Avery Dennison Performance Tapes North America recently announced the appointments of Michael VanHaerents and Kristina Paskonis to key roles on the company’s automotive team. VanHaerents has been appointed to the role of business development manager, automotive OEM. In this role, he will be the company’s front-line contact with automotive OEMs and others in the industry’s value chain. VanHaerents will be responsible for building strategic relationships while creating product specifications for new and existing adhesive and tape applications.

VanHaerents brings 15 years of product engineering and program management experience with automotive OEM accounts. He came to Avery Dennison from Adler Pelzer Group, NAFTA, where he held the position of key account manager. He also held several positions with Henkel Corp., including senior business development manager and engineering manager. VanHaerents has a bachelor’s of mechanical engineering degree from the University of Michigan.

Paskonis has been appointed to the role of key account manager. In this role, she will foster relationships with new and existing customers in the automotive segment. She brings a wealth of relevant experience to the role. She joined Avery Dennison in September 2015 as a design and application engineer for Performance Tapes.

In her most recent role, regional account manager with the Avery Dennison Performance Polymers business unit, Paskonis was instrumental in cultivating customer relationships, identifying new opportunities and growing sales. Prior to her Avery Dennison tenure, Kristina held engineering positions at Lincoln Electric and North Shore Safety. She has a bachelor’s of engineering from Cleveland State University and a master’s of business administration from Lake Erie College. 

“I’m delighted to have Mike and Kristina in these important roles,” said Tom Tower, sales director for Avery Dennison Performance Tapes North America. “Their appointments enhance the team’s ability to provide technical expertise, plus responsive sales and service support to customers across the automotive industry.

“As trends such as lightweighting, electrification and NVH damping drive more automotive engineering decisions, the industry is finding new ways to utilize high-performance tapes in vehicles. Our team is poised to provide the kinds of solutions manufacturers and their suppliers need to succeed.”

For more information, visit www.averydennison.com.