We are pleased to announce the promotion of Justin Fordham to the role of General Manager for our Eastman, Georgia business. This critical leadership role is responsible for driving the VST operating system and is accountable for all site business operations, as well as critical customer relationships in the Southeastern US region. Justin has served as the interim General Manager for a number of months, focusing on the management of employee engagement and customer service in the wake of the recent fire at our Middle Georgia facility.

Chris Celtruda; ���׶���Ƶ Chief Executive officer shared, “Operational execution and customer connectivity are critical elements of our VST operating system. Justin has been instrumental in bringing capability back on-line, managing customer expectations and embracing our employees as we look to rebuild after fire destroyed one of the buildings at our Georgia campus.”

Justin has a strong background in operations and quality for the aerospace and defense market, with a history of driving change, developing teams, managing quality systems, and focusing on customer satisfaction. Most recently he served as the Eastman Site Operations Leader, with previous roles in operations and quality at ���׶���Ƶ. He was formerly employed in the Quality function for KENCOA Aerospace.

Justin commented, “I am excited to provide everyday leadership for the Eastman, GA team and engage with our customers in the Southeast to drive growth. I look forward to restoring our capability at the Eastman site, implementing a world class greenfield processing facility and engaging our talented employees, as we continue to achieve full chemical processing and painting capability for future growth”

Justin is a native of Georgia and is committed to ensuring that VST is respected for being engaged in the local community and is valued as the preferred Aerospace employer in the region. He has attended Middle Georgia State University with studies in Aircraft Structural Technology.

is the largest independent provider of metal finishing to the commercial aviation, defense, space, and medical market verticals, with OEM approved painting, plating and coating capabilities throughout the United States. ���׶���Ƶ is headquartered in Los Angeles, California, and is sponsored by equity investors ATL Partners and BCI; the British Columbia Investment Management Company.

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We are pleased to announce the appointment of Patrick O’Connor to the ���׶���Ƶ Surface Technologies (VST) Executive Leadership Team (ELT) in the role of Chief Commercial Officer (CCO).

This role is responsible for driving the VST overall strategy for sales and business growth across all North American locations and further emphasizes our commitment to customer value creation. As we look to build national accounts and drive sales beyond our traditional aerospace and defense core markets, it is critical that we invest in our customer-facing functions to drive expanded relationships.

Patrick will be based at our El Segundo Headquarters in Southern California and will be responsible for all commercial resources, including regional sales, business development, customer service, marketing communications, contracts, pricing, and the overall customer channel facing team.

Chris Celtruda; ���׶���Ƶ Chief Executive officer shared, “A strong customer service culture is a critical part of our VST operating system. Patrick is passionate about customer relationship management and brings a legacy of building commercial teams that drive growth and customer engagement.”

Patrick has over 35 years of experience in the aerospace and defense market with a history of driving sales for businesses with a wide variety of products and processes. He also has a strong business development background with a passion for building teams that drive growth and partnering relationships with global customers.

Most recently, Patrick was the CEO of Atlas Specialty Products, a manufacturer of hydraulic fittings for aerospace and defense applications. Prior to Atlas, Patrick held executive, general management, and growth leadership positions at leading aerospace companies, including Wencor, Permaswage, Cobham and Honeywell/AlliedSignal.

Patrick commented, “I am excited to join the ���׶���Ƶ leadership team and engage with our customer facing team. I look forward to building on our strong pipeline of new business opportunities and positioning the business for growth in our core aerospace market, while introducing our coating capabilities to the fast-growing space, medical and alternate energy markets.”

Patrick has a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the Thunderbird School of International Management and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Arizona.

���׶���Ƶ Surface Technologies is the largest independent provider of metal finishing to the commercial aviation, defense, space, and medical market verticals, with OEM approved painting, plating and coating capabilities throughout the United States. ���׶���Ƶ is headquartered in Los Angeles, CALIFORNIA and is sponsored by equity investors ATL Partners and BCI; the British Columbia Investment Management Company.

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We are pleased to announce the appointment of Andrew Brandenburg to the ���׶���Ƶ Surface Technologies (VST) Executive Leadership Team (ELT) in the role of Vice President of Operations (VPO). The ���׶���Ƶ business is defined by a culture of operations excellence and remains focused on driving industry leading turn times for our customers. This role further emphasizes our commitment to execution and accountability across our North American operating locations.

Chris Celtruda; ���׶���Ƶ Chief Executive officer shared, “A strong continuous improvement culture is a critical part of our VST operating system. Andy brings a history of leading transformation via operational excellence and establishing an operating culture committed to providing customer value.”

Andy brings over 25 years of operational experience in the aerospace and defense market with a history of implementing lean transformation at businesses with a wide variety of products and processes. He has a strong operations excellence background with a passion for driving problem solving, waste elimination, and ensuring the achievement of business Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s).

Most recently Andy served as an AMETEK business unit leader responsible for the integration of recent acquisitions, with preceding assignments at AMETEK leading business units with multiple operating locations. Prior to joining AMETEK, Andy held various general management leadership roles within CIRCOR Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney, with a strong focus on operations, continuous improvement and building high performing work teams.

Andy commented, “I am excited to join the ���׶���Ƶ leadership team and engage with the regional General Managers to drive customer value. I look forward to driving improved processes and engaging our talented employees, as we look to achieve rate readiness for future growth.”

Andy is a graduate of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with an Masters in Business Administration (MBA) and Bachelor of Science (BS) in Aeronautical Engineering.

���׶���Ƶ Surface Technologies is the largest independent provider of metal finishing to the commercial aviation, defense, space, and medical market verticals, with OEM approved painting, plating and coating capabilities throughout the United States. ���׶���Ƶ is headquartered in Los Angeles, CALIFORNIA and is sponsored by equity investors ATL Partners and BCI; the British Columbia Investment Management Company.

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We are pleased to announce the appointment of Patricia Hamrick to the ���׶���Ƶ Surface Technologies (VST) Executive Leadership Team (ELT) in the role of Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO). This role will set the future strategic direction of human resources with a commitment to engage our workforce, deliver on current and future staffing requirements, and training and development needs within the business, as well as taking ownership of the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) commitment embedded in our strategy. Patricia succeeds Rita Mould who has served as the ���׶���Ƶ senior human resources executive on an interim basis and will remain engaged for a period of time to ensure an orderly transition before she enjoys retirement. We thank Rita for her efforts to connect the human resources function across all VST locations while serving as a trusted advisor to the executive leadership team.

Chris Celtruda; ���׶���Ƶ Chief Executive officer shared, “People are the foundation for the VST business and Patricia brings the right capability and focus to ensure that employee development is a top priority for our continued growth. “

Patricia is an accomplished senior executive and most recently served as the global head of Human resources for Howmet Fastening Systems (formerly part of Arconic, Alcoa), with responsibility for 31 sites in 11 countries and over 7000 employees. She has extensive experience developing and implementing human resources strategies, which focus on HR team development, diversity and inclusion, staffing, talent development, and coaching high-performance teams.

Patricia commented, “I am excited about the opportunity to be a part of an organization with a strong commitment to employees: growing and engaging talent to build a winning culture that values the contributions of everyone.”

Prior to joining Howmet, Patricia was with Johnson & Johnson Consumer where she led worldwide human resources for the Neutrogena franchise. Later, she assumed responsibility for human resources for J&J Consumer Supply Chain in Latin America and North America. Before joining Johnson & Johnson, Patricia worked for Raytheon Technologies in the Network Centric Systems Division. Prior to Raytheon, Patricia spent more than 10 years with a legacy XPO Logistics company in roles of increasing responsibility, eventually assuming the role of Vice President, Human Resources. Patricia has relevant aerospace, defense and logistics end market experience and is well versed in Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A), organizational transformation and in implementing impactful people strategies.

Patricia is a graduate of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and remains active with the UCLA HR Executive Roundtable and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Region American Red Cross.

is the largest independent provider of surface treatment and metal finishing technologies to the commercial aviation, defense, space, and medical market verticals, with OEM approved chemical processing, painting, plating, and coating capabilities throughout the United States. ���׶���Ƶ is headquartered in Los Angeles, CALIFORNIA, and is sponsored by equity investors ATL Partners and BCI; the British Columbia Investment Management Company.

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���׶���Ƶ Wichita (Formerly Chrome Plus International) recently received a comprehensive list of processing approvals to support the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and all its variants. These approvals build off the existing C-130 Hercules approvals ���׶���Ƶ Wichita first received from Lockheed Martin back in June 2021 and bring the total unique Process Code approvals number to an impressive thirty-five.

When asked about the significance of these approvals, General Manager Marcus Wagoner stated,“���׶���Ƶ Wichita is excited to further our long history of supporting our military by gaining these important defense approvals through Lockheed Martin. The team has worked hard over the last year to expand our defense approvals to help our customers with fast lead times and best in class quality that they expect.”

Obtaining these new approvals broadens ���׶���Ƶ’s strategy to increase capacity, provide redundancy, and supply chain risk mitigation across North America. This further expands ���׶���Ƶ’s ability to support all Lockheed Martin programs in the Central United States from their Wichita, KS, and Grove, OK (Formerly Pride Plating) locations.

New Approvals Obtained

Founded in 1991, ���׶���Ƶ Wichita (Chrome Plus International, LLC.) is considered a world leader in aerospace finishing and is valued by its global customers due to its industry-leading capabilities and approvals covering the global aerospace market. ���׶���Ƶ Wichita services are available for aluminum, steel, titanium, and chrome materials.

is an ATL Partners and BCI portfolio company focused on surface treatment technologies, with over twelve processing locations across North America. ���׶���Ƶ is positioned as the largest independent provider of mission-critical NDT, chemical processing, painting, coating, and plating services to over 2000 customers. Over 1000 ���׶���Ƶ employees are deployed every day to ensure that customer expectations for responsiveness, quality, and product delivery are exceeded.

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���׶���Ƶ Garden Grove Operations (formerly known as Coastline Metal Finishing) has completed the installation and commissioning of their new Nondestructive testing (NDT) line. The new line, along with inspection personnel, has passed several key audits including obtaining Nadcap NDT accreditation. ���׶���Ƶ Garden Grove is now offering the following processes for aluminum alloys:

• Pre-penetrant Etch (Currently aluminum only)
• Fluorescent Penetrant Inspection – MIL-STD-6866/ASTM-E-1417 (Currently aluminum only)

Juan Cadenas, ���׶���Ƶ Garden Grove General Manager, highlights, “Nondestructive testing plays a critical role in the safety of spacecraft components and ensures our pilots and astronauts return to Earth safely. ���׶���Ƶ Garden Grove is proud to now offer this service to our customers, further enabling a true turn-key special processing solution post-machining.”

Nondestructive testing is typically the first step in the special processing sequence. In the past, customers needed to utilize a separate supplier for their NDT needs. Adding this NDT service enables ���׶���Ƶ Garden Grove to simplify the supply chain for customers with a one-stop-shop solution, eliminating unnecessary transportation of parts to multiple suppliers. These new inspection services are fully operational and ready to support the aerospace and defense supply chain today. Please contact us for additional information at: .

About ���׶���Ƶ Garden Grove
���׶���Ƶ Garden Grove serves a variety of industries that include satellite, defense, microwave electronics, and telecommunications. Garden Grove’s workforce on average has over 15 years of experience working with precision machined parts and is one of the premier metal finishers in Southern California, located in the city of Garden Grove. ���׶���Ƶ Garden Grove is centrally located to many local machining companies and original equipment manufacturers from San Diego to Orange County to Los Angeles and Ventura counties. ���׶���Ƶ Garden Grove also services numerous high-tech A&D manufacturing companies throughout North America and across the globe.

About ���׶���Ƶ Surface Technologies
���׶���Ƶ Surface Technologies is an ATL Partners and BCI portfolio company focused on surface treatment technologies, with over ten processing locations across North America. ���׶���Ƶ is positioned as the largest independent provider of mission-critical NDT, chemical processing, painting, coating, and plating services to over 2000 customers. Over 1000 ���׶���Ƶ employees are deployed every day to ensure that customer expectations for responsiveness, quality, and product delivery are exceeded.

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���׶���Ƶ Surface Technologies announces that it has established support for the Southern California Aero Club via a corporate sponsor partnership. ���׶���Ƶ is headquartered in Southern California and is committed to being engaged as a good corporate citizen. This partnership with the Aero Club builds upon the legacy of Howard Hughes and ensures the company is positioned as a strong advocate for aerospace and thought leadership.

���׶���Ƶ Chief Executive Chris Celtruda comments; “The Southern California Aero Club has a long history of recognizing thought leaders in aeronautics through the Howard Hughes Memorial Award and providing incentive for the future through a robust reinvestment in scholarship programs for California students preparing for a career in aerospace. ���׶���Ƶ is pleased to establish this partnership and will be actively engaged to enhance our access to top talent and relevant program content as we continue to grow.”

The Southern California Aero Club dates to 1908 and has a mission to promote the aviation and space market space in California and to promote engagement on a national level for commercial, government, and educational interests. The Aero Club was the steward for the Hughes Flying Boat prior to its transfer to an Oregon aviation museum. The Howard Hughes Memorial Award was established by the Aero Club and the Hughes estate to recognize leaders that have promoted excellence in aviation. This culminates with recognition at the annual HHMA dinner, recipient inscription on the HHMA trophy, and receipt of a silver medallion made from ore extracted from the Hughes Nevada mines.

���׶���Ƶ Surface Technologies is an ATL Partners and BCI portfolio company focused on surface treatment technologies, with over ten operating locations in North America. ���׶���Ƶ is positioned as the largest independent provider of mission-critical chemical processing, painting, coating, and plating services to over 2000 customers. Over 1000 ���׶���Ƶ employees are deployed every day to ensure that customer expectations for responsiveness, quality, and product delivery are exceeded.

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Founded in 2002 by husband and wife, Jean-Pierre Habets and Sandra Habets, H&W provides a wide variety of metal finishing services, including anodizing, electroplating, and industrial painting, specializing in BR-127 bond primer for leading defense applications.  H&W operates out of an approximately 50,000 square foot manufacturing facility, which the Company has continually invested in through expansion and new equipment to maintain state-of-the-art metal finishing technologies.

With the acquisition of H&W, ���׶���Ƶ continues to execute on its customer-focused strategy to improve the aerospace and defense supply chain by creating an integrated platform that offers full-service product finishing solutions with industry-leading quality and lead times. Chris Celtruda, CEO of ���׶���Ƶ, said “We are extremely excited to add H&W to the ���׶���Ƶ platform. H&W’s experience servicing top-tier customers in the aerospace and defense community will help enhance the ���׶���Ƶ offering across our customer base, particularly in the Northeast where we have a complementary location in Springfield, MA.”

Tudor Lupea, Vice President of Corporate Development, added, “H&W is strategically located in the greater Blairsville metro area and represents a key part of our strategy to deepen our footprint in the Northeast while growing the portion of our business servicing enduring defense platforms.”

As part of the transaction, H&W’s existing management team and workforce will remain with the organization. Jean-Pierre and Sandra will remain in their current roles and will help integrate the business into the ���׶���Ƶ platform. Jean-Pierre said, “Sandi and I look forward to the continued growth at H&W.  The opportunities available to our H&W family are of the utmost importance, which was a key consideration in the transaction. H&W’s future success through this merger and partnership with ���׶���Ƶ will give us great joy.”

���׶���Ƶ is majority-owned by ATL Partners (“ATL”) and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (“BCI”) who invested in ���׶���Ƶ in June 2019 to accelerate ���׶���Ƶ’s strategic initiatives and support its continued growth.  H&W represents the ninth add-on acquisition for ���׶���Ƶ since inception, and the company will continue to pursue attractive M&A opportunities in both North America and Europe.

About ���׶���Ƶ

���׶���Ƶ Surface Technologies is the world’s largest independent provider of Aerospace product finishing services. With 12 locations and over 2,500 unique industry approvals, ���׶���Ƶ processes more than 1 million parts per month. In addition to being Nadcap accredited, all ���׶���Ƶ sites provide specialized metal processing and finishing services to a diversified set of fast-growing commercial aerospace, defense, and space/satellite markets. ���׶���Ƶ partners with its customers to deliver best-in-class quality, turn times, and full-service supply chain solutions. For more information on ���׶���Ƶ Surface Technologies visit valencesurfacetech.com

About ATL Partners

Founded in 2014, ATL Partners is a premier sector-focused private equity firm that invests in aerospace, transportation and logistics companies.  ATL brings deep sector expertise to its investment approach with ten investment professionals and seven Executive Board members who have decades of combined operating experience in each of ATL’s core sectors.  For more information about ATL Partners, visit www.atlpartners.com

About BCI

With C$199.6 billion of assets under management as of March 31, 2021, British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) is one of Canada’s largest institutional investors. Based in Victoria, British Columbia, BCI is a long-term investor that invests across a range of asset classes: fixed income; public equities; private equity; infrastructure; renewable resources; real estate; and commercial mortgages. BCI’s clients include public sector pension plans, insurance, and special-purpose funds. BCI’s private equity program, with C$20.7 billion of assets under management, has a well-diversified portfolio comprised of direct and fund investments. The team brings industry expertise with more than 40 investment professionals investing across financial and business services, healthcare, industrials, consumer, and TMT sectors. For more information about BCI, please visit .

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