PAUL CONDEELIS:
 
PAUL CONDEELIS




 
 
 
 
 
Director of Product Development at Romeo RIM Inc. in Romeo. Condeelis has more than 10 years of product design and development experience with consumer and durable goods, global agricultural, heavy truck, construction, and transit OEMs and suppliers. Romeo RIM was founded in 1982 with assets purchased from the Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. The company’s base product was known as the HELP (High Energy Level Polymer) energy absorbing bumper system, used on 90 percent of new buses built for the U.S. and Canadian transit markets. Romeo RIM has expanded its reaction injection molded (RIM) technology and adapted it for applications in the agricultural, heavy truck, and construction markets, including commercializing innovative composite technologies with the early adoption of dicylcopentadiene (DCPD), polyurethane long fiber injection (LFI), and now the latest development of high gloss, in-mold painted LFI. Condeelis led the development of this newest composite technology, that provides a class A finished part directly from the mold, eliminating the need for secondary operations. Only available from Romeo RIM in North America, this technology has fueled a double-digit increase in the company’s sales revenues. Condeelis holds four patents for Romeo RIM’s proprietary product line designs. Prior to joining Romeo RIM, he was a product engineer at Whirlpool’s KitchenAid small appliance division. Earlier, Condeelis was a program manager at Lionel, responsible for the design and development of many iconic products, and he played a lead role in the creation of Asian operations. During this time, he launched more than 200 unique product offerings both domestically and internationally. Condeelis received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Pennsylvania State University and an MBA with a concentration in international business from Baker College.


WHERE BORN: “Lake Winola, Penn.”

MOST INFLUENTIAL PERSONS: “A lot of different people have helped mold me. The most influential was my grandmother, Agnes Condeelis. At a very young age, she instilled in me the traits of courage, conviction, and compassion. She told me that the world can strip everything from you except your education, so make sure you learn everything you can. It helped drive my continued thirst for knowledge.”

LAST BOOK READ: “The Servant: A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership by James C. Hunter.”

WORDS THAT DESCRIBE ME: “Tenacious, creative, and direct.”

WHERE MY FIELD/INDUSTRY IS HEADED: “There’s this ever-increasing focus on oil consumption and MPG so composite materials need to be lighter and stronger than they ever have been before – not just in automotive but in heavy truck, agriculture, construction, and other industries. This fits very well [with our company] because our new technology is lighter weight, stronger, and costs less. I see a continued development in hybrid composite material that meets those requirements while reducing costs and being environmentally conscious.”

FAVORITE TECHNOLOGICAL GADGET: “For me, at home I have a HP TouchSmart PC. It’s like a giant cell phone. Just touch the screen and you can do everything with it.”

FAVORITE PLACE: “The Dole Plantation in Hawaii. It gets no better than eating pineapple ice cream there.”

FAVORITE HOBBIES: “Golf and cooking.”

FAVORITE FOOD: “New England clam chowder.”

MY HIDDEN TALENT: “I am an award-winning artist in the use of ink and acrylic paints.”

HOW I WANT TO BE REMEMBERED: “As a person who challenged what was considered to be the standard or the norm to drive change for the better.”


Grant Thornton Website At the annual awards reception in April 2014, one Leader & Innovator from the previous 12 months will be selected as the Grant Thornton Leader & Innovator of the Year.