AstenJohnson is preparing for its first CEO change in more than a decade.

But the more important change may be the company that Maggie Bidlingmaier will inherit.

AstenJohnson has appointed Bidlingmaier as president and chief executive officer effective September 28, 2026, succeeding Kevin Frank.

Frank will step down from the CEO role on the same date and remain with the company through December 31 to support the transition before retiring.

AstenJohnson also says Bidlingmaier will become the first woman to serve as CEO in its history.

That is an important leadership milestone.

For pulp and paper customers, however, another part of the transition deserves attention.

Frank became CEO in January 2015 when AstenJohnson was still best known primarily as a global supplier of paper machine clothing.

During his tenure, the company continued investing in that core business while building a much larger position in nonwovens and other engineered technical fabrics.

Bidlingmaier therefore arrives at a supplier that increasingly operates across two worlds:

traditional pulp and paper manufacturing

and

higher-growth technical-material applications outside paper.

Her previous experience at Graphic Packaging, Invista and Avery Dennison makes that combination particularly interesting.

The question is no longer simply who will lead AstenJohnson.

It is:

How will the next CEO balance a mature, technically demanding paper-machine-clothing business with the industrial-material platforms AstenJohnson has spent more than a decade building around it?

Kevin Frank’s Tenure Changed the Shape of AstenJohnson

Frank was appointed CEO in January 2015.

At the time, AstenJohnson’s board highlighted his paper-industry experience and growth background as the company continued evolving its business strategy.

Several major developments followed.

AstenJohnson had acquired Eagle Nonwovens in St. Louis in 2014.

In 2017, under Frank’s leadership, the company acquired the northern division of Foss Manufacturing in Hampton, New Hampshire.

AstenJohnson was unusually explicit about what that deal meant strategically.

Frank said the acquisition was part of a transformation intended to give the company two strong business pillars: paper machine clothing and nonwovens.

That language is useful when evaluating the 2026 CEO transition.

Nonwovens were not added merely as another adjacent product category.

Management intended them to become a meaningful second platform.

The following years show that the company continued pursuing that strategy.

Two Acquisitions Became One Nonwovens Business

In 2022, AstenJohnson combined Eagle Nonwovens and Foss Performance Materials under the AJ Nonwovens name.

The company said the move was intended to combine the strengths of the acquired businesses while continuing investment and product development.

That same year, AstenJohnson announced a new 220,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Waco, Texas, equipped initially with two needle-punch lines.

The plant was designed to serve markets including:

automotive;

aerospace;

filtration;

cured-in-place pipe;

and composite manufacturing.

Waco opened in 2023.

AstenJohnson described the facility as a major capacity investment for its nonwovens operation.

This is significant because it shows where capital was being deployed during Frank’s tenure.

AstenJohnson did not abandon paper machine clothing.

It built another industrial-textile growth platform alongside it.

The Company Is Still Deeply Tied to Papermaking

Diversification should not be confused with withdrawal from pulp and paper.

AstenJohnson’s paper-industry roots extend back through predecessor businesses to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Asten and JWI Group merged in 1999 to create the present AstenJohnson organization.

Its subsequent expansion included manufacturing and service operations across North America, Europe and Asia.

Today the company continues supplying:

forming fabrics;

press fabrics;

dryer fabrics;

pulp filtration fabrics;

and other machine-clothing and industrial-fabric products.

Its manufacturing and technical footprint includes paper-machine-clothing facilities in the United States, Canada, Belgium, the Czech Republic and China, alongside research and sales operations serving customers globally.

That installed expertise matters.

Paper machine clothing is not a commodity accessory in the conventional sense.

The fabric travelling through a forming, press or dryer section can influence:

water removal;

sheet formation;

marking;

machine cleanliness;

runnability;

energy consumption;

and fabric life.

For a mill, a clothing supplier is therefore connected directly to paper-machine economics.

That puts customer knowledge and field technical support at the center of the business.

Bidlingmaier Comes From the Customer Side of the Paper Value Chain

This is where Bidlingmaier’s Graphic Packaging experience becomes relevant.

She joined Graphic Packaging in January 2022 as executive vice president and president of the Americas business.

Graphic Packaging described her mandate at the time in terms of accelerating growth and expansion across its Americas operations.

She remained in that position until 2025.

Graphic Packaging’s regulatory filing shows that she resigned as EVP and President, Americas effective May 1, 2025, and ended her employment with the company on June 2.

Her experience therefore includes the perspective of a major integrated packaging producer rather than only that of an equipment or consumables supplier.

That matters because Graphic Packaging operates mills and converting assets.

AstenJohnson sells products and technical services into exactly those kinds of manufacturing environments.

Bidlingmaier is moving from an organization that uses industrial manufacturing assets to one that helps those assets perform.

That could provide a useful customer perspective.

But Her Background Is Broader Than Packaging

Before joining Graphic Packaging, Bidlingmaier was president of Performance Solutions at Invista, part of Koch Industries.

Graphic Packaging’s own biography says she led global businesses covering flooring, apparel and airbag fibre applications.

Before that she held another senior Invista role and earlier worked in global sales and marketing positions at Avery Dennison.

That career path is relevant to AstenJohnson’s current portfolio.

Invista operates in engineered fibres and materials.

Avery Dennison operates in materials and converting-related markets.

Graphic Packaging is a large industrial packaging producer.

AstenJohnson now spans:

paper-machine clothing;

filtration fabrics;

nonwovens;

automotive materials;

composites applications;

and other industrial textile systems.

Bidlingmaier therefore arrives with experience across businesses where value comes from more than manufacturing volume alone.

Technical materials often require:

application engineering;

customer qualification;

product differentiation;

long development cycles;

and close relationships with industrial customers.

That is closer to AstenJohnson’s business model than a conventional consumer-products background would be.

AstenJohnson’s Portfolio Is Becoming More Diverse

The company’s current organizational structure demonstrates how far this diversification has progressed.

Its Advanced Fabrics business applies woven-fabric expertise outside traditional papermaking to applications including:

nonwovens production;

industrial filtration;

board manufacturing;

wastewater treatment;

food and beverage;

and mining.

AJ Nonwovens serves another set of markets.

In May 2026, for example, the business introduced a polyester textile platform for battery-electric-vehicle front-trunk applications, targeting functions including lightweighting, acoustic absorption and thermal insulation.

In 2025 it was also promoting U.S.-made nonwoven products for automotive OEM and Tier suppliers from facilities in St. Louis, Hampton and Waco.

Meanwhile, AstenJohnson continues introducing paper-machine-clothing technology.

In April 2026 the company launched its AccuLink press-fabric seam technology for demanding paper-machine press applications.

These announcements illustrate the portfolio Bidlingmaier will manage.

One side is built around papermaking performance.

Another is moving into engineered applications such as vehicles, filtration and composites.

The technologies overlap in textiles and material engineering.

The customers and market dynamics can be very different.

That Creates a Capital-Allocation Question

Diversification creates opportunities.

It also creates choices.

Where should AstenJohnson put the next dollar of investment?

Into new paper-machine-clothing technology?

Additional technical-service capability for mills?

New nonwoven capacity?

Automotive applications?

Filtration?

Composite-material applications?

Those decisions determine how quickly the balance between the company’s businesses changes.

AstenJohnson is privately held, so it does not publish the segment-level sales and profitability information that a listed company normally provides.

That limits what outside observers can say about the relative financial size of paper machine clothing versus nonwovens.

It would therefore be wrong to claim that nonwovens have already become larger or more profitable than the paper business.

The evidence supports a narrower conclusion:

AstenJohnson has intentionally invested in nonwovens as a second strategic platform and continues developing that business.

What Bidlingmaier does with that platform is the next question.

Paper Machine Clothing Still Requires Continuous Innovation

There is also a danger in treating the traditional paper business as merely the mature side of the portfolio.

Paper machine clothing continues to evolve because mills are trying to extract more output from existing assets.

A press fabric, for example, can influence sheet dewatering.

Better water removal before the dryer section can affect downstream steam demand.

Fabric design can also influence:

sheet quality;

machine speed;

cleanability;

fabric stability;

and machine breaks.

AstenJohnson markets press-fabric platforms around exactly those performance variables.

For mills facing high energy, fibre, labour and maintenance costs, relatively small improvements in machine efficiency can become financially important.

That means the supplier’s role is increasingly tied to mill productivity.

The opportunity is not simply selling replacement fabrics.

It is demonstrating measurable operating value.

A New CEO Has to Protect That Technical Relationship

This is particularly important because paper-machine-clothing relationships are often built through long operating histories.

Mills accumulate experience with:

specific fabric designs;

machine positions;

furnish conditions;

cleaning systems;

nip configurations;

and operating speeds.

Changing clothing can require trials and technical evaluation.

A supplier therefore builds competitive advantage partly through accumulated machine knowledge.

AstenJohnson itself emphasizes a headbox-to-reel understanding of papermaking and says it supports papermakers in dozens of countries.

That is difficult to replicate simply by adding manufacturing capacity.

The knowledge resides partly in:

application engineers;

sales engineers;

technical-service teams;

product specialists;

and long-standing customer relationships.

For Bidlingmaier, profitable growth therefore cannot come at the expense of the technical depth underpinning the core paper business.

Manufacturing Footprint Will Also Matter

AstenJohnson operates across multiple manufacturing regions.

Its current support network lists paper-machine-clothing and advanced-fabric production in:

the United States;

Canada;

Belgium;

the Czech Republic;

China;

and Brazil,

alongside nonwovens manufacturing in Missouri, New Hampshire and Texas.

A footprint like that creates advantages.

Products can be manufactured closer to customers.

Regional technical support can respond more quickly.

Supply risk can be distributed.

But global manufacturing also creates complexity.

Capacity has to match regional demand.

Investment decisions have to reflect different cost structures.

And technical standards have to remain consistent across plants.

Bidlingmaier’s appointment announcement specifically emphasizes her experience running international manufacturing businesses and pursuing profitable growth.

That suggests the board values operational execution as much as market expansion.

It does not, however, disclose any specific restructuring, acquisition or capacity programme.

Those should not be inferred before the company announces them.

Frank Leaves Behind a Much Broader Platform

This is perhaps the clearest way to evaluate Kevin Frank’s tenure.

When he became CEO in 2015, Eagle Nonwovens had only recently joined AstenJohnson.

During the following decade:

Foss Performance Materials was acquired;

nonwovens were explicitly established as a second strategic pillar;

Eagle and Foss were combined into AJ Nonwovens;

a major new Waco manufacturing site was built;

and the company continued extending its engineered-fabrics portfolio.

At the same time, AstenJohnson continued developing its global paper-machine-clothing business.

That makes this CEO succession a logical point to ask what comes next.

The diversification architecture largely exists.

The next challenge is getting more value from it.

Bidlingmaier’s Graphic Packaging Experience Adds Another Interesting Layer

Graphic Packaging is also a useful reference because it operates in a very different position in the paper value chain.

A paper-machine-clothing supplier sees a press felt as a technically differentiated product.

A large packaging producer ultimately sees every mill input through a wider economic equation.

Does it increase production?

Reduce breaks?

Lower steam?

Improve quality?

Increase asset utilization?

Reduce total cost per tonne?

That customer-side discipline could be valuable at AstenJohnson.

Industrial suppliers increasingly need to translate technical performance into business outcomes.

Mill customers rarely invest or change specifications simply because a new material is technically interesting.

They need measurable operating value.

For a CEO with experience running large manufacturing businesses, the opportunity may be to connect AstenJohnson’s technical expertise more directly with those economic outcomes.

That remains an interpretation rather than a stated strategic programme.

But it is one reason Bidlingmaier’s background is relevant beyond the executive biography.

The Nonwovens Side Requires a Different Commercial Model

At the same time, automotive and technical nonwovens can operate differently from paper machine clothing.

Qualification cycles may be long.

Automotive programmes can run for years.

OEM and Tier suppliers can require detailed technical validation.

New material platforms may need to compete against:

molded plastics;

foams;

traditional textiles;

or multi-material assemblies.

AstenJohnson’s new electric-vehicle frunk material is one example.

The company positions the polyester nonwoven structure as an alternative capable of combining several functions in one textile system.

That is not the same commercial process as replacing a press fabric at a paper mill.

Bidlingmaier therefore has to manage businesses sharing manufacturing and materials expertise but selling into different customer-development cycles.

That makes portfolio discipline important.

Diversification Can Reduce Dependence — But Only If the New Businesses Perform

There is an obvious strategic rationale for operating beyond pulp and paper.

A supplier heavily concentrated in one manufacturing sector is exposed when customers:

close mills;

consolidate machines;

reduce capital spending;

or experience structural demand declines.

Additional industrial markets can diversify that exposure.

But diversification does not automatically create value.

A new business has to generate acceptable returns.

New factories need sufficient utilization.

Development programmes have to convert into commercial volumes.

Products need defensible technical advantages.

The Waco investment is therefore important not only because it added manufacturing capacity.

It provides a platform whose utilization and customer growth now need to justify the capital deployed.

AstenJohnson does not publicly disclose enough financial detail to evaluate that return independently.

That will remain one of the less visible parts of the new CEO’s job.

The Transition Period Is Deliberately Long Enough for Continuity

AstenJohnson has also structured the leadership handover conservatively.

Bidlingmaier becomes CEO on September 28.

Frank remains with the company through December 31.

That provides roughly three months in which the former and incoming CEOs can overlap.

For a company selling highly technical products through long customer relationships, that continuity can matter.

The CEO does not personally manage every mill account.

But leadership changes can still affect:

strategic customers;

senior technical talent;

capital programmes;

regional management;

and long-term supplier relationships.

A planned overlap gives the organization time to transfer institutional knowledge without creating ambiguity over who holds the CEO role after September 28.

First Female CEO Is Significant — But It Is Not the Entire Story

AstenJohnson has highlighted that Bidlingmaier will be its first female chief executive.

For a company whose historical roots stretch back more than two centuries through its predecessor organizations, that is a meaningful corporate milestone.

But reducing the appointment to that milestone would miss the industrial significance.

The board selected someone who has led:

a major North American packaging business;

global performance-material businesses;

and international commercial organizations.

The company she will lead is simultaneously:

a paper-industry supplier;

a technical-textile manufacturer;

a filtration-material producer;

and an expanding nonwovens business.

Her mandate will be measured more by what happens to those businesses than by the historic nature of the appointment itself.

What Should Pulp and Paper Customers Watch?

For papermakers, several indicators will show whether the leadership transition changes AstenJohnson’s direction.

The first is continued investment in paper machine clothing.

Watch new forming, press and dryer technologies, manufacturing upgrades and technical-service capability.

The second is capital allocation between paper and nonwovens.

AstenJohnson has already invested materially in its nonwoven footprint.

Further capacity or acquisitions would indicate how aggressively the second pillar is being expanded.

The third is customer integration.

Bidlingmaier’s background suggests strong exposure to large manufacturing customers and commercially driven operating environments.

The key question is whether AstenJohnson can turn its technical products into more measurable mill-performance propositions.

And finally, watch portfolio expansion.

AstenJohnson already serves automotive, filtration, composites and other technical markets.

Whether it enters additional niches or deepens those existing positions will help define Bidlingmaier’s growth strategy.

The Next CEO Is Not Starting From Zero

Leadership appointments are often framed around what the incoming executive will build.

In this case, an equally important question is what has already been built.

AstenJohnson already has:

a global paper-machine-clothing network;

advanced-fabric capabilities;

three U.S. AJ Nonwovens locations;

a relatively new Waco manufacturing platform;

and established positions in several technical industrial markets.

Bidlingmaier therefore does not need to invent a diversification strategy from scratch.

She inherits one.

Her challenge is determining which parts deserve the next round of capital, commercial attention and innovation.

Watch Where AstenJohnson Invests After September 28

For pulp and paper mills, the most revealing part of this CEO transition will probably not come from the September appointment announcement.

It will come from the next several investment decisions.

Does AstenJohnson introduce more paper-machine-clothing technology?

Does it expand nonwoven production again?

Does Waco gain additional lines?

Does Advanced Fabrics enter more industrial applications?

Does the company pursue another acquisition?

And does it continue describing paper machine clothing and nonwovens as the two pillars established during Frank’s tenure—or begin defining the portfolio differently?

Those actions will tell customers much more than an executive biography.

Kevin Frank’s decade at AstenJohnson helped move the company from being viewed primarily through its papermaking heritage toward a broader engineered-textiles model.

Maggie Bidlingmaier inherits that platform on September 28.

Her background in packaging and performance materials makes the succession logical.

The harder task comes afterward:

keeping AstenJohnson technically indispensable to paper mills while proving that its expertise in fabrics and fibres can create equally durable positions outside papermaking.

That is the strategic transition worth watching.

Last Updated on 08/09/2026 by Jota Machinery