CalStar Products, Inc.
Press Release
Contact: Luke Pustejovsky
VP Marketing & Business Development

CalStar Products, Inc., the Silicon Valley green building materials company, made another leap forward in its plan to reduce the CO2 and embodied energy of the brick industry yesterday. The Company has announced that Michael Telischak will lead its build-out and scale-up manufacturing efforts in Caledonia, Wisconsin—with production expected to begin in late 2009.

“This is one of the most interesting technologies to turn a waste product, fly ash, into a safe and beneficial cladding and hardscape material—excellent chemistry, is highly proprietary, and is very suitable for mass manufacture. I’m pleased and excited to be a part of the team that will take this landfill material and turn it into beautiful brick and paver units,” said Telischak. Prior to joining CalStar Products, Inc., Michael Telischak led the team that manufactured pavers for the largest paver hardscape project in North America, the 50-acre container yard at the Port of Oakland in California.

“We looked at an array of top-notch candidates for this post. Michael’s experience at PaveStone, EP Henry and Basalite were ideal preparation for him to stand up the FAB (fly ash brick) and FAP (fly ash paver) manufacturing in Caledonia,” said Tom Pounds, CalStar Products, Inc. COO. Telischak’s experience with finished concrete products is a specific asset for the Company, as fly ash has been used as a substitute for Ordinary Portland Cement in concrete applications since 1937.

“Michael is a tremendous addition to the company. He has a good track record in setting up new masonry product plants. We know he’ll do a great job building out our plant, with our partners WE Energies, Wispark LLC, Keyria, Berghammer and Partners in Design,” added Julie Rapoport, Ph.D., P.E., LEED AP CalStar Products, Inc. Director of Product Development.

Michael Telischak will initially focus on plant commissioning, overall management of the Caledonia capital project, inventory control and capacity planning. Once the plant is producing bricks and pavers, he will work closely with the National Sales Manager to best serve distributor and masonry contracting customers throughout the U.S.