Polyurethane Foam Association Austin Meeting Tackles Industry Issues, Shares Technical Advances
Heller And Knaub Recognized With Lifetime Achievement Awards; Econic Technologies Wins Dr. Herman T. Stone Technical Excellence Awards
Austin, TX (November 14, 2025)—Members and guests of The Polyurethane Foam Association gathered in Austin, TX recently for its annual Fall meeting to discuss the current business environment and other factors affecting the flexible polyurethane foam industry.
More than 140 industry professionals, including C-suite executives, researchers, EHS specialists, marketers, and technologists came to the Omni in Downtown Austin for networking and presentations on foam sustainability, market trends, and the regulatory environment.
“Now, more than ever, it’s important for our industry to share the knowledge uncovered by the work of our members and staff,” noted Dr. Philippe Knaub, PFA President. “An old Chinese curse says, ‘may you live in interesting times.’ We are certainly in interesting times today.”
PFA’s Industry Issues Session provided updates on end use markets, with special emphasis on bedding and carpet cushion. In addition, presenters covered topics such as hiring and retaining quality employees, updates on European regulations that may impact North American producers, and sustainability.
The Thursday afternoon Technical Program included presentations on new technologies for compressing foam buns for more efficient shipping, deriving polyols from CO2, alternatives to tertiary amines and tin-based catalysts, and new software for assessing sustainability by individual company facility and type of product.
Following PFA’s Technical Program, Richard Stevenson of Econic Technologies was named winner of the Dr. Herman Stone Technical Excellence Award. The award is voted on by attendees present for the Technical Program. The award is named for Dr. Herman T. Stone, who served as PFA’s first Technical Director. In 2007, Dr. Stone was inducted into the Flexible Polyurethane Foam Hall of Fame.
Industry Veterans Honored With Lifetime Achievement Awards
During the Association’s General Business Meeting, two longtime industry executives, Rob Heller and Philippe Knaub, were honored with PFA’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Recipients of the award have 25 or more years of service to the industry, and a record of significant professional achievement in the areas of FPF production technology, plant or equipment engineering, research and product development, or sales and marketing. In PFA’s 45-year history, less than 40 individuals have received this award.
Heller has a career with Future Foam, Inc. that spans more than four decades. He began working on the production line just after finishing college in 1977, then worked his way up, first as a research associate, then Director of Research and Development, and finally as the company’s Vice President overseeing R&D, environment, and procurement. Bruce Schneider, Future Foam President, credited Heller with being involved in many of the business decisions that have led to the company’s success. Heller has long served on PFA’s Executive Committee, and is a past President of the Association.
Knaub, the outgoing PFA President, also has more than 40 years in the industry, working with Dow Chemical Company in Europe and the United States, ultimately overseeing Global R&D for Dow’s urethanes, latex, and other product lines. He was also Chief Technical Officer for FXI, Inc., one of the largest foam manufacturers in North America. He is also active with CertiPUR-US®, providing technical assistance for this critical foam certification program, and will continue serving PFA as its Immediate Past President and member of its Executive Committee.
“Rob and Philippe have been exceptional leaders for their companies, and for PFA,” said Cam McLaughlin, new PFA President. “A highlight of our meeting is the opportunity to have them both here to honor them in person, and to thank them for helping steer the industry forward.”
Cam McLaughlin, Elite Comfort Solutions, President
Bill Gollnitz, Plastomer, First Vice President
Kevin Zhou, Sinomax-USA, Second Vice President
Frank Donato, VPC, Treasurer
Philippe Knaub, Immediate Past President
Ted Smiecinski, Future Foam
Stephen Wallace, TempurSealy
Mike Irwin, Woodbridge Group
Jason Goger, Wm. T. Burnett
Karl Gust, BASF
Scott Skolnekovich, Covestro
Susan Kilpatrick, Evonik
Rob Einterz, Monument Chemical
Aaron Hart, Momentive
Robert Smith, Wanhua
Barry Gabelman, Chemfoam
Hamdy Khalil, Emeritus
The Polyurethane Foam Association is a trade association founded in 1980 to help educate regulators, users, allied industries, and others about flexible polyurethane foam. PFA provides facts on environmental, health and safety issues and technical information on the performance of flexible polyurethane foam (FPF) in consumer and industrial products. FPF is used as a key comfort component in most upholstered furniture and mattress products, along with automotive seating, carpet cushion, packaging, and numerous other applications.
