Andy Claytor returns as president of Elite Advanced Polymers

RIPLEY, Miss.—After serving as vice president of sales at Elite Advanced Polymers Inc. for just more than a year, Andy Claytor returns as president of the company.

The appointment became official May 23.

The specialty rubber compounder, with manufacturing operations in Ripley and its headquarters in Plano, Texas, said Claytor will lead Elite's growth in the custom rubber mixing industry.

Claytor will be charged with oversight of manufacturing operations and with other responsibilities in sales, marketing and business development.

"Andy's expertise in selling deeply technical, value-driven products and his strong relationships throughout the industry will be instrumental in growing our custom rubber mixing business," said Murli Nathan, executive chairman of Elite Advanced Polymers. "We are thrilled to welcome Andy as our president of the Ripley facility as we add scale to our platform to take advantage of the exciting opportunities in the industry."

Claytor said he will leverage the company's technical expertise and offer a customer-centric philosophy for business growth.

Elite has made no secret of its intentions to grow both organically and via bolt-on acquisitions, and it has done both since its purchase by DestinHaus Capital L.L.C. in February 2021.

"I'm very excited to join the team at this formative stage to spearhead the growth of this business," Claytor said.

Claytor began his more than 30-year career at Burton Rubber in 1988. He has worked for Preferred Rubber Compounding (now part of Hexpol N.A.), Teknor Apex, Hexpol and Alphagary.

Like he is doing with Elite Advanced Polymers, Claytor previously returned to lead Hexpol's sales efforts in the Northeast U.S. as vice president of business development.

In addition to Claytor, Elite said May 23 that new management has been appointed within the company's Ripley mixing plant.

Alexis Stubbs is now plant manager, and Wesley Jacobs has been named operations manager.

Vincent McLemore has now been named director of human resources.

Seiichiro "Ichiro" Araki took the reins at Elite Advanced Polymers Dec. 1, 2021, coming from his previous position as managing director at DestinHaus Capital L.L.C., a San Ramon, Calif.-based private equity firm that purchased Elite Advanced Polymers in February 2021.

Araki leads company operations, from its manufacturing and research and development campus in Ripley to its expansion efforts across the country.

Nathan, a partner at DestinHaus who has been Elite's executive chairman and CEO, continues as executive chairman.

Elite Advanced Polymers, which has about 65 employees, was founded in 2001 as Elite Elastomers Inc., and currently serves customers throughout the Southern and Midwestern U.S.

Elite made a name for itself over two decades in the oil and gas, automotive, industrial conveyor belting and consumer-oriented product industries. Elite has a portfolio of swellable elastomers that are used in the completion of fracking wells, supplying both water and oil swell packers.

Elite has a main, combined custom mixing and warehousing facility in Ripley, which comprises three mixing lines, including a color line.

The campus also has a research and development facility (part of the DestinHaus transaction) and two buildings that comprise Elite Elastomer Products L.L.C., a finished goods business established in 2016 that remains under previous ownership.

While the oil and gas market constitutes a major portion of Elite Advanced Polymers' custom mixing applications, Elite has seen an area of increased growth in the life sciences market.

And life sciences remains an area that DestinHaus said it would like to grow further—either through expanded capacity with Elite or via future business acquisitions.

That first acquisition was Cleburne, Texas-based J Dunnam & Co. L.L.C., a transaction closed in 2021.

The firm also added a second shift in 2022 at Ripley, and will continue to look for other acquisition candidates and focus on new custom mixing facilities, where feasible.