Dr. Ivan Schrodt - Chairman of the Board 

Ivan has a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Notre Dame and a M.S. and Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Notre Dame.  He has over 30 years of experience in the paper and consumer products industries holding positions, including: an environmental engineer, pulp and power group leader, mill superintendent,and director of research and engineering. Ivan has served as the chairman of the board of IPS since 2006.

Bruce Shafer - President   

Bruce has a B.S. in chemical engineering from Lehigh University and a M.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Virginia. He worked for 11 years with Procter & Gamble in pharmaceutical research and in tissue engineering. He also worked 22 years for Kimberly-Clark Corp. in a wide variety of research and engineering management roles. He has been with IPS since October 2006.

Chris Reitmeyer - Vice President

Chris has a B.S. degree in Water Resource from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and has 10 years of sales experience in the medical device and pharmaceutical industry.  In additon, Chris served seven years as a research chemist and head of an environmental industry research and development team.  He is the co-inventor of five U.S. patents and author/co-author of two accredited publications.  Chris joined IPS in 2010.

Oliver Renier - Plant Engineer

Oliver has a B.S. in physics and a B.A. in mathematics from St. Norbert’s College. He worked 28 years researching for Kimberly-Clark, working in the areas of instrumentation, and product and material analysis and development. He was an in-house expert on the use of Fourier Methods for analysis of paper machine stock systems and test system identification. Oliver championed and then became team leader for an 18-member product test development group. He is a co-inventor on five U.S. patents covering instrumentation and tissue making. He has been with IPS since 2007.

Jennifer Honts - Front Office Assistant

Jennifer studied retail management at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and is a certified meeting planner. Her varied past work experience includes 10 years in retail management – seven were with ShopKo Stores, Inc. in Green Bay, Wis. She then spent the next 10 years honing her skills within the business administration field - four of those 10 years were spent with INTEL Corporation (Santa Clara, Calif.) as a senior level administrative assistant. Jennifer joined IPS in July 2008.

                        Lucy Hayter - Senior Scientist

Lucy has a B.S. degree from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. She has worked in a variety of labs performing electronic, physical and chemical testing. She ran the optical calibration lab at IPS before transferring to the paper testing lab. She has coordinated for the IPS paper testing lab for several years.     

Greg Fox - Principal Analytical Chemist and Lab Manager

Greg has a B.S. and MS in chemistry from the University of Missouri - Rolla. He is an analytical chemist with proven success in developing practical analytical methods for personal care and technical papers businesses within his prior 20 years of experience with Kimberly-Clark Corp. Greg has 12 years of experience in the metals industry with St. Joe Minerals/The Doe Run Co., developing expertise in the area of minerals, metals and anions. Highly effective in defining analytical techniques to solve a particular problem, he also has expertise in performing analyses using classical/wet chemistry,atomic absorption, UV-Vis, pH/ion selective electrodes, and X-ray. Greg has demonstrated his ability to replicate test methods in patents for right to practice or infringement questions as well as work with the inventor and attorney to develop methods to demonstrate the claims.

Kathleen Mattingly - Customer Service Manager

Kathleen received her B.S. in medical technology from Michigan State University and has worked in pharmaceutical and medical laboratories. She worked for 18 months in a consumer products company's product testing lab. She has been an employee at IPS since 2002, and has received extensive training on the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) from the McCrone Research Institute.

Walter Rantanen - Technical Leader, Fiber Science

Walter has a B.S. in wood products engineering from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse University. He worked 12 years in the Fiber Science lab at the Institute of Paper Chemistry, and he has been with IPS since start-up in 1989. Walter is involved in the analysis of pulp, paper board, paper products and nonwovens, and he has given numerous continuing education courses and seminars on the analysis of paper fibers.

Brandy Duren - Assistant, Fiber Science & Analytical Chemistry

Brandy has a B.S. and B.A. from University of Phoenix and an A.A. in Communications from Norwalk Community Technical College. Her past experience includes time as a loan processor for First National Bank, assistant training manager for Courtesy Corporation, and office administrator and human resources assistant for Unimin Corporation. She joined IPS in 2007 in the Front Office and has transitioned to the Fiber & Analytical Chemistry Lab in September of 2008.

Tom Kremer – Technical Leader, Microscopy

 

Tom holds a B.S. in physics from Calvin College and a M.S. in geology from the University of Georgia. He has 17 years of experience as a materials scientist working with Kimberly-Clark. He also has worked with McCrone Associates, Inc. and McCrone Environmental Services, Inc., working as a research microscopist and electron microscopist, respectively. Tom joined IPS in 2009, where he now focuses on performing microscopic examinations to support process improvement and problem solving for the manufacturing industry.

Carl Smith - Technical Advisor, Paper Testing

Carl has an Associate degree in Electronics and Color Television from the DeVry Institute of Technology. He worked briefly in the paper industry before working 42 years for the Institute of Paper Chemistry. He has worked for IPS as the technical advisor of paper testing since 1996.

Steven Veith - Lab Manager, Special Projects Lab

Steve’s education is from UW-Stevens Point and UW-Madison. He has four years of experience in the printing industry with American Can, six years of experience in paper science at the Institute of Paper Chemistry and 22 years of experience in consumer products – product development at Kimberly-Clark. Steve holds 13 US Patents. He was K-C’s technical expert on embossing and coauthored a technical manual on the subject. He joined IPS in 2008.

David Zenker - Technical Advisor, Absorbency Testing

David has a B.S. in water science from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He worked 24 years for Kimberly-Clark in absorbent research and development. Prior to that, David worked for five years at Rexnord Inc. in waste-water treatment research. He has been with IPS since May 2007.

  Amy Suprise - Quality Manager