Rodney Stokes

President

Background

Rodney has been in the rubber industry since 1986, starting in Minneapolis, Minnesota with the Furon Company. His background includes scheduling, costing, plant and operations management. After leaving Furon he took the position of Vice President of Manufacturing with Santech Industries. After 5 years with Santech he took the position of Territory Manager with Wynn’s Precision. He has been the President of Performance Elastomers since 1998.

Tim Johns

Vice President of Manufacturing

Background

Tim began his career in the rubber industry in 1988 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was the front line supervisor of Furon’s 40 press operation. This included transfer, compression, & injection molding. He was instrumental in the relocating of that facility to Furon’s Tulsa, Oklahoma plant. While in Oklahoma he became involved with process engineering and mold design. He left Furon and took over process engineering for Santech Industries where he worked closely with customers in the development of custom molded products. He has been the VP of manufacturing for Performance Elastomers since 1998.
Professional development

Gerald Hansen

Vice President of Quality Assurance / Technical Sales

Background

Gerald began his career in 1983 working for Jamak Fabrication. For the next 7 years he moved from production supervisor, to Process engineering and product design. In 1991 he became the Production Supervisor of Santech industries custom molding facility. This included all areas of manufacturing from rubber preparation, molding, and cryogenic deflashing to final inspection. He then took over the quality department for Santech and developed a quality system to meet the requirements of ISO9002. He spent 2 years at FO-MAC in Tulsa, Oklahoma revamping their Quality system. He has been the VP of Quality Assurance for Performance Elastomers since 1998.

Steve Kyker

Exectuive Vice President / Technical Director

Background

Steve has his PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from The Ohio State University. He has served as a Senior Research Scientist for the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company. He was also the Director of R & D Rubber Laboratory & molding operations for the Guiberson Division, Dresser Industries. He was instrumental in the start up of Santech industries Advanced Polymer Division as their VP of Technology. In the early ‘80’s he was a Senior Polymer Chemist for Schlumberger Well Services, Houston, Texas. He has had 12 technical papers published in professional journals. He is a member of 5 Professional societies, including the Energy Rubber Group. Steve currently holds 21 U.S. and foreign patents.