Oxford Performance Materials Makes Management Changes

Oxford Performance Materials Inc. (OPM), a supplier of materials and additive manufacturing (3-D printing) technology, has made key changes to its corporate suite.

Bernie Plishtin has been hired as chief business development officer, and Tony DeCarmine has been promoted to chief technology officer—a first for the South Windsor, Conn.-based company.

With a primary focus on biomedical, aerospace and industrial applications, OPM uses advanced materials and 3-D printing solutions to manufacture end-use products, leveraging the company’s proprietary formulation of the high-performance polymer poly-ether-ketone-ketone (PEKK).

“I am delighted to welcome Bernie to OPM as chief business development officer and expand Tony’s role to OPM’s first chief technology officer,” said Scott DeFelice, president and CEO of
Oxford Performance Materials. “Bernie worked with us in a consultative role for the past two years, and I am really pleased to bring his experience aboard full time to help engineer the company’s growth. Tony is a recognized authority and innovator in the industry. For over a decade. he has been the driving force behind OPM’s advances in materials science and additive manufacturing process technology. We congratulate him in his promotion to CTO.”

As chief business development Officer, Plishtin is responsible for managing OPM’s business partnerships and corporate development activity, as well as corporate communications. His experience is broad in both operations and management consulting, according to OPM’s leadership.

He joined OPM from Sagebrook Partners, a firm he co-founded, which provides merger-and-acquisitions (M&A), business development and strategic advisory services. Plishtin’s operations experience began as general manager of technology developer Ridefilm Corporation, where he helped engineer the company’s acquisition by IMAX Corporation, and then as a vice president at IMAX, where he managed Ridefilm’s profit and loss through IMAX’s IPO.

Plishtin also was president and CEO of venture-backed software company HotRoof Inc., an early “software as a service” (provider to large online health and education content companies. As VP of business development at Canyon Ranch, he managed a series of joint ventures with the Cleveland Clinic and oversaw the jointly funded digital media unit for the companies. Plishtin’s consulting experience began at Bain & Company as part of the firm’s Corporate Healthcare Group, providing M&A and product-line strategy services. He also served as senior consultant at Hearst Corporation’s Digital Media Group, providing M&A services for the acquisition and integration of health and wellness website properties. Plishtin received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and his M.B.A. from the Yale School of Management.

As chief technology officer, Tony DeCarmine is responsible for the company’s process technologies, as well as OPM’s OsteoFab technology, the company’s primary area of innovation for the medical industry, and OXFAB, OPM’s proprietary technology for
aerospace and industrial customers.

DeCarmine joined OPM in 2003 and has held a number of senior positions, including director of application development and technical director. At OPM Tony has led numerous high-performance thermoplastic process development activities, including injection molding, extrusion, composites and laser sintering. According to the company, DeCarmine has a deep understanding of analytical methods and failure analysis. He is the author of numerous patents, a number of that relate to the preparation, processing and recycling of PEKK in laser sintering. DeCarmine is an engineer with more than 20 years of experience in the industrial (textile manufacturing), aerospace (space systems) and engineered materials (ceramics and polymers) areas. In addition, he sits on several committees related to additive manufacturing and 3-D structured light metrology. DeCarmine has a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of Connecticut.

Oxford Performance Materials has been active in the orthopedic space in recent months. According to company brass, OPM became the only company to receive U.S. Food and Drug Administrationclearance to manufacture 3-D printed, patient-specific polymeric implants for its cranial prostheses line in February 2013, and its Biomedical division received a second 510(k) for its patient-specific facial implants in July.