July 2008
By Mark Rushton, Editor, PPI magazine, Graeme Rodden, Editor, Pulp & Paper magazine, Annie Zhu, Features Editor, PPI magazine, Felicia Willis, Associate Editor, Pulp & Paper magazine and Rhiannon James-Van Beuningen, Senior Vice President, Media Products, RISI
11. Jussi Pesonen, UPM
Named president and CEO of UPM in January 2004 and was awarded RISI’s European CEO of the Year Award in 2007, Jussi Pesonen has led from the front putting the company at the forefront of papermaking worldwide. Whether it be innovative self adhesive products, energy assets, fine printing papers or expansion into emerging countries, UPM is involved, and more often than not in the leading position. It has a turnover of EUR10 billion ($15 billion) and has production operations in 14 countries including China and Russia, where, in the latter, it has recently entered into a joint venture with the Sveza group to investigate opportunities for a ground up, brand new, forest industry facility. Asked in a recent interview with PPI what the secret of UPM’s success has been, Pesonen stated: “It’s a people and leadership issue, our steering model is based on global divisions and functions and our people are very committed to implementing our strategy”. Pesonen joined UPM in 1987 as a production engineer, advancing rapidly into leading management posts in various paper business areas. He is a member of the board of CEPI and serves on the boards of UPM and the pulp producer Oy MetsäBotnia Ab. He is also chairman of the board of the Finnish Forest Industries Federation.
12. John Weaver and David Patterson, AbitibiBowater
A dual entry following the merger of the two newsprint giants in 2007. With newsprint consumption in a freefall in North America, desperate measures were called for and these two stepped up to the plate. After the merger was complete, the company announced a spate of mill closings designed to bring capacity more in line with demand and help raise prices. It was tough medicine. And there is still work to do to bring this troubled company out of the woods. What they accomplish will determine what the newsprint industry looks like in the future. Weaver, who previously led Abitibi-Consolidated, was chosen to be executive chairman while Patterson, who was chairman, president and CEO of Bowater, was named president and CEO. Weaver recently announced his retirement. Both have long backgrounds in the forest products industry.
13. Carlos Augusto Lira Aguiar, Aracruz Celulose
No power list would be complete without the man who is steering the course of the Brazilian pulp giant, Aracruz. A chemical engineer by training, Carlos Aguiar has held the position of president and CEO since 1998. Aguiar has been with Aracruz since 1981 and his climb to the top has mirrored the company’s rapid increase in pulp capacity. Under his guidance, Aracruz has become the world’s leading producer of bleached eucalyptus pulp and has invested heavily in new capacity and joint ventures. Over the past ten years, the company has started up Fiberline C at its mill in Espírito Santo, invested in and launched Veracel with Stora Enso and is already thinking about Vercael 2 and another new mill in Brazil. Aguiar is certainly not somebody who is content to rest on his laurels as far as capacity goes.
Although he has spent his professional life in Brazil, Aguiar has spread his wings to gain industry and management knowledge in the US at Harvard, in the UK and in Portugal. He is also active in local and international associations as a member of the TAPPI board of directors and a vice president of Bracelpa. Not only is Aguiar a powerful and influential man in his own right, he also has friends in high places. When Aguiar was due to take part in the CEO panel at RISI’s Latin American conference last year, he had to pull out at the last minute due to an impromptu visit from President Lula of Brazil!
14. Richard Brooks, Greenpeace
A group of citizens came together in 1971 to create Greenpeace. Their mission was to protest US nuclear testing off the coast of Alaska. These activists made history by bringing worldwide attention to the dangers of nuclear testing. The focus of the organization has now turned to other environmental issues, including targeting Kimberly Clark for their unwillingness to create a fiber policy that increases the use of recycled fiber. Richard Brooks is the coordinator of Greenpeace’s forest campaign in Canada, which aims to preserve intact forest areas, implement sustainable forestry and transform the forest products industry. He and his team have leveraged Greenpeace’s unique brand of markets mobilization and direct action campaigning to pressure some of the largest forest product companies in the world. Richard has brought international attention to the globally important Boreal Forest and the role that the pulp and paper sector plays in deciding its future.
15. Gary McGann, Smurfit Kappa Group
Following in the footsteps of Dr. Michael Smurfit, McGann was named group CEO 2002 after having joined the Jefferson Smurfit Group as CFO in 1998. The company enjoyed strong earnings growth in 2007, including a 20% year-on-year increase in EBITDA. It was the company’s first full year financial performance since the IPO in March 2007 and, according to McGann, the company delivered “EBITDA growth within the range of expectations set at IPO, industry leading margins and has exceeded both its leverage and synergy objectives (following the merger with Kappa Packaging).” According to Greg Rudder, editor of Pulp & Paper Week, McGann was one of his top five CEO interviews among the dozens he has done. Rudder looks for simplicity and clarity and McGann obviously has a clear vision of where he wants the Smurfit Kappa Group to go.
16. Raymond Royer, Domtar
It’s a mark of the stature of the man that he won the “Triple Crown” of North American CEO of the Year awards in 2007. One of the awards was from RISI and it was noted that under Royer’s leadership, Domtar was transformed into a world-class paper company despite it being a particularly difficult time for the Canadian pulp and paper industry. In March 2007, in an innovative $3.3-billion deal, Domtar combined its assets with those of Weyerhaeuser’s fine paper division to become North America’s largest producer of uncoated freesheet. The company is also one of the largest producers of market pulp. President and CEO since 1996, Royer set the stage for the Weyerhaeuser agreement with the purchase of four Georgia-Pacific mills in 2001. He expanded Domtar’s focus on white paper grades and led the company’s expansion into the US.
17. Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve System
As chairman and member of the board of directors of the Federal Reserve System, Bernanke’s actions, according to one forest products expert, have a “profound effect” on the value of the US dollar. And, the plunging Greenback is having a significant effect on the US industry’s cost curve.
He was sworn in on February 1, 2006, for a four-year term as chairman and a full 14-year term as a member of the board, so his views should hold sway for the long-term. Bernanke has published many articles on a wide range of economic issues including monetary policy and macroeconomics.
18. Patrick J. Moore, Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation
As chairman and CEO, Patrick J Moore is one of the primary architects of Smurfit-Stone’s transformation strategy. The industry’s largest integrated paperboard and paper-based packaging company and one of the world’s largest paper recyclers, Smurfit-Stone generated $7.4 billion in revenue in 2007. Moore was named CEO in 2002 and elected chairman in 2003. Smurfit-Stone has led the industry in safety performance every year since 2001, and Moore was recognized by the Pulp & Paper Safety Association with its Executive Eagle Award. In addition to leading Smurfit-Stone, he plays a key role across the industry by serving on the boards of the American Forest & Paper Association, the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, and the International Corrugated Case Association.
19. José Honório, Grupo Portucel Soporcel
José Honório has a vast bank of experience outside of the industry which he is putting into practice and to good effect as CEO of the Portucel Soporcel group. He has held previous high level roles in other industries, including oil and gas, cement and banking, and is a firm believer that the paper industry could be much more attractive if it created more value for itself. Despite tough times in Europe, Honório is heading up expansion plans which has seen the group responsible for 100% of new capacity in Europe in uncoated woodfree papers from 2000 to 2009. A new machine will startup this year at the group’s Setubal mill, south of Lisbon which will increase capacity by 500,000 tonnes/yr The group generates an annual turnover of over Euro billion ($1.5 billion) and has an annual production capacity of 1 million tonnes of paper and 1.3 million tonnes of pulp. It exports 93% of its products to 83 countries worldwide.
20. Mark Suwyn, NewPage
Mark Suwyn is chief executive officer and chairman of the board of directors of NewPage Corporation and NewPage Holding Corporation which have become ‘must watch’ entities in the US paper industry. He was chairman and chief executive officer of Louisiana-Pacific Corporation from 1996 until his retirement in 2004. Prior to joining Louisiana -Pacific, Suwyn served as director and vice president of distribution, speciality products and forest lands at International Paper.
Suwyn hit the financial press headlines in recently when he called for tariffs to be imposed in the US on on cheap foreign imports of paper from foreign producers, most notably from countries China, Indonesia and South Korea. He said at the time that those countries should “stop subsidizing pulp and paper production and exports. We believe everyone should have a fair opportunity to compete in this market”.
Late last year the NewPage Corporation announced the completion its acquisition of Stora Enso Oyj’s North American paper manufacturing operations. The combined product portfolio is now the broadest in North America. The new organization has around $4.3 billion in the company’s core businesses including coated freesheet, coated groundwood, supercalendered and specialty papers.
RISI Power List - Top 21 through 30
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