Kevin Biller
Forum Co-Organizer and Creator

Kevin began his career in powder coating in 1978 at the Glidden Paint Company. He held various technical positions during his fifteen years there including Group Leader of Automotive Coatings, and Section Leader of the European Core Laboratory while he worked in Birmingham, England for Glidden's parent company ICI Paints.

Kevin eventually moved to Herberts Powder Coatings where he was responsible for developing new technology. In 1997 Kevin formed a consulting firm, Biller Technical Resources, Ltd. specializing in providing technical solutions to the powder coating industry. In 1998 Kevin became President of Wabash Powder Coatings in Terre Haute, Indiana.

In 1999 Kevin acquired the majority interest in IRIS Powder Coatings, Inc. This custom manufacturer of specialty powder coatings was sold to Jamestown Powder Coatings in December 2001. Kevin was the Vice President/General Manager for Jamestown Powder Coatings in Columbus, Ohio until 2005

Kevin developed a course "Powder Coatings 101" that teaches the fundamentals of powder coating formulating technology. He presents this course once or twice a year with a couple colleagues. Kevin is also the Technical Editor of Finishing Today magazine.

Kevin has four U.S. patents in powder coating technology. He has delivered numerous papers and written many articles on powder coatings. BNP Media of Troy, Michigan has recently published his handbook Powder Coatings: Foundation for the Novice Formulator.

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John Florio
Group Leader, Coatings Technical Service
King Industries, Inc.

John Florio received his Bachelors Degree in Chemistry from Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT. Since joining the King Industries Coatings Technical Service department in 1981, John has made significant contributions to the development of their catalyst and polyol programs. He has authored and co-authored published articles on coatings technology and is co-editor of the book, "Handbook of Coatings Additives, Second Edition", published by Dekker/CRC Press. He holds several patents in the area of catalysis of urethane systems. His current position at King Industries is Technical Service Group Leader.

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Michelle Gabriel-Caldwell
Senior Technical Representative
Application Specialist -Powder Coatings (NAFTA)
BYK USA, INC.

M.S. in Chemical Engineering and B.S in Chemistry: She worked for Benjamin Moore & Co. as a product development chemist for eleven years before joining BYK USA Inc. in 2001. Michelle is the BYK NAFTA End Use Specialist for Powder Coatings with responsibilities in technical service, sales and marketing of powder coating additives.

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Dr. Romesh Kumar
Technical Manager in the Pigments & Additives Business Unit
Clariant Corporation

Dr. Romesh Kumar is Technical Manager in the Pigments & Additives Business Unit of Clariant Corporation. He specializes in pigments and additives for coatings, color-instrumentation and other aspects of pigment applications.

He attended Laurentian University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he obtained his Doctorate in Color Science. He is a member of the Inter Society Color Council, and Federation of Societies of Coatings Technology. He has made several presentations on pigments and additives at both national and international meetings during his 28 years in the coatings business.

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Robert Langlois
CEO / President
Alliance Surface Finishing

Prior to Robert Langlois' appointment as President and CEO of Alliance Surface Finishing in 2003, Langlois was the founder, President and CEO of SCI ("Surface Coating Industries) of Mississauga Ontario Canada. SCI was at the time was the largest PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) company in North America. Providing coating services for such notable customers as Motorola. At SCI's peak, and just prior to Langlois selling his interest in the company, SCI was coating nearly 500,000 cell phones per month, and earned the title as Motorola Global sole source supplier exporting its product around the world.

Taking his years of experience in the finishing industry, Langlois approached Magna International, the world's largest Tier 1 automotive supplier to inquire as to what there "dream" would be in a finishing world. The response was "a more durable and cost effective method of painting plastics".

Over the course of the next three years in a lab, Langlois was successful in developing a process, which would revolutionize the painting industry, the Powder Coating of Plastics. Langlois Commercialized this technology in 2003 with the commissioning of the world's first dedicated powder coating on plastic facility located in Ontario Canada. This facility also serves as the corporate offices, R&D, Styling, training & education center. As interest and acceptance of the technology grew Langlois commissioned a second facility in late 2005, to handle even larger volumes.

With the commercial success of this technology, Langlois is currently focusing on licensing this technology with customers and clients around the world, in a variety of industries.

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Richard Stewart
New Business Development, Powder Coating of Plastics
Wright Coating Technologies

Richard is the New Business Development Manager for the Classic Kote, Powder Coating of Plastics, Division of Wright Coating Technologies. He has worked in the plastics industry for over ten years. In his current position at Wright Coating Technologies; he works with OEM’s and suppliers in the Office Furniture, Appliance, Consumer Goods, and Automotive industries, as well as, custom applications for the development of new Powder Coated Plastic programs.

Wright Coating Technologies successfully powder coated plastics in 1993 and started supplying the Office Furniture industry in 2004. Wright Coating Technologies currently provides Powder Coated Plastics to the Office Furniture, Appliance, and Consumer Goods Industries.

Wright Coating Technologies is an ISO 9001 Registered company located in Kalamazoo Michigan and has been an applicator of specialty coatings since 1981.

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