After years of management and membership instability, the US Plastics Industry Association (Plastics, Washington, D.C.; www.plasticsindustry.org) is apparently going on a charm offensive. The group has announced the appointment of Ashley Hood-Morley as vice-president for industry engagement, tasking her with maintaining relationships with current members and attracting new ones.

The industry group said she “will be an integral part” of the association’s growth and engagement, the latter of which includes oversight of contacts and programmes involving stakeholders in the sector.

Hood-Morley has been in the plastics industry for more than 15 years. Most recently, she worked on Eastman’s sustainability team. She also has intimate knowledge of the US association after a six-year stint in Washington, where here duties included managing the group’s recycling and sustainability issues.

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The group first appointed a new director in April 2022, when Matt Seaholm took the helm (see PieWeb of 29.04.2022). He was previously executive director of the American Recyclable Plastic Bag Alliance (ARPBA, Washington, D.C.; www.bagalliance.org), a division of the association blamed for a number of high-profile departures from the parent organisation (see Plasteurope.com of 02.07.2020). Under Seaholm’s leadership, the bag alliance ran its own public relations campaigns, which included the strident slogan “The Frontline Defense Against Plastic Bag Bans and Taxes Nationwide”.