Hodgdon Powder Company, The Gunpowder People®, is pleased to announce the hiring of Steve Faintich as Vice President of Research & Development.

Faintich will start on January 16 and will immediately assume responsibility for R&D, propellant quality control, ballistics data development and management and customer/technical service. Faintich comes to Hodgdon after a long career at General Dynamics (St. Marks Powder) in engineering, sales and marketing roles.

“With the recent retirement of a long-time Hodgdon employee from this role,” said Steve Kehrwald, Hodgdon President & CEO, “we needed a ballistics professional with a track record of success and a passion for quality propellant development. We have known and respected Steve Faintich for years – he is the consummate professional who has the respect of the shooting industry for his contributions to product and feature development and we could not be more thrilled to welcome him to the Hodgdon Powder family.”

“I have been friends with the Hodgdon family and employees for years and I am excited to be joining the Hodgdon Powder team,” said Faintich. ”Nearly my entire career has been spent in the shooting and propellant industry, and I look forward to using my expertise on behalf of Hodgdon’s customers to deliver best-in-class propellants.”

Faintich will work with Hodgdon’s manufacturing partners to develop new propellant technologies and burn speeds in propellants to address the needs of today’s modern shooters. He will also play a key role in continuing to deliver excellent technical service to Hodgdon’s customers and manage Hodgdon’s world-class library of ballistics data.