CPIA names Dave Birkby as 2009 Leader of the Year

The Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA) has named Dave Birkby, president and CEO of Westbridge PET Containers, as the recipient of its 2009 Leader of the Year award.

Birkby, a native of Chatham, Ont., received his degree in Polymer Chemistry from Toronto’s Ryerson University. He worked for Shell Oil for 17 years, much of that time in the company’s research and development facility in Oakville, Ont.

Birkby then worked for a series of plastics processors in the packaging field, beginning with Plax. He moved to Calgary in 1997 to work for the company that he would eventually buy in 2001.

Since that time, Birkby has built the company into a premier PET container company in western Canada. In 2007, he expanded the company by purchasing the Calgary facility of Amcor PET Packaging.

In addition to his duties with Westbridge PET, Birkby is involved in a variety of Calgary-based manufacturing associations. While at Shell, he was a member of SPI in Ontario. Since moving to Calgary, he has served as chair of the Western Region of CPIA and then assumed the positions of vice chair and chair of the national board, a position he will leave in June of this year.