OUR EXPERTS – RTi Global

Meet Some of Our Experts:

Bob Vargo is an accomplished business leader with 30 years of expertise in global business development, management consulting, sales & business development, and project management. He has experience leading businesses in the USA and Canada and has delivered client solutions throughout Asia and Australia. He joined RTi after running his own startup private equity firm for 13 years as the Chief Operating Officer, raising over $365 million from high-net-worth investors.

Lesly has over 25 years of experience in plastic manufacturing. Her manufacturing expertise is in a wide range of resins and film types including compostable/biopolymers. Her industry experience includes industrial and consumer markets, such as medical, food and beverage.

Wes has over 25 years of executive leadership in the paper industry in North America with Cascades Sonoco, WestRock and other paper and packaging companies. His expertise includes packaging, paper, paperboard, printing, equipment, and barrier coatings including compostability, recyclability certifications and product development.

Kevin has over 25 years of experience within the flexible packaging industry. His expertise is in the areas of blown film extrusion, injection molding and thermal lamination. He has sourcing experience in the areas of polyethylene resin and film substrates, as well as post-consumer resin sourcing. He previously led global supplier sourcing greater than $100 million and obtained over $5 million in savings from existing and alternative suppliers. Providing risk mitigation strategies for secure supply chain management, as well as sourcing negotiation are among Kevin’s strengths.

Mark has over 40+ years of experience in the plastics industry including applications development, technical sales, marketing & management for resins and compounds. He developed and maintained cost modeling for a wide variety of resins & feedstocks including PVC, PET, ABS, PC, nylons, acetal and others to firmly establish the real impact of feedstock volatility along with global supply & demand on resin cost to optimize supply chain strategy.

Lowell has over 45 years of experience in the plastics industry. He is our resident expert on Polypropylene resin in feedstock markets. Lowell leads our venture with Pure Cycle Technologies (PCT).

Paul brings over ten years of broad hydrocarbon industry expertise including resin trading, sales and marketing, international business development, risk management, hedging programs, fundamental and quantitative analysis across the entire plastics supply chain. He is driven to achieve profitable results through market research, customer focus, development of sustainable key customers and supplier relationships. His early career started in project management, planning, procurement, and operations management.

Dale’s focus with RTI is on sales, strategic partnerships and client relationship management. He has over 40 years of experience in food, packaging and equipment sourcing and procurement, 24 years in Senior level leadership roles with Restaurant Supply Chain Solutions the exclusive supply chain for Yum! Brands and its franchisees, experience in all aspects of end-to-end supply chain and category management, and expertise in complex sourcing and procurement challenges in both restaurant and retail applications.

Tim has over 35 years of experience in procurement, project management and R&D with leading companies in the Consumer Package Goods and Restaurant industries. Among his strengths and capabilities, are development of sourcing strategies and category planning, supplier integration and relationship management, financial planning, forecasting and reporting along with execution of corporate social responsibility initiatives.

Caton Morris is Senior Vice President of Business Development and has been with RTi since 2009. He brings over 25 years of experience in Supply Chain Management and Enterprise Supply Chain software prior to joining RTi. He began his career with Emerson Electric and spent 10 years managing major distribution and customer service operations. From there he moved into Enterprise Supply Chain software business development working for several major best of breed software organizations including Manhattan Associates and EXE Technologies. He joined RTi with a focus on developing the PacIQ advisory practice leveraging the company’s previous experience working within the resin marketplace with the ResinSmart practice.

Brandon has over 15 years of experience in Project Management and Implementation with leading companies in the Restaurant, Healthcare, and Payment’s industries. During his time in supply chain, he built many strong relationships with packaging and food suppliers within the Quick Service Restaurant space. He also has experience in process improvement, identifying and implementing enhancements to corporate business practices and procedures.

Michael recently joined RTi and has over 12 years in the thermoplastic resin and compound industry, working with commodity resins, engineered resin and compounds in a wide array of market and applications. He previously led business development and account management activity for a custom thermoplastic compounder, responsible for over $50 million of organic sales growth over his career and managing territories of $30 million in average yearly sales. Michael leads RTi’s ResinSmart new business development, utilizing established networks as well as disciplined prospecting campaigns.

Bob has 40 years of manufacturing experience. 34 of which were in Plastics Engineering, Product and Mold Design, Production, Plant, and Operations Management. His areas of technical expertise include injection molding, heavy/thin gauge thermoforming, blow molding, steam chest molding (EPS), and mold and tooling design.

Steve has over 39 years of purchasing experience, of which 18 were in food packaging contract negotiation and sourcing strategy development. His areas of expertise include a focus on cups (paper and plastic), lids, straws, sandwich wraps, containers (paper, EPS foam, plastic, molded fiber), folding cartons, foil sheet, bags (paper and plastic), paper towel and tissue, and gloves.

Henry has 36 years of manufacturing experience in plastics engineering, product, mold, and die design, equipment manufacturing, equipment installation, plant set-ups, plant start-ups, maintenance management, and project management. Henry’s long-term industry experience and technical expertise is a key factor in the RTi process and brings extreme value to our rigid packaging customers.

Brian Balboa is the Senior Market Analyst for the resin group at RTI. Based in the global energy hub of Houston, Texas, Brian has worked within the petrochemical and resin industry for nearly 20 years as a market and research analyst. In addition to his work as an analyst, Brian’s expertise includes market engagement, product development, sales & marketing, and contract negotiation. He has covered resin markets for companies such as S&P Global, ICIS and IHS. Prior to joining RTI in 2022, Brian served as the Director of Market Intelligence for The Plastics Exchange.

Alex Higbee is a technical analyst for RTi and has been with the company since 2021. He started his career doing CRM management for the Galveston County Foodbank and now manages the HubSpot CRM for RTi, editing and send out for the client mailouts through Mailchimp, website updates, and the data pulls and formatting for the Resin side of the business. Also processes invoices and assists PM on the packaging side. Currently working on Power Platform development for the company’s processes.

Meet Some of Our Experts:

Bob Vargo

Lesly Hodo

Wes Gentles

Kevin Mekaru

Mark Kallman

Lowell Huovinen

Paul Pavlov

Dale Holden

Tim Mueller

Caton Morris

Brandon Reccius

Michael Workman

Bob Perrier

Steve Sprague

Henry Stephens

Brian Balboa

Alex Higbee