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Bill Gollnitz Elected to Serve as President of the Polyurethane Foam Association

Furniture World News Desk on 12/12/2014




Bill Gollnitz

Members of the Polyurethane Foam Association (PFA) elected Bill Gollnitz, Plastomer Corporation, a privately held American manufacturer of flexible foams based in Livonia, MI, as president of the trade association of flexible polyurethane foam manufacturers and suppliers at their fall meeting.

“Gollnitz is a scientist with a strong management background who has worked in the foam industry for more than four decades. He has a deep understanding of how chemistry, manufacturing and suppliers can work together to advance the flexible polyurethane foam industry. We look forward to his leadership which will benefit PFA and all its members,” said PFA Executive Director Robert Luedeka.

Gollnitz has spent the past 20 years of his career as technical director at Plastomer Corporation, a family owned and operated business founded in 1954 by Walter Baughman, one of PFA’s founders and a member of the Flexible Polyurethane Foam Hall of Fame. Prior to Plastomer, Gollnitz spent seven years in business group management positions with ARCO Chemical and seven years with Olin Corporation. He began his career in the foam industry with Firestone Foam. He holds a B.A. in chemistry from Lipscomb University in Tennessee, and an MBA from Bryant University in Rhode Island.

Gollnitz succeeds Joe Progar, with Innocor, Inc., Advanced Urethanes and Sleep Innovations.

Members of the PFA Executive Committee for 2015 include:
  • President, Bill Gollnitz, Plastomer, Livonia, Michigan
  • First Vice-President, Nadia Stern, Innocor Inc., West Long Branch, New Jersey
  • Second Vice-President, Chip Holton, NCFI Polyurethanes, Mount Airy, North Carolina
  • Secretary, Hamdy Khalil, Woodbridge Group, Mississauga, Ontario, 
  • Canada
  • Treasurer, Bobby Bush, HSM Solutions, Hickory, North Carolina
  • Immediate Past President, Lynn Knudtson, Future Foam, Council Bluffs, Iowa
  • Associate Supplier representative, Alan Robinson, The Dow Chemical Company, Midland, Michigan
  • Associate Supplier representative, John Maloney, BASF, Wyandotte, Michigan
  • Associate Supplier representative, Stuart Hayes, Evonik, Parsippany, New Jersey
  • Executive Director, Bob Luedeka, PFA, Loudon, Tennessee
About PFA: The mission of the Polyurethane Foam Association is to educate customers and other groups about flexible polyurethane foam (FPF) and to promote its use in manufactured and industrial products. This includes providing facts on environmental, health and safety issues related to FPF to the membership of PFA, flexible polyurethane foam users, regulatory officials, business leaders and the media. PFA also provides its members and their customers with technical information on the performance of FPF in consumer and industrial products. The PFA was founded in 1980. More information is available at www.pfa.org.