A 40-plus year career in nonwovens was capped off this week with the presentation of the INDA Lifetime Service Award to Lenzing nonwovens marketer Nick Hrinko at the Hygienix conference in Houston, TX. Hrinko joined the nonwovens industry as a marketer for Chicopee in 1974 and eventually moved onto Courtaulds before joining Lenzing in 1995.

“Probably no one else has contributed more to the growth of Tencel in the nonwovens industry and by effect the growth of nonwovens than Nick,” says INDA president Dave Rousse, who presented the award. “And few are more beloved.”

Calling the award the perfect ending to a great career, Hrinko, who will retire at the end of 2019, thanked his colleagues in Lenzing’s nonwovens team. “Here’s to the best team at Lenzing,” he says. “It has been a great run. It really means so much.”