Executive Bios

Kevin Gray, President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, Lauren International
Dale L. Foland, Chairman of the Board Emeritus, Lauren International
David J. Gingrich, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, Lauren International
Bennett Fierman, Ph.D., President, Lauren Innovations
Lisa Huntsman, President, Lauren Manufacturing & Nurtured Pets
Chuck Laney, President, Lauren AgriSystems & Lauren Plastics
Jim Nixon, General Manager, LMI Custom Mixing
Ted Gentsch, Director of Information Technologies, Lauren International

 

Kevin Gray President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Lauren International Kevin E. Gray has served as chief executive officer (CEO) of Lauren International, Ltd. since June 2005. Prior to his appointment, Gray served as chief operating officer (COO) and president of Lauren Manufacturing from May 2001 to June 2005; as president of Edgetech I.G. from 1990 to 2001; and as vice president of Lauren Manufacturing from 1987 until 1990. Gray’s years at Lauren International and its subsidiaries have provided him with extensive experience in financial planning and corporate negotiations. Under his leadership, Lauren International, has clearly emerged as a leader in polymer products and technology in the rubber industry. Within the last six years, Lauren International has nearly doubled its revenue in an industry where others have stagnated or even ceased operations. Lauren International’s success is due to Gray’s overall vision and unfaltering leadership. He displayed extraordinary foresight when taking the company from traditional batch-and-queue manufacturing to Lean operations long before it became an economic necessity. Gray was able to impart his vision for change to his leadership team. As a result, they persevered and emerged as an extremely efficient organization, winning back-to-back MANNY awards from Inside Business for the switch to Lean Manufacturing and the cost-saving benefits it brought to the company.
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Dale L. Foland Chairman of the Board Emeritus of Lauren International Dale L. Foland started the Lauren Manufacturing Company in 1965 in his garage with less than a $7,000 investment. Today, he is President and Chairman of the Board for Lauren International, the global parent for Lauren Manufacturing, Lauren AgriSystems, Lauren Innovations, Lauren Plastics, Nurtured Pets and LMI Custom Mixing. Lauren International serves multiple worldwide customers in a diverse range of markets. The company strives to provide value to customers through the combined resources of a vertically integrated company. As the company’s founder, Foland is a recognized leader within the rubber industry and is actively involved with local organizations, contributing both time and resources. He is a strong believer in community involvement and leads in this initiative through personal involvement. Among Foland’s many accomplishments, he was instrumental in developing Starlight School, a technology wing for Kent State University Tuscarawas campus, and the Tuscarawas County Center for the Arts. He began his career with the Hamilton Kent Company where he worked both in Canada and Ohio on improving rubber extrusion processes. Foland dramatically increased productivity and doubled sales. He also developed a method for the continuous extrusion of sponge profiles – a method still widely used today. Upon founding Lauren Manufacturing, Foland designed and built much of his own equipment and developed many of the systems still used at Lauren today. The company has always worked with a variety of compounds and materials, but it was Foland's work in successfully developing sponge extrusion techniques that differentiated Lauren – and Foland – within the rubber industry.
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David J. Gingrich Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Lauren International David Gingrich was appointed chief financial officer/treasurer of Lauren International in 2002. He joined Lauren International in 1997 as an assistant treasurer and went on to become director of finance for Lauren Manufacturing in 1998. In his role as chief financial officer at Lauren, Gingrich holds management responsibilities for the company’s finance, information technology and accounting functions. With more than 30 years experience in accounting and finance, Gingrich spearheaded Lauren’s Lean Accounting concept to support Lauren’s Lean Manufacturing process. Gingrich’s approach to Lean Accounting enables Lauren to better capture the performance of all their business unit operations, and positively impact the company’s accounting, control, measurement and management processes.
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Bennett Fierman, Ph.D. President of Lauren Innovations With a diverse background serving as a practitioner as well as an executive administrator, Dr. Fierman has worked extensively in both private, non-profit and public sectors of business. A 25-year veteran of the healthcare industry, he founded Collaborative Partners, Inc. a consulting company specializing in strategic planning, business development and the formation of multi-organizational collaborations. Throughout his career, he has served as a senior executive with responsibility for strategic planning, business development, facility development, operations, marketing, advertising and public relations. He has developed and implemented system-wide service excellence programs as well as creating Leadership Institutes for Management Development in a variety of organizations. Dr. Fierman has designed, created and managed several healthcare and surgical facilities as well as a variety of collaborative multidisciplinary projects often involving businesses, education, physicians and healthcare organizations. Ben Fierman earned his doctorate in psychology from Kent State University after completing both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology at Cleveland State University. Additionally, he has taught on the faculty at John Carroll University and Case Western Reserve University College of Medicine. He has also guest lectured at Malone College, Walsh University and Northeast Ohio Universities College of Medicine. His continuing education includes having completed Lean and Six Sigma training, Service Line Management through the Snowmass Institute, as well as Service Excellence training through the Studer Group.
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Lisa Huntsman President of Lauren Manufacturing & Nurtured Pets Lisa Huntsman, named president of Lauren Manufacturing in 2007, is responsible for the direction and growth of Lauren Manufacturing’s operations located in New Philadelphia, Ohio. During her 14-year tenure with the company, Huntsman has progressed through the ranks at Lauren by consistently achieving goals and establishing new processes to advance the company and grow the business. Huntsman began her career at Lauren Manufacturing as a chemist, working her way up as a technical director, business unit leader and, lastly, as vice president of operations. In addition to her new responsibilities as president, Huntsman will continue to focus on ensuring operational excellence across the organization and providing new opportunities for growth and development.
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Chuck Laney President of Lauren AgriSystems & Lauren Plastics Chuck Laney was appointed president of Lauren AgriSystems in 2006. He joined Lauren Manufacturing in 2000 as an engineering manager and went on to become director of quality and engineering in 2002. Laney also held the position of director of continuous improvement at Lauren Manufacturing from 2002-2004, and he held the same position for Lauren International from 2004-2006. Throughout his tenure at Lauren, Laney has made an impact in the company’s switch to the Lean Manufacturing business model and the implementation of Kaizen programs. He was also part of the Lauren team that won the 2004 Manny Award.
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Jim Nixon General Manager, LMI Custom Mixing, LLC Jim Nixon was appointed general manager of LMI Custom Mixing, LLC in 2001. A part of Lauren International since 1999, Nixon was also the R&D chemist at Lauren Manufacturing until 2001. In this position, he was heavily involved in scaling up many of the new and existing Lauren formulations to the Lauren Mixing (LMI) mixer. During this time, he also became an expert in mechanical, electrical control, and quality systems used to create Lauren International products. As general manager, Nixon designed and implemented LMI’s newest mixing line, in a $5.5 million expansion project which effectively doubled the capacity of the plant. The new line’s technical features and the additional capacity allowed LMI to continue to support and assist the JV business strategies of Lauren International and Meteor Gummiwerke. The growth has also led to new positions and associates at Lauren International. Prior to Nixon joining Lauren International, he was a Summer Intern at Fluorolast from 1996 until 1998. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Economics from Case Western Reserve University, and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Ashland University.
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Ted Gentsch Director of Information Technologies, Lauren International Ted Gentsch is director of Information Technologies, responsible for planning, designing and implementing Information Technology (IT) systems across Lauren International’s family of companies. A Certified Microsoft Systems Engineer (MCSE), Gentsch previously served as IT systems engineer for Linden Industries. A strong believer in community outreach, Gentsch was instrumental in implementing a fiber optics system for the community of Tuscarawas and sits on the board of the Information Technology Alliance of Appalachian Ohio (ITAAO). He also served as flight engineer in the United States Air Force where he worked as part of the strategic crew for the flight test operations of the 4950th Test Wing. During this time he was also involved in the Airborne Laser Lab (ALL), and Space Shuttle STS-1 flight launch and recovery mission.
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