products and packaging from plants in Otsego and Clearwater, Minnesota, to customers in the consumer products, food packaging, electronics, industrial/recreational and medical industries, among others, and produces its own line of proprietary horticulture products.

For more information about T.O. Plastics, visit www.toplastics.com, or contact Lori Grupa, Marketing Manager, at (320) 558-5620 or e-mail [email protected].

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