New TAPPI Board of Directors and Officers Announced

ATLANTA (March 9, 2021) – TAPPI, the leading association for the worldwide pulp, paper, packaging, tissue and converting industries, installed new officers and directors to its Board during a virtual meeting on March 2.

New Chair James R. Haeffele, Essity, and new Vice Chair, Donald Haag, Retired-Packaging Corporation of America (PCA), will serve two-year terms. New directors appointed for three-year terms are Karyn Biasca, University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point; Suzanne Blanchet, S.L.B. Inc.; and David Buchanan, Voith Paper North America.  

Haeffele, who served as vice chair on the Board during 2020, ran unopposed for the 2021 chair.  He is Vice President Technology, Material Breakthrough at Essity. Haag served as a director on the board in 2020 and ran unopposed as Vice Chair in this election. He formerly worked with PCA as VP of Manufacturing Services and is now retired.

Buchanan is president of Voith Paper North America since 2016, and has business line responsibility for Products and Services out of Appleton, Wis.

Blanchet worked for Cascades Inc. for more than 30 years, including as President up until June 2017, and is currently serving as a strategic advisor for different public and private corporations.

Biasca is a professor and Chair of the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point Paper Science and Chemical Engineering Department.

These new members will join the following directors who will continue to serve on the TAPPI Board: Garnet Bremner, Nalco Water an Ecolab Company; Peter Hart, WestRock; Andy Jones, International Paper; Mark Keaten, GAF; Larry N. Montague, President and CEO, TAPPI; Kim Nelson, GranBio; and Rory Wolf, ITW Pillar Technologies. Nelson joins Jim Haeffele and Don Haag as a member of TAPPI’s Executive Committee.

“We’re very excited to welcome our new directors,” said Larry Montague. “With their installation, our Board will now have representation from the supplier community, our growing tissue division and the academic community—all of which are vital to TAPPI and the industry we serve.”  

Special thanks to the following TAPPI Board of Directors members as they complete their terms in March 2021: Chair Pete Augustine, Körber Tissue, and directors Carrie Enos, University of Maine Pulp and Paper Foundation, and Matt Szymanski, Green Bay Packaging.

About TAPPI:
TAPPI is the leading association for the worldwide pulp, paper, packaging, tissue and converting industries and publisher of Paper360°, Tissue360° and TAPPI Journal. Through information exchange, events, trusted content and networking opportunities, TAPPI helps members elevate their performance by providing solutions that lead to better, faster and more cost-effective ways of doing business. It has provided management training and networking to the industry’s leaders for more than 100 years. For more information, visit TAPPI’s website.