AMELIA ISLAND, FL — J. Tom Watters, Jr., chief operating officer of Syntec Industries in Rome, GA, was elected chairman of GTMA: The Association of Georgia’s Textile, Carpet and Consumer Products Manufacturers (GTMA) at the 105th Annual Meeting of the association here.
Watters succeeds Don Henderson, vice president of Mount Vernon Mills in Trion, as chairman.
David C. Clarke, president of Royal Ten Cate USA in Pendergrass, was elected vice chairman, and Larry L. Galbraith, president and chief executive officer of Denim North America in Columbus, was elected treasurer.
Watters founded Syntec Industries in 1989 with three of his brothers, marking yet another milestone in a career that has been closely linked with Rome’s textile industry. After graduating from Georgia Tech with a bachelor of science degree in textiles, he joined his family’s business, Integrated Products, where he worked in several positions throughout the company.
In 1983, he succeeded his father as president. Upon the sale of that company, he moved on to found Syntec in 1989.
He is active in many community organizations and is a past president of the Greater Rome Existing Industries Association and of the American Yarn Spinners Association’s Carpet Yarn Group. Watters has also served as treasurer, vice president and president of The Textile Education Foundation and as a member of the GTMA board.
Clarke earned his bachelor of administration in marketing degree from Notre Dame University in 1980. He began his textile career shortly thereafter with the American Thread Company in Charlotte, NC, where he progressed through several sales and marketing positions.
He became director of sales at Threads USA, a division of Dixie Yarns, and was elevated to president in 1994. Upon the sale of Threads in 1996, Clarke joined the Mirafi Division of Nicolon Corporation as president. Two years later he was named group director of Industrial Fabrics Worldwide of Royal Ten Cate, the parent company of Nicolon. He was promoted to president of Royal Ten Cate USA in 2004.
Galbraith brings an engineer’s perspective to the association, having trained and worked as a construction engineer prior to joining the textile industry. From building a textile plant in Columbus he moved to plant engineering and facilities management before joining management ranks, being named president and chief executive officer of Southern Phenix Textiles in 1988.
He retired in 1996 but was enticed back into the textile industry when the Marubeni plant in Columbus was facing shutdown. His engineer’s eye told him the plant was state of the art, his optimism made him believe that the management and marketing problems could be fixed, and he was among the purchasers of the plant in 2002, according to GTMA.
Advanced training and product upgrades, combined with an emphasis on quick response and short, small production runs have proved him right, and made Denim North America a model of efficiency and productivity, the association added.
In addition, Galbraith has served on the GTMA board of directors, was president of the Alabama Textile Manufacturers Association, chaired the Phenix Regional Hospital Board, co-chaired the Troy State University Campaign for Excellence, and participated in many other community initiatives.
Four textile executives were elected by the association’s membership to serve three-year terms on the board of directors:
Audie McDearis, vice president of supply chain, Coats & Clark, Albany; Heard Smith, president for Ten Cate Nicolon USA and Europe, Pendergrass Doug Hettinger, new business integrations director, Ethicon, Cornelia; and Allen Rice, president, Savannah Luggage Works, Vidalia.
In addition, Sam McEntrye, vice president and general manager for Royal Cord in Thomaston, was elected to fill an unexpired term on the board.
The association also re-elected Roy Bowen as president and Elizabeth Hopkins as secretary.
The Georgia textile industry is the state’s largest manufacturing employer with nearly 90,000 employees.
AMELIA ISLAND, FL — Douglas R. Tingle, chief executive officer of 1888 Mills LLC in Griffin, Georgia was elected president of The Textile Education Foundation, Inc. (TEF) at its 62nd annual meeting here this month.
Tingle succeeds John P. Cahill, vice president of human resources of Ten Cate Nicolon USA in Pendergrass.
Also elected were Jim Prater, group director of the Natural Yarn and Carpet Division of Shaw Industries in Dalton as vice president, and Stephen Felker Jr, manager of corporate development for Avondale Mills in Monroe, as treasurer.
Tingle is completing his 32nd year in the textile industry, having joined Dundee Mills as an industrial engineer upon his graduation from Georgia Tech in 1973. While employed by Dundee, he attended and graduated from the Woodrow Wilson College of Law and was admitted to the Georgia and American Bar Associations.
Shortly thereafter he was named chief financial officer, corporate secretary and in-house legal counsel for Dundee Mills.
In 1996, Tingle co-founded 1888 Mills and currently serves as chief executive officer.
Three textile executives were elected by the Foundation’s membership to serve three-year terms on the board of directors: Joe Glovier, Southern Mills, Union City; Jule Smith, SI Corporation, Chickamauga; and Mike Bowers, Mount Vernon Mills, Trion.
The Foundation also re-elected Roy Bowen as executive vice president and Elizabeth Hopkins as secretary.
