Daniel Rice
Founder and CEO
Daniel founded Rice Industries while living in Richmond, Virginia. Originally inspired by the Danaher and Colfax business models, Daniel started Rice out of a strong desire to build an operating company with acquisition, as well as strategic and process improvement, as core competencies. As CEO, Daniel oversees organizational and process development, M&A and company strategy. Daniel’s vision is to continue to build an enterprise with an extraordinary team that expedites material advancements. These advancements then drive improvements in plastic packaging, battery tech, lightweighting, renewable power, and 3D printing among other critical, secular themes. Before founding Rice, Daniel worked in M&A and private equity focused on chemicals, industrials, renewable power and bio-based fuel. He earned his MBA from Harvard and his BA from Middlebury College. Daniel has been influenced by his family members who have taught him that the best way to build a sustainable business is through dedication, perseverance and risk-taking. Daniel was inspired by his father who founded one of the first private equity firms and his grandfather who was Chairman and CEO of Allegheny Power Systems, one of the largest US utilities at the time.Tony Asfor
CFO
Tony is the Chief Financial Officer of Rice Industries and sits on its Board. Tony joined in 2018 and leads Rice’s financial, accounting, IT, and administrative efforts. Tony is a 20+ year veteran of the pharmaceutical and telecom industries, and public auditing (Big 4). Tony’s experience prior to joining Rice included finance and accounting leadership roles at Catalent Pharma Solutions, Icon Clinical Research, and Comcast. Tony led finance for Catalent’s Biologics and Small Molecule Laboratory, and the Pulmonary Manufacturing, and Micronization facilities. While at Catalent, Tony worked with Joe Drost, one of Rice’s Board members.Chris Arnoldt
President
As President of Rice, Chris leads all Sales, Business Development, Engineering, and Operations functions. Chris has been paramount in building the organization around innovation, quality, process and teamwork. Before being promoted to President at Rice, he created, built and led the Sales and R&D functions as Vice President of Sales. Prior to joining Rice Industries in 2019, Chris worked in polymer compounding and manufacturing at Edge Adhesives for thirteen years. Primarily focusing on saturated block copolymer formulations that were turned into various high-end industrial adhesives, coatings and pressure sensitive tapes. During his time at Edge, Chris managed the product development and sales teams for eleven active end-use markets from Aerospace to Building Envelope. From 2009-2012, Chris served as the elected Chairman of the American Architecture Manufacturing Association (AAMA) committee that was responsible for establishing all of the National Building Code and testing specifications for sealants, adhesives, coatings and psa tapes. Chris is the inventor on two patents that are commercialized and in active use globally and has developed dozens of private labeled products for some of the world’s largest brands including 3M, DOW-DuPont and GAF. Chris is an active triathlete and swimmer, and resides in New York City.Lisa Stoldt
Director of HR
Lisa is the Corporate Human Resources Manager of Rice Industries. Lisa joined in 2022 and is responsible for leading all aspects of human resources including Rice’s talent strategy to attract and develop talent at all levels. Lisa brings over 16 years of experience and has worked in freight forwarding, insurance and manufacturing industries in all facets of HR. Lisa’s experience prior to joining Rice was in a site HR leadership role for Porex, Filtration Group, Payroll/Benefits Manager for Virginia Farm Bureau and before that worked for Savino Del Bene USA Inc for almost 12 years in various HR positions and the last 4 years as their Director of Human Resources. Lisa holds a BA in Psychology and Business from St. John’s University and MA in Human Resources Management from the University of Richmond. She also holds her PHR (Professional in Human Resources) credentials from HRCI (Human Resource Standards Institute). She is a former competitive & collegiate swimmer and resides in Richmond, VA with her husband and two daughters.Pejman Hadi
Director of Engineering
Pejman is an experienced chemical engineer with proven leadership capabilities and currently serves as the Director of Engineering in Rice Industries. Pejman strives to identify and lead strategic projects in support of organizational strategic goals and objectives. He is responsible for all continuous improvement projects and new product development from pilot scale to commercialization in multiple sites and takes pride in the best-in-class service to customers. Prior to this position, Pejman was the Engineering Leader for the Polymer Segment in Rice Industries. He was a Senior R&D Process Development Engineer at AdvanSix from 2019-2022. During his time at AdvanSix, he was managing several key initiatives that were identified to enhance plant efficiency. Pejman received his PhD from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, where he fell in love with being introduced to different cultures and traditions.
COMPANY ADVISORS
Joseph L. Rice
Joe has spent the major portion of his business career in private equity and is one of the founders of the industry. Joe is trustee emeritus of Williams College and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Brookings Institution. He is also a co-founder of the Private Capital Research Institute. In his free time, Joe enjoys playing golf, reading the newspaper, and watching the NY Giants. Joe is the proud father of two daughters and one son, and the grandfather of five boys and one girl.