Jim Chesnutt

By Devin Steele (DSteele@eTextileCommunications.com)

 

Posted May 10, 2018

 

WASHINGTON, N.C. – During its board meeting in Raleigh, N.C., on May 8, directors at National Spinning Co., Inc. elected executive leadership that included elevating Jim Booterbaugh, currently president and chief operating officer, to chief executive officer.

 

As CEO, Booterbaugh will take over day-to-day leadership responsibilities from James W. Chesnutt, who will remain the company’s fulltime chairman of the board.

 

Linda Fanton, currently National Spinning’s chief financial officer and board member, will begin transitioning into retirement. She will remain on the board of directors and serve as the company’s secretary and treasurer.

 

Also, David Swaim has been hired to replace Fanton as chief financial officer.

National Spinning, founded in 1921, is an employee-owned company best known as a yarn spinner, supplying yarn for apparel, home furnishings, consumer, protective and industrial uses. However, in recent years, National Spinning has diversified into nonwovens and consumer craft businesses.

 

It operates a yarn production plant in Whiteville, N.C., and a wholly owned subsidiary, Carolina Nonwovens LLC to serve the industrial, automotive and bedding industries The company bought Carolina Nonwovens in 2012 and opened a 92,000-square-foot facility in Maiden, N.C., in 2016 to double its capacity. Hampton Art, a producer of consumer paper and beading craft products, is also an operating division.

 

Last month, the company announced the sale of its Alamance Dye House in Glen Raven, N.C., to Unifi, Inc.

 

Chesnutt has served the U.S. textile industry for many years after starting his career in banking. He has strongly advocated for the industry at many levels, including as past chairman of the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) and the American Textile Manufacturers Institute (ATMI) and past president of the American Yarn Spinners Association (AYSA) and the North Carolina Textile Manufacturers Association (NCTMA). He currently serves on the board on NCTO’s Yarn Council.

 

Booterbaugh joined National Spinning as vice president of operations in 2004 after serving at Harriett & Henderson Yarns the eight previous years. He holds a B.S. degree in engineering from Virginia Tech and an M.S. in textile technology from the Institute of Textile Technology. He has served as a past chairman of the Southern Textile Association and currently serves on the board on NCTO’s Yarn Council.