The full Board of the International Molded Fiber Association (IMFA) has appointed Gary Visser to the position of executive chairman and management consultant of IMFA, effective January 2018. The appointment is currently for a two-year term.

This is the outcome of a process that was initiated by IMFA Founder/Chairman Joe Grygny, and the IMFA Board, starting back in 2016 to find a replacement for Grygny. Finding someone to fit the role and within the constraint of IMFA has proved to be somewhat of a challenge. Visser’s retirement from full time involvement in DFM early last year created an opportunity that has now resulted in this appointment.

Visser has a mechanical engineering and manufacturing background. He spent seven years working as industrial engineer and ultimately primary mill manager for Masonite Hardboard in South Africa and then in 1993 started and built the Molded Fiber business of DFM, Dynamic Fiber Molding. He served as CEO of that business until May 2017 when he "retired," as he likes to call it. More recently, Visser has been involved in various projects in the international Molded Pulp arena.

Visser will have the primary responsibility of managing the affairs of IMFA through the Kellen management team; the current contracted IMFA management organization, as well as providing strategic direction through influence and direction from the IMFA Board.

Visser has served on the board and previously as an advisor to IMFA, formally known as IMPEPA, for more than 15 years, so he is well known to most in the molded fiber industry.

Visser has made it very clear that he intends to entrench IMFA, and grow the legacy that Grygny has so passionately created over the past 25 years. He will remain an active director and a key resource and ambassador for the IMFA organization. Further announcements regarding plans and developments for IMFA's future, will be shared at the upcoming San Diego Seminar.

The entire board, along with Kellen, welcomes this appointment and looks forward to what it will bring.