NatureWorks, a Cargill Inc. joint venture that makes bioplastics, appointed two new executives this week, one of them into a newly created C-suite role.
The Plymouth-based company that's equally owned by Minnetonka-based Cargill and Thai state-owned PTT Global Chemical Public Co., announced Roger Kempa as the company’s chief financial officer and Roger Tambay as the company’s chief growth officer.
Kempa replaces former CFO Carmen Volkart, who left the company in 2023 after serving in the role for five years. Kempa has served as interim CFO since September 2023. He has 20 years of financial experience, working in roles at Cargill, Target Corp. and Ford Motor Co. before joining NatureWorks.
Kempa holds an MBA from Michigan State University and a bachelor's and master's in accounting from the University of Michigan, Dearborn.
Tambay is the first chief growth officer for NatureWorks, assuming responsibility for both commercial and technology departments and integrating them to bring the company's research and development scientists and engineers closer to its markets and customers, a spokesperson for the company said.
"NatureWorks is at a critical point in its evolution as we scale to a global multi-plant manufacturing model with our second plant opening next year," a spokesperson for NatureWorks said. "We are also focused on speed-to-market as we produce next-generation biobased materials alongside applications that are needed in this highly competitive market."
Tambay comes to NatureWorks with more than 30 years in the polymers and plastics industries. His most recent position was vice president of business development and sustainable packaging St. Johns Packaging in Canada. Prior roles included founding and scaling the company FilmOrganic. Tambay received a bachelor's in chemistry from Université de Montréal, an MBA from Concordia University, and law degrees from McGill University.
Last year, the bioplastics maker appointed Erik Ripple as the company’s president and CEO after former CEO Rich Altice retired. The company also announced in 2023 that construction on a new Ingeo PLA biopolymer manufacturing facility in Thailand was underway, with full production expected in 2025.
