Our Team
Team
Executives and thought leaders with deep industry knowledge and an extensive network of contacts provide strategic insight and direction as members of Circular Polymer Resources’ management and operations teams and Board of Directors.
Management Team
Dr. Robert Schucker
President, CEO and CTO
Dr. Robert “Bob” Schucker is at the helm as Circular Polymer Resources’ President, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer. Bob is a seasoned veteran of the chemical and petrochemical industries with 48 years of technical and managerial experience. Prior to joining Circular Polymer Resources, he spent eight years with SABIC, a global diversified chemicals company headquartered in Saudi Arabia, where he led R&D teams involved in the development of novel advanced recycling technology, oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) and oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to ethylene using oxygen ion transport membranes (ITM).
Earlier in his career, Bob founded Trans Ionics Corporation, a developer of innovative separation-based technology for the energy industry and served as CEO for 13 years after an impressive 23-year career with Exxon Research & Engineering, initially in the company’s corporate research laboratories in New Jersey and later moving into the downstream research and development laboratories in Louisiana.
A prolific inventor with 55 issued patents and a dozen more pending, Bob is keen at identifying critical needs, creating and reorganizing companies to meet those needs, recruiting key team members, raising capital, and planning and executing programs directed toward commercializing advanced technologies in the multibillion dollar energy industry. In addition to his business start-up and operations experience, he has strong leadership and communications skills, crosscutting experience in multiple energy fields and extensive forecasting, capital planning and investor relations experience.
A widely respected thought leader, Bob serves on an advisory board at Washington State University alongside researchers, extension specialists, growers, film manufacturers and recyclers to find a solution for sustainably dealing with the growing amount of agricultural plastic mulch waste. The university’s new USDA NIFA grant is advancing the science, knowledge and practice of new soil-biodegradable mulch and plastic recycling technologies.
Abigail Murray
CFO
Abigail “Abby” Murray serves as Chief Financial Officer for both TMR and CPRI. Born in Southern California and raised in a family that served honorably in the military, Abby explored different parts of the world and eventually made her way to Texas, specifically the Rio Grande Valley. She immediately fell in love with the peace and warm sense of unity it offers.
A Certified Public Accountant, Abby has been the Managing Partner of Abigail Y. Murray CPA PLLC since 2015. Earlier in her career, she was an accountant with Lyles and McCarty and Burton McCumber & Cortez, LLP, both in McAllen, and was a Business Ops Manager for Gowan Seed Co., also in McAllen.
Abby has a Bachelor of Arts in economics from The University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Business Administration with a focus on accounting from Golden Gate University. She is an active member of AICPA and the Texas Society of CPAs.
Board of Directors
Andrew Hettinger
Chairman of the Board
Andrew Hettinger is a successful serial entrepreneur who has been in the waste recycling business for more than 32 years. Andrew founded Tex-Mex Recycling (TMR) in 2012 to recycle plastic, metals, cardboard and electronics, and has led its growth for the past 11 years.
Andrew began his career in 1990 as a partner with Royal Palm Plastics. He left in 1992 to found Technoplas Inc., which sourced significant quantities of various plastics from major chemical companies. In 1994 Technoplas formed a joint venture with Technopolymers LLC, which Technoplas bought out in 1998. The company began building a facility in Reynosa, Mexico just across the border from McAllen in 2002 and formed Technoplas Mexico and Technologias de Plastico in 2004. In 2010 Andrew sold Technoplas Inc and continued to run Technoplas Mexico and Technologias de Plastico. In 2012 he bought Tex-Mex Recycling LLC from a partner. In 2017 TMR created a joint venture with a major partner in China, and in 2018 the company expanded into Europe. In 2021 TMR expanded into Costa Rica, which is expected to be a prime source of banana film and other agricultural plastics. In 2022 Andrew formed CPRI to source waste plastic into the advanced recycling industry with a focus on the Gulf Coast in Texas and Louisiana.
Operations
Christofer Beam
Global Operations Director, Tex-Mex Recycling
Christofer “Chris” Beam serves as Global Operations Director for Tex-Mex Recycling. He is a native of Silver Spring, Maryland. Prior to joining TMR, he spent more than 23 years with Stanley Black & Decker in various roles, including Global Productivity Manager, Global Supply Manager and Value Improvement Engineering Manager. In these roles, Chris successfully managed teams of up to 20 people, oversaw multimillion dollar projects and delivered significant cost savings and productivity improvements. He has a strong understanding of manufacturing processes and systems and a proven track record of driving operational excellence, improving profitability and developing and executing strategic initiatives.
Chris has a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. His employment with Stanley Black & Decker provided him with excellent working knowledge of operations in Mexico, and Chris is fluent in Spanish.