Bill Carteaux's 13-year tenure as CEO of the Plastics Industry Association came during a time of great change: the economic crisis in 2008, the shale gas resurgence and now public challenges over plastic waste.

But the biggest long-term impact from his tenure, association leaders said, will likely be internal.

They credit Carteaux, who died Dec. 10 at age 59 from complications from leukemia, with guiding and preserving the association during the difficult years around the 2008 crisis so that the Washington-based organization remains relevant to the industry today.

“It's not an understatement to say that the Plastics Industry Association might not be in existence without his leadership,” said Tad McGwire, who sits on the group's eight-member executive board and is president of equipment maker Industrial 
Heater Corp.

Carteaux came to the job after a long career in the plastics machinery sector, and that industry knowledge and deep contacts helped him to maintain support for the association from companies, as everyone faced difficult decisions from the 2008 economic crisis, McGwire said.

That included maintaining and growing the NPE trade show, a major source of funding for the trade group, McGwire said.

Without Carteaux's leadership, McGwire said, the group could have shrunk as member companies left, and that would have left it more narrowly focused, perhaps only doing political advocacy for specific industry segments that wanted to pay for that, and with a smaller NPE show for revenue and industry promotion.

“As such a strong cheerleader, he was able to keep external support,” McGwire said. “There's no question the industry association would look very different today if not for Bill's leadership and energy.”

Wylie Royce, chairman of the association and director of additive maker Royce Global, agreed Carteaux stabilized and possibly saved the group. In the five years before Carteaux took over in 2005, the association's core budget had shrunk from $12 million to $8 million.

“I believe Bill's legacy will be one of transformation,” Royce said. “When he started with [the association], it was in deep trouble financial trouble. It was also viewed as more of a ‘club' than an effective association by many in industry.”

The group named Chief Operating Officer Patty Long as its interim president and CEO.

Industry executives said Carteaux was very involved in both keeping the NPE show in 2009 from melting down, as companies threatened to pull out during the economic tumult, and in overseeing the move of NPE from Chicago to Orlando, Fla. for the 2012 edition. The fair is held every three years.

John Effmann, who was chairman of that first NPE in Florida, said Carteaux “was very supportive” of moving the show, which is owned by the association and is a significant revenue source.

“Bill was a good leader. It was a pleasure working with him, moving this whole process forward and remaking NPE into the show it is,” said Effmann, who is retired after a long machinery career.

The Great Recession had slammed NPE2009. For years while the show was in Chicago, exhibitors had complained about high costs and rigid union work rules, even in good economic times.

But the big downturn brought it to a head. Some machinery companies were faced with exhibiting at NPE2009 as they laid off employees.

“With the deep, deep recession that we're in this year, the costs really exacerbated themselves,” Carteaux said in a Plastics News story at the time.

By moving to Florida, the association projected $10 million in exhibitor savings from lower costs for exhibiting, utilities and travel. Also important, according to the association, was that exhibitors would know their total costs upfront in Orlando, instead of getting surprise extra costs in Chicago.

Moving NPE was a risk, but it had to be done, executives said.

“We were going through one of the toughest times for this nation and the industry,” said Glenn Anderson, who is officer-at-large of the Plastics Industry Association board of directors and an executive at machinery maker Milacron Holdings Corp.

“At our greatest time of need, Bill was there. When the deck was stacked against us, he figured out a way to keep the industry moving forward in the toughest times of anyone's career,” Anderson said.

Similarly, the 2009 edition of NPE had faced difficult times. Major exhibitors had begun pulling out in the months leading up to the show, and leaders of the association feared a ripple effect as officials at other companies thought about withdrawing.

Carteaux and others worked quickly. He flew to Japan and Europe, home to some of the major machinery companies to publicly say they would leave NPE, to convince them to return or remain.

There was a catch, though: To lure them back, Carteaux and the association had to give steep discounts for exhibiting at the show.

That created a $3.2 million hole in the association's budget, leading to layoffs and cuts. Royce said Carteaux told him the day the organization made those cuts “was the single worst day of his life.”

Still, industry officials said the response helped the association and NPE remain viable, and that provided a base for the show to grow in subsequent years. The 2018 edition was the largest ever, with 2,174 exhibiting companies in more than 1.2 million net square feet of sold-out floor space, the group said.

Anderson said Carteaux's experience as an industry executive before joining the trade association, as the co-managing director at Demag Plastics Group, and before that head of Autojectors Inc., helped him communicate with executives as they weighed decisions around exhibiting at the show.

“Bill coming from the machinery sector was really an advantage for him and for us. He knew what the issues were and he knew what the challenges were,” he said. “And his background and his experience are going to be missed.”

Royce also highlighted the association broadening its membership base during Carteaux's tenure, convincing consumer product companies that are customers of plastics companies to join under a new “brand owner” category.

While those companies may not make a big financial contribution to the association, they are high-profile members.

Along with his other work, he helped put the association on stronger financial footing, executives said.

“At the time [the association] needed not only an industry person but one who had the ability to turn companies around and have the experience of being responsible for a bottom line,” Royce said, adding that without Carteaux's work, he, like McGwire, also questioned whether the association “would be in existence today.”

Executives at other plastics industry associations also credit Carteaux for strengthening links between the groups, such as in the North American Plastics Alliance, an umbrella group of the industry from Canada, Mexico and the United States.

“Bill personally played a key role in bringing several different associations together,” said Steve Russell, vice president of the plastics division at the American Chemistry Council in Washington. “He was a bridge builder.”

That included working on creating close alignment between the industry groups on environmental issues like plastics waste and litter and on how to communicate the benefits of plastics, sustainability and life cycle analysis, Russell said.

“Speaking for ACC, we always knew that even if we disagreed on the details of something, we could do it without being disagreeable with each other,” Russell said.

There were some areas where building bridges proved difficult, however. The plastics association largely stayed out the debate on China tariffs, since its membership is deeply divided, but it did work with plastics associations in Canada and Mexico on crafting a common position on the replacement for NAFTA.

As well, Tony Radoszewski, the president of the Dallas-based Plastics Pipe Institute, said Carteaux worked to support the political priorities of the smaller industry associations liked his.

PPI's chief legislative priority, supporting laws they say would open up government procurement for plastic pipe and overcome regulations favoring older materials like steel and concrete, became part of the industry's annual Washington political fly-in, organized by Carteaux's group.

Royce said that lately Carteaux had been very active with other groups and companies to craft a broader industry response to marine litter and plastics environmental concerns. Executives have said a significant announcement from industry could be coming in early 2019.

“Bill realized the threats to the industry that the marine litter and environment issues created,” Royce said. “He recognized that the association couldn't solve these problems alone but could attempt to make our industry realize that these are real issues that require industry and public action to cure.”

But some of the industry positions on environmental issues have cost the association support.

Under pressure from environmentally minded investors, medical device maker Becton, Dickinson & Co. — the type of consumer product company Carteaux worked to bring in — earlier this year resigned from the association in a disagreement over environmental policy with the industry.

Specifically, the shareholders, the Sierra Club and others want the plastics industry to drop its campaign in state legislatures for state laws that prevent local governments from banning or taxing plastic bags and other single-use packaging.

They're pressuring consumer product companies like Becton, Dickinson to withdraw from the plastics association to show unhappiness with the policy.

Royce said Carteaux wanted the industry to work with 
nongovernment organizations and others.

“He knew we couldn't go it alone, but with everyone's help, we would be able to make a real change, not just talk about it and attempt to fight the NGOs,” Royce said. “He was very much in favor of beginning an agenda of working with NGOs to solve the real problems, and not just spend money fighting a war of words.”