Meet the Instructors - TAPPI Extrusion Coating Course

Lou Piffer is retired from Davis-Standard after supporting the extrusion coating, liquid coating, and cast film industry for over 34 years. Lou represents Davis-Standard in courses and conferences. Lou started Extrusion Training Solutions, a company providing consulting and training for the extrusion coating industry. He received a BS in Chemical Engineering from Drexel University in 1985, and has been a proud Dragon ever since. Lou has been a recipient of the Davis-Standard President’s Award, which is given to the top employee in the organization. Lou and his wife Linda currently reside in their beloved 'Tree House' in southern Delaware.

Lou began teaching the TAPPI Extrusion Coating Course in 1993 and the Film Extrusion Course in 2017 and has consistently received top scores on course attendee evaluations for both. He has been active in TAPPI since the late 1980s, writing multiple papers, chairing conference sessions, and contributing chapters to the last two editions of the Extrusion Coating Manual. Lou has held all the officer positions in the IFPED Council, and is currently a practicing Chair Emeritus. In 2001, Lou was the recipient of the Division Leadership Award & Andreas Ahlbrandt Prize as well as the Technical Award and Sam Sweig award in 2024.

John Chalmers is an accomplished executive in the field of coextruded flat film, sheet, and extrusion coating tooling technology. He began his career at Cloeren Incorporated in 1986, shortly after graduating from Lamar University. John started out in various engineering positions, including designer and project manager, before transitioning to a technical sales engineer role in the mid-90s.

Over the years, John has held a range of sales and marketing positions. His extensive travels around the world have been instrumental in helping to establish and grow Cloeren's global brand.

In addition to his role at Cloeren, John serves on the NPE Operations Committee. NPE is the largest plastics trade show in North America.

With over 35 years of experience at Cloeren, John currently serves as the company's Vice President of Sales. His wealth of knowledge and expertise in the industry have contributed significantly to Cloeren's success as a leading solution supplier for coextruded flat film, sheet, and extrusion coating tooling technology.

Carmelo Declet-Perez is an Associate Technical Service & Development Scientist for the Packaging and Specialty Plastics & Hydrocarbons (PSP&H) business at Dow. In his current role, Carmelo is responsible for technical relationship management at various customers in the Food & Specialty Packaging market segment. He also leads various platforms for understanding multilayer packaging structures and design for sustainability. Prior to this role, Carmelo was part of the PSP&H Polyethylene Product Group. In this role he was the technical focal point for extrusion coating and led a variety of projects across LDPE and Solution LLDPE. Carmelo is an active member and participant of employee resource groups, which seek to drive innovation through a more inclusive workplace. Carmelo holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota. In his free time, Carmelo enjoys photography, hiking, and exploring new cuisines.

Duane Smith is Process Manager, Web Handling & Specialty Winding at Davis-Standard, LLC. Duane has over 45 years of experience, and is widely known throughout the paper, film and nonwoven industries for his technical knowledge on web handling and winding. He has been awarded two patents in winding. Duane has made over 85 technical presentations, and published over 30 articles in major international trade journals and magazines. He is the author of the Winding chapter of the Film Extrusion Manual and the Unwinding/Splicing and Winding chapters of the Extrusion Coating Manual, Fifth Edition. He has been an instructor at more than 20 TAPPI Courses and has published three books through TAPPI Press. He is the editor of TAPPI Press’ first e-book, The Ultimate Roll and Web Defect Troubleshooting Guide. Duane has been active in TAPPI for more than 40 years. Duane was named a TAPPI Fellow in 2011.

Paul Carter is the Regional Sales Manager for Canada at Advanced Blending Solutions, an industry-leading supplier of blending and convey equipment to the extrusion and compounding industries.

Blown film machinery veteran Carter has over 35 years of experience in the extrusion industry, with a strong focus on engineering, manufacturing, and project management.

He previously held various technical roles at extrusion machinery manufacturers in the greater Toronto area. Paul is a Certified Engineering Technician (Ontario Association of Certified Engineering Technicians & Technologists) and a Certified Sales Professional (Canadian Professional Sales Association).

Jim Lush has been with Celplast Metallized Products in Toronto, Canada, since 1989, where he started in operations, playing key leadership roles in quality assurance, planning and continuous improvement. Jim has used his plant and leadership experience to assist in sales growth. After roles in account management and business development, he is currently Sales Manager at Celplast.

Jim joined TAPPI in 2003 and became involved with the International Flexible Packaging and Extrusion Division at the committee level by joining the Flexible Packaging Committee. He received a Certificate of Recognition in 2008 for technical program development within that committee. He also served on the Technical Program Committee for the Division’s annual conference in 2007 and 2008. In 2012, Jim began officer rotation with the Division, and finished as Division Chair in 2016.

Jim has been instrumental in introducing the Mentor Match program to the Division and has worked tirelessly to get young people involved. In addition to moderating panels at several TAPPI Flexible Packaging Conferences, he is currently chairing the Marketing Team.

During his spare time, Jim is on the soccer field or at the hockey rink developing and coaching the kids in his community.

As Enercon's Vice President of Sales, Mike McConnell works with OEMs, film converters, and film extruders to implement innovative corona, plasma, and flame surface treating technology solutions. Mike uses his experience as both a Sales Engineer and Global Product Manager to apply his technical aptitude and business expertise through a consultative approach when working with customers. He has extensive experience driving product growth through voice-of-customer research, launching new products to market, and configuring engineered-to-order capital equipment. McConnell earned his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI, and his MBA from Purdue Global in West Lafayette, IN. In his younger years, Mike also earned the prestigious Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts.

Brady Hunnicutt is a Technical Service Specialist for Westlake Corporation. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from Stephen F. Austin State University with additional certifications in Secondary Education and Agricultural Development. Prior to the beginning of his career in the plastics industry Brady was a Texas High School Agricultural Mechanics Instructor for three years. His introduction into the plastics industry began in 2014 with Westlake’s Polyethylene Technology Department. At Westlake Brady started as a Lab Technician in Westlake’s Customer Solutions Center in Longview, Texas, operating various extrusion and lab equipment until being promoted into the Technical Service and Product Development Division in 2019. Brady’s experience as a Lab Technician exposed him to a broad array of troubleshooting, operating, and project development experience with a large emphasis on Extrusion Coating as well as extensive work in Twin-Screw Compounding and Blown and Cast Film extrusion. Married with three children he currently resides in Henderson, TX and frequently visits his family’s farm in Mt. Vernon, TX.

Olivier Catherine has been a Polyethylene Customer Applications and Development Engineer with ExxonMobil, based in Baytown Texas, since April 2023. In his current role, Olivier is responsible for the technical relationship of various customers with film extrusion and extrusion coating applications.

Prior to this, Olivier was the Technical Director at Cloeren Incorporated (Orange, TX) a leading supplier of coextrusion solutions for cast film, extrusion coating and sheet. For over thirteen years, Olivier’s main focus was to develop flow channel designs, performing intricate flow models, and characterize complex flow behaviors through rheology. He was also supporting customers globally with their technical projects, and assisting Cloeren’s Global Sales Team in order to grow market shares through technical expertise.

From 2004 to 2010, Olivier worked as a Senior Research Engineer at Saint-Gobain Research America, located in Northborough, MA, where he developed modeling tools for injection molding and extrusion, and participated in various polymer and ceramic processing projects.

Throughout his career, Olivier has been an enthusiastic speaker at conferences, seminars and webinars, including TAPPI. He is currently the Vice Chair of the IFPED Technical Team for the 2024 FlexPack PLACE Conference, and is a member of the Board of Directors for SPE Extrusion Division. Olivier graduated from ParisTech Mines (France) in 2001, and holds a MS degree in Materials Science.

Mike Rutkowske is a senior technical service specialist with 19 years of experience in polymer research and technical development with The Dow Chemical Company. The primary focus of his career has been centered around improvements in operational discipline and fundamental process analyzation for both small- and large-scale packaging/extrusion equipment.

His practical expertise includes blown film, twin-screw extrusion, extrusion coating/lamination, and various types of packaging conversion machinery. As a lab coordinator for the Pack Studios campus in Freeport, Texas, Mike was responsible for training new employees, method development, improving workflow, machine safety, and mechanical troubleshooting/design. In his current role, Mike is the North American focal point for machine direction oriented (MDO) films and supports efforts to implement targeted machinability requirements for more sustainable packaging designs.

Mike is an author of one patent and has extensive experience with optimizing polymer fabrication processes and equipment for efficiency, reliability, and maximum quality. Mike holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering Technology from The University of Houston.

Paul Elich is a Film & Coating Tech Service Rep for Chevron Phillips Chemical Company. Paul has over 31 yrs. experience in the PLASTICS INDUSTRY, including 20 yrs. converting and 11 yrs. resin experience with Chevron Phillips Chemical. He has extensive knowledge in blown, cast, extrusion coating and lamination, as well as adhesive laminations, bagmaking, and printing. He holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Texas A&M University. Paul grew up in Texas and has 3 kids. He currently resides in Oklahoma. Hobbies – Loves to travel when possible.

Yong Zheng is the Technical Service and Business Development Director at Mica Corporation, with more than 16 years of experience in the packaging industry. Over the course of his career, he has held roles at Evergreen Packaging, Dow Chemical, and SK Global Chemical. His work has focused on improving performance across a range of adhesive materials, including polyethylene and copolymers, ethylene acrylic acid, ionomers, polyethylenimine and maleic anhydride (MAH) grafted polyolefins. In his current role, he develops solutions for conventional, recyclable, and compostable packaging using aqueous primers and coatings.

Yong holds a B.S. in Environmental Engineering from East China University of Science and Technology, an M.A. in Environmental Management from Lund University in Sweden, and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Texas Tech University.

Outside of work, Yong enjoys swimming, biking, music and spending time in nature.

August 11-13, 2026 | Syracuse, NY

Extrusion Coating Course 2026