First-Ever Female Duo Leads PLASTICS Marketing Efforts for NPE2024
Maxi-Blast’s Annina Donaldson and ENTEK’s Tammy Straw are Chair and Vice Chair of NPE2024 Sales & Marketing Committee
The year was 2015, and the Plastics Industry Association was coming off one of the most successful trade shows in its history—the 2015 edition of its triennial NPE: The Plastics Show. NPE2015, held in Orlando, Florida in May, drew over 65,000 visitors, an almost 20% increase over its 2012 attendance. In December of that year, when the association met to begin discussions and planning for NPE2018, two women were added to the Sales & Marketing Committee.
While that fact did not get much attention at the time, it is making news today. That’s because those two women, Annina Donaldson and Tammy Straw, are now not only the Chair and Vice Chair of the NPE2024 Sales & Marketing Committee – they are also the first-ever female duo to lead any NPE committee in the show’s 75-year history.
In a recent interview, Donaldson, of Maxi-Blast Inc. of South Bend, Indiana, and Straw, the Marketing & Business Development Manager for ENTEK Manufacturing of Lebanon, Oregon, talked about their roles and their goals; goals which include building enthusiasm and ultimately, attendance for NPE2024, which will be the first NPE show in 6 years. NPE2021 was cancelled due to concerns about the spread of COVID 19.
Strong Plastics Backgrounds
Both Donaldson and Straw have substantial plastics industry experience.
Annina Donaldson
Donaldson was named Vice President of Florida Operations for Maxi-Blast, Inc. in January 2006, when her father, company founder Robert Donaldson, decided to pursue retirement. Now President of Florida Operations for Maxi-Blast, she works with her brother, other family members and employees in St. Petersburg, Florida where she focuses on managing the company and its Engineered Thermoplastics line of blast media for plastics and rubber cleaning processes.
“I grew up in the plastics industry,” Donaldson said. “At young ages my siblings and I would go to the factory, shred paper in the office or sweep the shop floor. In high school, I would do random projects filling sample bags or separating plastic. After graduate school and testing out other jobs, my father asked me to interview for a full-time job working alongside him and eventually taking over. I officially joined the company in 2006.”
Tammy Straw
Straw started at ENTEK in 1999 with no idea that she would be beginning a long and successful career in the plastics industry.
“I was looking for a short-term job at the time, which has turned into a great career of 22 years and counting in plastics,” she said. Straw heads up marketing and business development for ENTEK Manufacturing, a leading manufacturer of twin-screw extruders, aftermarket spare parts and turnkey extrusion manufacturing plants. It is a sister company to ENTEK International, which is the leading manufacturer of battery separator film for lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries worldwide.
Mentors
When asked to name mentors in the plastics industry, besides her father, Annina Donaldson mentioned Gail Barker, the former President of Maxi-Blast. “All my life, I watched my father strive to maintain his work ethic and grow his knowledge of the plastics industry,” she said. Working alongside him was a daily mentorship program. Gail, however, was the first person to really take me under her wing. She was President of Maxi-Blast when I started in January 2006, when there were even fewer women in the industry than there are today. Every day, she gave me advice about leadership, being a woman in a male-dominated industry, and how to work with family. Gail passed away in December 2006, but the year she mentored me was, and is still, the most invaluable of my career.”
For Tammy Straw, mentors include John Effmann, the former Director of Sales & Marketing at ENTEK and long-time plastics machinery veteran; and Linda Campbell, ENTEK’s current Vice President - Extrusion Sales. “John joined ENTEK in 2005 and brought with him a wealth of plastics industry marketing experience,” she said. “I learned a lot working alongside John for 10 years, and we grew ENTEK’s brand recognition in the industry over that time. John was the Chair of NPE2012, so from watching him I had exposure to NPE committee duties. When he retired in 2016, he let PLASTICS know that I was interested in joining a committee, and the next thing I knew I was on the Sales & Marketing Committee.”
Straw has worked closely with Linda Campbell for over 20 years now. “Linda has been forging a path for women in manufacturing, women in plastics, and women at ENTEK throughout her career,” said Straw. “She is passionate about mentoring women and making sure they are prepared when opportunities arise. Linda always makes time to assist others, presenting objective views and sound advice when asked. I truly appreciate her guidance and mentorship,” she said.
Goals for NPE2024
As Chair and Vice Chair of the NPE2024 Sales & Marketing Committee, Donaldson and Straw are charged with leading the efforts to generate excitement and ultimately, attendance for the event. They oversee a committee that has a total of 13 members from a variety of large and small companies representing processors, equipment manufacturers and materials suppliers. The committee manages a large and diverse set of marketing projects, from advertising, public relations and social media campaigns to outreach campaigns designed to attract both show exhibitors and attendees.
Coming off the first-ever NPE show cancellation in 2021 provides a unique set of challenges for the NPE2024 committees. Donaldson, who was Vice Chair of the NPE2021 Sales & Marketing Committee, is optimistic that the next show will be a big success. “Our industry wants and needs to get back to exhibiting and attending at NPE and other in-person shows,” she said. “NPE has always been an important event on the global plastics industry’s calendar, and we are working hard to make May 6-10, 2024 in Orlando the best NPE yet.”
Trailblazers
Phyllis Hortie, Senior Director, Trade Show Services at PLASTICS, confirmed that Donaldson and Straw are the first female duo to serve as Chair and Vice Chair of an NPE committee. “According to the historical documentation we have on hand, Annina and Tammy are the first,” she said, “but there were three women who served in leadership roles previously.” These included Marlena Heydenreich of Foremost Machine Builders, Inc., Chair of the NPE1994 Public Relations & Advertising Committee; Toby Royal of Krupp Werner & Pfleiderer Corporation, Chair of the NPE2000 Public Relations & Advertising Committee; and Tamara Greathouse of LyondellBasell Industries, Vice Chair of the NPE2009 Sales & Marketing Committee.
Each NPE committee has a Chair and Vice Chair. Donaldson was quick to point out that Eve Vitale of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) is serving as the Vice Chair of the NPE2024 Content Committee. “This marks the first time in NPE history that there has ever been three women on the NPE Executive Committee,” she said.
Glenn Anderson, Vice President, Industry Affairs at PLASTICS, said that the Association is working hard to promote more diversity in its ranks. “I have been in the plastics industry for almost 40 years, and while I feel our industry as a whole is quite diverse, that diversity isn’t necessarily as visible in the leading industry associations as it should be, including ours,” he said. “We are taking the necessary steps to change this. For example, in our latest PLASTICS magazine, we featured several dynamic women, including one building a career through a diversity-focused apprenticeship program at BASF. In addition, we have recently filled two very important Equipment and Materials council director roles with remarkable women and look forward to expanding diversity at PLASTICS even more in the future.” Anderson said that Leslie Jutte now leads the Material Suppliers Council, and Whitney Taveras was just recently promoted to lead the Equipment Council. Both women were internal promotions at PLASTICS.
Straw has been to every NPE show since 2003. When asked about what she sees as the importance of her role, she said “ the history of leadership at NPE is no different than the history of the entire plastics industry, and there hasn’t been a lot of diversity. Neither Annina nor I want to be labeled as trailblazers, but we do feel it’s important to show those entering into careers in plastics that our industry is more diverse than ever before, and that women and minorities have a strong place and strong voice in this industry. I have witnessed this change first-hand over the past 22 years and both Annina and I are honored to be a part of it.”