Page 67 - Delaware 222 - 2025

MANUFACTURING MEDIA & MARKETING
Phillip Plylar
Mountaire Farms
As leader of Mountaire Farms, the
Selbyville-based poultry production
company, Phillip Plylar oversees more
than 5,000 Delaware workers at its
affi liated farms, grain operations and
production plants. Plylar has worked
his way through the ranks over a
27-year career with Mountaire before
he announced he would step down at
the end of 2024. Th e private employer
continues to expand with acquisitions
in the Delmarva Peninsula, and give
back to its local community, donating
food to local food banks, supporting
employee families with college
scholarships, and much more.
Bret Snyder
W. L. Gore & Associates
As the grandson of company founders
Bill and Vieve Gore, Bret Snyder is the
fi rst family member to lead the multi-
billion-dollar, private manufacturing
company since his uncle, the late
famed Gore-Tex inventor Robert Gore,
stepped down from the helm more
than 20 years ago. Snyder fi rst spent
time in roles outside the company and
then later as a ground-level researcher
at Gore, before ascending to lead its
thousands of associates around the
world. Since taking over in 2020, he’s
helped to orient Gore’s research and
capabilities toward growth industries
of the future, including health care and
renewable energy.
ALMA MATERS:
Q&A: ALMA MATERS:
BOARDS:
Q&A:
Yushan Yan
University of Delaware
& Versogen
Yushan Yan, the chair of the
University of Delaware’s chemical and
biomolecular engineering program
and a researcher who has worked on
fuel cell technology for decades, is
leading the state’s eff orts to capitalize
on the green hydrogen industry. He
serves as the founding director of
UD’s Center for Clean Hydrogen, a
public-private partnership that will
invest in the advancement of hydrogen
technologies. Yan also founded the
green hydrogen startup Versogen,
which has developed a proprietary
membrane and electrolyzer to produce
carbon-free hydrogen from water.
Th e startup has raised millions and
plans to hire dozens of workers in
Delaware. As part of the regional
eff ort to accelerate the Mid-Atlantic
Region as a hydrogen hub, Yan has
received a portion of millions of
federal funding to back Versogen.
Pete Booker
Delaware Public Media
Pete Booker is a radio veteran with
more than three decades of experience,
and now serves as the general manager
for Delaware Public Media (DPM).
Founded in 2009 as a live-streamed
news service, DPM acquired a radio
license in partnership with University
of Delaware and Delaware State
University to broadcast on 91.1 WDDE
in 2012. Before he was hired to lead
DPM in 2022, Booker spent years at
Delmarva Broadcasting Company,
where he was president and CEO
until his retirement in 2015. During
his time there, he helped recruit some
of Delaware’s most well-known radio
broadcasters like Rick Jensen, the late
Allan Loudell and more for WDEL.
ALMA MATERS:
BOARD:
Q&A:
ALMA MATER:
BOARDS:
Q&A:
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