Management committee*
The management commitee comprises the following individuals as well as the Group CEO,
** Ralph Boettger and group CFO, ** Mark Thompson.
** Mark Gardner - President and chief executive officer of Sappi Fine Paper North America
Age 56 Qualifications BSc (Industrial Technology)
Mr Gardner joined Sappi in 1981. Prior to accepting the position of president and chief executive officer in 2007, Mr Gardner held the roles of vice-president manufacturing and vice-president, supply chain. He has also worked in a variety of production management roles, including production manager at the Westbrook Mill, Paper Mill manager at the Somerset Mill, managing director at the Muskegon Mill and director of Engineering and Manufacturing Technology position at the regional head office in Boston. Mr Gardner has received the TAPPI (Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry)/PIMA (Paper Industry Management Association) 2009 Executive of the Year Award. The award is the highest recognition for leadership and management given by PIMA. He currently also serves on the board of directors of the American Forest & Paper Association and the NPTA Alliance.
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** Alexander van Coller Thiel - Chief executive officer of Sappi Southern Africa
Age 50 Qualifications BSc Mechanical Engineering, MBA (Financial Management and IT)
Mr Thiel joined Sappi in December 1989 as the executive assistant to the executive chairmain in Johannesburg. In April 1993, as part of Sappi's expansion into Europe, he moved to Brussels as the administration manager reporting to the managing director of Sappi Europe. With the creation of Sappi Fine Paper Europe he was appointed in February 1998 as manager marketing intelligence, reporting to the esales and marketing director. In January 2003, he became the director logistics, reporting to the chief executive officer of Sappi Fine Paper Europe. He was appointed as group head procurement, Sappi Limited in January 2008 and integration executive, in chargeof the acquired business into Sappi's operations, in September 2008. He led a project to redefine and implement Sappi's 'go-to-market' strategy in Europe from October 2009. Mr Thiel was appointed chief executive officer of Sappi Southern Africa with effect from 01 December 2010.
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** Berend (Berry) John Wiersum - Chief executive officer of Sappi Fine Paper Europe
Age 56 Qualifications MA (Medieval and Modern History)
Mr Wiersum joined Sappi in January 2007 as chief executive officer Sappi Fine Paper Europe. Prior to joining Sappi, Mr Wiersum was a freelance mergers and acquisitions consultant for one year. He previously was managing director of Kappa Packaging and member of the management board in Eindhoven (The Netherlands) where he was responsible for overseeing over 90 packaging plants across Europe, Russia, the Middle East and North Africa.
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** Robert Darsie Hope - Group head strategic development
Age 59 Qualifications BA Hons (Economics), MRICS
Since joining Sappi in 1989, Mr Hope has held a number of management roles including general manager of Sappi Sawmills, managing director of Sappi Trading and is currently group head strategic development. Mr Hope will be retiring at the end of June 2012.
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** Andrea Rossi - Group head technology
Age 58 Qualifications BSc Eng (Hons), C Eng
Mr Rossi joined Sappi in 1989. Prior to becoming group head technology, Mr Rossi held numerous roles in the company including project director Sappi Saiccor 'Amakhulu' expansion project, Sappi Kraft manufacturing director, managing director Sappi Forests, general manager Enstra Mill, and engineering services manager for Sappi Management Services.
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** Lucia Adele Swartz - Group head human resources
Age 54 Qualifications BA (Psychology and Geography), Dip HR
Ms Swartz joined Sappi in May 2002 in her current position. Prior to joining Sappi she worked for the Seagram Spirits and Wine Group as human resources director, Global Functions based in New York.
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Bradley Coward - Group chief information officer
Age 56 Qualifications Dip Business Management
Brad joined Sappi in 2008. Prior to joining Sappi he was Operations and Services Director at Derivco (Pty) Ltd. He has a keen interest in IT Governance and served on the IT Governance sub-committee of King III.
André Frederich Oberholzer - Group head corporate affairs
Age 45 Qualifications BCom (Economics)
André Oberholzer joined Sappi Limited in 2001 as the Group Head for Corporate Affairs. In this role he has global responsibility for Sappi’s internal, external, corporate and business communication and reputation management programmes. In addition, he has line responsibility for Sappi’s Southern African communication function. Prior to joining Sappi he worked for 14 years as a diplomat for South Africa, focused on multilateral affairs. |
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Maarten van Hoven - Group head legal
Age 38 Qualifications BProc, LLM (International Business Law)
Maarten, an admitted attorney of the High Court in South Africa, has held various positions at the South African Competition Commission, most recently as Divisional Manager: Mergers & Acquisitions. Maarten has joined the corporate management team, reporting directly to the CEO, Sappi Limited. |
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* Ages of leadership on 31 December 2011
** Executive committee members