Board of Directors

President​

​Ty Ueland
SeaCast, Inc.
Ty Ueland is the Vice President of Business Development at SeaCast Inc. and chairs the Board of Directors at Montana Precision Products, a SeaCast/GE Aviation Joint Venture. Within the ICI, he currently leads the ICI’s Government Relations Committee. His investment casting experience began working a summer air melt job with SeaCast, where he later progressed through roles in quality, marketing and sales. He has been active in his current tenure since 2007 overseeing sales, marketing, strategy and government relations. Prior to his return to manufacturing, Ty worked in Smith Barney’s Investment Banking Division as a Financial Analyst and held various roles in Microsoft Corporation’s Corporate Strategy and Corporate Marketing groups.  Additionally, he is the Chairman of the Board of Montana Craft Malt, a startup barley malting operation. Ty holds a BA in Economics from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the University of Washington.
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Vice President

Juan Molina
FS Precision Tech Co LLC
Juan Molina has 30 years of broad business management and technology experience, has held several board level positions in his career, and has over 15 years of experience in titanium investment casting industry serving aerospace, defense, and commercial markets. Mr. Molina is currently employed as Executive Vice President and General Manager of FSPT. He received a Bachelors in Business from the University of Phoenix and is certified as a Professional in Human Resources. His experience includes business management and turnaround, healthcare executive, operational strategy, sales and account management, Six Sigma/lean leadership, and  other traits.
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Bill Schaub
Hitchiner Manufacturing
Bill Schaub is the Manufacturing Manager for the Vacuum Cast Operations at Hitchiner Manufacturing. Bill holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Kettering University. Bill started at Hitchiner in 2014 as a student co-op and subsequently worked at Hitchiner every other three months for the duration of his undergraduate degree. Bill’s initial involvement with the ICI came during his co-op when he was the recipient of two intern scholarships.  
 After graduation, Bill was placed in a rotational Leadership Development program at Hitchiner. Bill spent two years working within quality, process engineering, corporate finance, procurement, and continuous improvement. Upon completion of his Leadership Development program, Bill transitioned into Operations as a Production Manager. Currently, Bill is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the wax, shell, foundry, and pre-finish departments along with development and justification of capital procurement projects for his division. Bill finds passion in developing manufacturing solutions that improve both the throughput and work environment at Hitchiner. 
 Bill is interested in the ICI as he sees it as a positive industry force that advocates and educates future generations about the investment casting industry and the markets it serves. This exposure strengthens the member companies and industry by ensuring it garners the attention of a diverse workforce dedicated to establishing and facilitating best-in-class manufacturing principles. 
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Conrad Holek
Paramelt
Conrad Holek has been working in the investment casting industry for 26 years with a foundation in wax and ceramic shell products.  Over the course of his career, he has served in technical and sales roles with Paramelt and Ransom & Randolph (R&R).  Conrad is currently the Director of Sales at Paramelt USA, located in Muskegon, MI.  Conrad holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Ashland University with a double major in Biology & Environmental Science.  The technical foundation and process knowledge that Conrad has gained from his years of experience in the wax and ceramic shell process has served well in problem solving and continuous improvement with numerous foundries through the years in the industry.  During his career Conrad has co-authored and presented several technical papers on wax, ceramic shell, and pourable core materials at ICI conferences.    Conrad is eager to join the ICI Board of Directors with a focus on helping the industry transition it’s knowledge base to the next generation of foundry people.  Conrad is thankful that the Investment Casting Industry has allowed him the opportunity to grow, learn, and experience a career that has been truly rewarding.     
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Randy Altmann
MetalTek International-Wisconsin Investcast Division
Randy Altmann is currently the General Manager of MetalTek International-Wisconsin Investcast Division located in Watertown Wisconsin.  Randy received his BS in Mechanical Engineering and MS Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  After spending 10 years in the sand-casting foundry industry in various technical and operations roles, he moved to the investment casting industry for the last 25 years, working at Finecast Inc. in Columbus, Ohio and the last 17 years at MetalTek-WI.  The last 8 years as the General Manager.  Randy is a member of the American Foundry Society and has co-authored papers for Steel Founders Society of America and ICI.  
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Brad DeSplinter
TPM
Brad has been in the investment casting industry since 1991. He is currently VP/GM of Texas Precision Metalcraft (TPM) in Sugar Land, TX.   Brad has had the opportunity to work for both large and small commercial IC foundries, giving him a unique perspective on our industry and how the ICI can best serve member foundries.   Having spent the past several years in a smaller foundry atmosphere (<$7.5M in sales), Brad recognizes the importance of this large segment of the regular membership being represented on the ICI Board.   
​Brad is currently Chairing the ICI Marketing Committee, and the Strategy Subcommittee on Marketing for the IC Industry, as well as being a member of the Program Committee.  He is involved on a daily basis in all aspects of the foundry, including engineering, sales, operations and purchasing.   Brad is a graduate of Bradley University with a BS in Manufacturing Engineering.
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Phil Geers
Blasch Precision Products
Phil Geers is the Director of Global Business Development, Molten Metals for Blasch Precision Ceramics. In his first job out of college, Phil worked as a plant engineer reviewing and auditing the steps required to produce a metal fabricated part.  This started his love for manufacturing and process improvement, which are still great passions for him today.  Another great passion in Phil's career has been the Investment Casting Institute.  Over 20 years ago he attended his first ICI meeting and quickly found out the great benefits of this organization.  As Phil's time in the ICI grew, so did his understanding of the market which in turn helped our business grow.  Phil has had the great fortune of being mentored by several senior members in the ICI over the years, which has helped him both professionally and personally.  In his past work for the ICI, Phil has held positions on committees and presented 4 separate technical papers.  In Phil's current job position, he travels the world to improve the refractory use of investment casters and alloy producers.  He has had the privilege of visiting hundreds of customers performing refractory installations and trainings.   Phil's focus has always been to improve the processes of the ICI member foundries by being a technical resource for refractories and to provide knowledge and assistance when and wherever needed.  
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Robert Johnson
Shellcast, Inc.
Bob's experience and education covers a wide variety of manufacturing disciplines. His career has covered positions in sand casting, permanent mold, die-casting, pattern making, precision machining, quality control, technical sales, and operational management with a primary focus on investment castings beginning in 1980 at Golden State Castings in Southern California.
He joined Howmet in 1984 in a quality role and rose to the sales and program manager for advanced titanium alloys while at the titanium casting operation in Whitehall, MI. He also co-holds two US patents for permanent mold casting of titanium and nickel-based alloys developed while at Howmet. In 1995 he joined Teledyne Cast Product's Picco facility (now CPP City of Industry, CA) and became the engineering manager for GE Aircraft Engine Lynn, MA components. He moved to an aluminum die-casting facility in 1996 becoming the VP of sales and co-owner. Joining ShellCast, Inc in 2005, he became the President and owner of the 60-year-old company in 2011.
Under Bob's direction the company has become a recognized leader in the medium-sized steel casting market and has been chosen for multiple Casting of the Year Awards and became the first foundry to win the ICI's Innovator of the Year Award.
He is a Muskegon, Michigan native and a second-generation foundry man who studied mechanical engineering at Muskegon Community College.
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Erich Knoespel
Artcast, Inc.
Erich Knoespel has been around the investment casting industry for close to ten years. He is the Additive Manufacturing Specialist for Artcast Inc., a multigenerational family-run art foundry in Canada. Since 2013, Erich has been integral to the rapid adoption of additive manufacturing technologies at Artcast. Erich initiated the utilization of additive manufacturing processes into the art casting environment of Artcast through experimentation.  Through trials and tests he has been able to streamline the wax making process for many of the projects.  He has introduced the client base to the use of scanning and printing to allow for ease in their creation process.  As well as the manipulation of their 3D files for thickness, aesthetic, or sizing adjustments before print.  This area of expertise along with his ability to work closely with the clients has made the introduction to new processes easier on the client base and added efficiencies to the art casting process.  Having grown up in the investment casting industry Erich is knowledgeable of every step of the process.  His willingness to push the envelope has been invaluable in each step from wax making all the way to patination.  The ICI Casting Certification combined with the willingness to experiment has combined the technical with the creative and has triggered many new opportunities. Every project that flows through Artcast Inc. is unique and requires this combination of technical and creative.
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Aaron Phipps
MPI, Inc.
Aaron Phipps is the President of MPI, Inc.  Aaron is the son of founder Bruce Phipps and has been with the company in an official capacity since 2010.  In truth, Aaron has been in and around the investment casting industry his entire life.
Aaron has an engineering degree from Rochester Institute of Technology.  He currently teaches the wax section of the Certification Course for the Investment Casting Institute.  He presented a paper at the 2015 ICI Technical Conference entitled, “Current Problems in the Wax Room and How they are Best Overcome,” and also presented at the EICF World Conference in Paris a paper entitled, “Overcoming Common Wax Injection Problems: The First Step toward Automation.”  He sits on the Advisory Board of the New Paltz School of Science and Engineering, receiving an award for invaluable contributions to the school’s Internship Program.
Prior to joining MPI in an official capacity, Aaron worked at A.W. Bell in Australia as a product engineer and in the Bio Medical industry.  After joining MPI, Aaron worked his way through MPI taking on key roles including product and automation engineering, process engineering, establishing a training curriculum, department manager, VP of Sales and Service, VP of Manufacturing and Engineering and now President.
After working in all phases of engineering, Aaron took over the MPI Technology Center as manager, overseeing critical areas of the business including pattern production services, demonstrations, process validation, testing and operator/engineer training.  The Technology Center is MPI’s state-of-the-art facility where engineering, innovation and R&D intersect to create real-world solutions to customer’s wax room challenges without having to interrupt their production.
MPI has experienced explosive growth in recent years, having doubled in size.  Aaron has been an instrumental contributor to this growth as a talented problem solver who effectively collaborates with customers and vendors alike to develop solutions for a wide array of challenges.  
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Albert E. Torok, Jr.
Yamaha Marine Precision Propellers, Inc.
Al is currently the Investment Casting Technical Manager at Yamaha Marine Precision Propellers, Inc. located in Greenfield, IN.  After receiving his BS in Physics at St. Joseph’s College in Rensselear, IN.   Al has spent the last 47 years in the foundry Industry. 
Al started his investment career at Arwood, in New Hampshire in 1986.  He has held various positions within the technical side of the foundry business, from starting out as a Lab Tech, to Director of Engineering at an aerospace foundry in Southern CA, to the present, as the Investment Casting Technical Manager at YMPPI.   Al has technical engineering experience with casting large Aluminum, mid-size and small Low Carbon Steel, Alloy Steel and Stainless Steels, Copper base alloys, Magnesium alloys, Gray and Ductile Iron in both Shell and Solid Mold, for the aerospace industry.  However, he further has engineering experience in Green Sand, Dry Sand, High Pressure Die Casting, Permanent Mold, Tilt Mold, Low Pressure.
Al has co-authored five technical papers and has served on various technical committees for ASTM, ICI, Gray Iron, Ductile Iron and AFS research projects.
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