Larry Bleich

IWCS is pleased to welcome Kerry Smith to the Board of Directors. Kerry is a Polymers and Specialty Chemicals Executive with 30+ years of global experience in Materials & Compounding R&D, Technical Marketing & Service and Sales. His background includes having directed Global Materials R&D team; managed roles that were responsible for Materials Development and Engineering, required to support Application and Product Engineering functions in the aeronautical, automotive, elastomeric, thermoplastic and specialty chemicals industries. He is experienced in the Private Equity (PE) sector focused on improving and / or enhancing various business functions (R&D, Technical Service & Sales to improve financial performance. He holds a graduate degree in Chemical Engineering with extensive experience in Materials Characterization / Rheology and employment experience with Texstar Plastics, TRW (now Schlumberger), Bayer, Federal-Mogul (now Tenneco), Almatis and currently Nabaltec AG.

IWCS is pleased to welcome Robert Elkins to the Board of Directors. Robert Elkins joined Corning in 1999, then Siecor, in the Hardware & Equipment division as a connector product and process development engineer in Hickory, NC. He has served in a variety of engineering and management Technology positions within Optical Connectivity Solutions, where he and his teams developed Corning’s first generation FTTH solutions including FlexNAP™ and supported the component and process development for the OptiTip® and OptiTap® hardened connector cable assemblies. Robert has been primarily focused on Carrier Networks and solutions for FTTx and served as a technical liaison for large US Carriers. Mid-career he joined an early stage development group and proposed, scoped, and launched a global process initiative. In this role Robert worked closely with a variety of Corning Research and Engineering organizations to develop new manufacturing strategies and process platforms. Next as a Technology Program Director he launched and delivered Corning’s new Evolv™ platform for FTTx. Robert is currently the Vice President of Optical Connectivity Solutions Technology as of January 2022. Robert holds a Bachelor and Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University as well as a Master of Business Administration from Wake Forest University.