NORWOOD, Mass. – August 21, 2019 – Applied Plastics, a leading provider to the advanced catheter components industry owned by Vance Street Capital, LLC, has named Thomas Barrett as chief executive officer (CEO), effective immediately.
Founder and previous CEO of Applied Plastics Dave Ring will take on the new role of executive chairman in which he will support the business by assisting in setting strategic direction and technology development. He will continue to nurture relationships with current customers, as well as introduce Barrett to new industry contacts.
“My father and I built this company, and I have full confidence in what Tom will bring to the table,” Ring said. “Through his guidance and our partnership with Vance Street Capital, we will see tremendous growth and advancement in our services.”
Barrett has nearly 30 years of experience in international medical device and contract manufacturing. Prior to joining Applied Plastics, he was president of Oerlikon AM Medical, a leading additive contract manufacturer, where he led the commercialization of additive technology in orthopedics. He also served leadership positions at Tecomet Inc. from 2011 to 2015, including senior vice president and chief commercial officer of the OEM business and senior vice president of worldwide instruments.
Barrett has an additional executive leadership experience in the medical manufacturing industry, including: Medrobotics Corporation, Keystone Dental, Inc., Lake Region Medical (formerly Accellent Inc.) and Stryker Corporation. He earned a master’s of business administration from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Union College.
“Tom has an extensive medical background and decades’ worth of familiarity and comfort in this industry,” Michael Janish, managing partner at Vance Street Capital, said. “His deep understanding of our customers’ needs, coupled with this company’s experienced team, will help Applied Plastics to be an even more responsive supplier. We’re excited to see the acceleration of Applied Plastic’s strong growth rate under Tom’s leadership.”
Barry Schnur, CEO of manufacturers’ representative David Schnur Associates, has partnered with Applied Plastics for more than 10 years, and believes Tom’s leadership will feed the progress of the company and its customer satisfaction.
“We’ve been honored to work with Applied Plastics on a global basis for over a decade, but there’s so much more to accomplish,” Schnur said. “We’re excited for the next chapter of progress under Tom and expect to see an expanded reach of their exceptional process mandrels to new applications and customers.”
Schnur added that Applied Plastics has already made advances in a short period of time.
“Early changes have already added significant experience and professionalism to the operations and quality teams in order to better match the needs of our global customers,” Schnur said.
Founded in 1954, Applied Plastics serves customers worldwide in the medical industry. They produce specialty polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) coatings, including the trademarked PTFE Natural Coating used on mandrels and pull wires, with a focus on the advanced catheter market. They serve medical device OEMs and contract manufacturers focused on microcatheter segments such as electrophysiology (EP), neurovascular, peripheral vascular, TAVR and neuromodulation. For more information, visit appliedplastics.com.
Vance Street Capital is a middle-market private equity firm focused on investing in highly engineered solutions businesses across the medical, aerospace, defense and industrial sectors. For more than two decades, Vance Street’s partners have worked with management teams and family owners to accelerate revenue growth, improve operations and acquire strategic assets for the companies in their investment portfolio. For more information, visit vancestreetcapital.com.
