Around the world, Sappi creates prosperity through sustainability.
Our products come from renewable, woodfibre-based resources to make everyday materials better for today and tomorrow. We are one global company building a more circular economy with production facilities in Europe, North America and South Africa that focus on sustainable processes and products.
We use sustainable processes, because how we make things matters just as much as what we make. As we craft our pulp, graphic papers, packaging papers, speciality papers and biomaterials, we thoughtfully source materials, reduce material waste, mitigate carbon and carefully consider product end-of-life. We strictly monitor and control our use of energy, water and other raw materials, and continually look to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.
We invest in our people and the needs of our customers by continuously creating relevant, sustainable products.
Executive management*
* All ages as at 30 September 2025.
** Member of the Executive Committee.
Mr Stephen Robert Binnie (Steve)**
Skills, expertise and experience: Mr Binnie was appointed CEO of Sappi Limited in July 2014. He joined Sappi in July 2012 as CFO designate and was appointed CFO and Executive Director from 01 September 2012. Before joining Sappi, he held various senior finance roles and was previously CFO of Edcon for 10 years after having been in a senior finance role at Investec Bank Limited.
Age: 58
Qualifications: BCom, BAcc, CA(SA), MBA
Nationality: British
Appointed: July 2012
Mr Glen Thomas Pearce**
Skills, expertise and experience: Mr Pearce joined Sappi Limited in June 1997 as Financial Manager and subsequently held various senior finance roles in South Africa and in Belgium before being promoted to Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director of Sappi Limited in July 2014. Prior to joining Sappi, he worked at Murray & Roberts Limited from 1992 to 1996.
Age: 62
Qualifications: BCom, BCom Hons, CA(SA)
Nationality: South African
Appointed: June 1997
Mr Marco Eikelenboom (Marco)**
Skills, expertise and experience: Mr Eikelenboom has played a pivotal role in steering Sappi’s graphic papers business in Europe through a period of significant transformation. In his leadership capacity, he has overseen numerous strategic projects, including the development and implementation of a new go-to-market strategy and the enhancement of commercial service standards. These initiatives have directly contributed to increased customer preference and retention, strengthening the company’s market position. Over the years, he has been deeply involved in the ongoing restructuring and refocusing of Sappi’s European operations, demonstrating his commitment and strategic vision in his various leadership roles.
Age: 58
Qualifications: MS (Business Economics)
Nationality: Dutch
Appointed: September 1992
Mr Michael George Haws (Mike)**
Skills, expertise and experience: Mr Haws brings his extensive industry leadership and strategy experience to the business. Mr Haws was integral to the development and execution of Sappi’s 2020Vision and the investments made in North America to grow the dissolving wood pulp and packaging and speciality papers businesses.
Age: 62
Qualifications: BSc (Paper Science and Engineering)
Nationality: American
Appointed: January 2012
Mr Graeme Wild**
Skills, expertise and experience: Mr Wild joined Sappi in 1995 and was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Sappi Southern Africa in December 2024. His experience and expertise include forestry, strategy, investor relations, sustainability, procurement and sales.
Age: 53
Qualifications: BSc (Forestry), MBA
Nationality: South African
Appointed: January 1995
Mr Fergus Conan Salvador Marupen**
Skills, expertise and experience: Mr Marupen joined Sappi on 01 March 2015. Before joining Sappi, Mr Marupen held various positions at Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) where he was the acting Chief Operating Officer, Group Executive Human Resources for Absa Group Limited and executive management positions with Kumba Resources, Kumba Iron Ore and BHP Billiton (Energy Coal).
Age: 60
Qualifications: BA Hons (Psychology), BEd (Education Management), Masters Diploma (HR Management), MBA, LCOR
Nationality: South African
Appointed: March 2015
Mr Mohamed Iqbal Mansoor**
Skills, expertise and experience: Mr Mansoor joined Sappi at Saiccor Mill in 1991 where he was responsible for process investigations, customer complaints, quality control, manufacturing cost reduction initiatives and technical application support for dissolving wood pulp (DWP) customers in Europe and the United States of America. In January 1999, he was appointed Product Manager DWP and relocated to Hong Kong. In January 2001, Mr Mansoor was appointed Commercial Manager Pulp responsible for DWP sales in Southeast Asia. In June 2007, he was appointed General Manager Pulp in Hong Kong with responsibility for the global sales of DWP after spending three years as Vice President Pulp Sales in Sappi’s New York office and in January 2018, he joined the Group Executive Committee as Executive Vice President Sappi Pulp. He has a solid sales and technical background and customer relationships, together with a strong track record of delivering sales results. His expertise includes contract negotiation and management, supply chain management, strategic planning, sales management, key account management, international logistics and technical application support.
Age: 58
Qualifications: BSc (Chemistry and Mathematics), BSc Hons (Chemistry), MBA
Nationality: South African
Appointed: August 1991
Mr Louis Kruyshaar**
Skills, expertise and experience: Mr Kruyshaar joined Enstra Mill in 1993 as a Sappi bursar and progressed to a line management role within the pulp mill. From 2001 to 2003, he served as Technical Manager at Sappi Usutu Mill in eSwatini before moving to Ngodwana Mill as Paper Mill Manager in 2004. In 2006, he took responsibility for the Pulp Mill and Utilities at Ngodwana Mill, and in 2008, he was appointed General Manager at Tugela Mill. In 2015, he joined the Group Management Committee with the responsibility of developing the Sappi Biotech portfolio globally. This role was later expanded to include Research and Development and product innovation for Sappi Europe, where he also served as a member of the SEU Regional Lead Team. In 2024, he was appointed to the Group Executive Committee and assumed the role of Group Head of Manufacturing and Innovation. In this capacity, he is accountable for group safety performance and operational risk management, group manufacturing performance, research and development, support for major capital projects, management of the Sappi Biotech portfolio, and leadership of the Group Technical Management Team.
Age: 55
Qualifications: BEng (Chemical Engineering), BTech (Pulp and Paper), MBA, EDP
Nationality: South African
Appointed: January 1993
Mr Maarten van Hoven**
Skills, expertise and experience: Mr van Hoven joined Sappi in December 2011. Mr van Hoven is an admitted attorney of the High Court in South Africa. Before joining Sappi, he was employed at the Competition Commission of South Africa, managing the mergers and acquisitions department. He has 25 years’ practical legal experience in corporate, commercial and competition law, both in private and public sectors and often leading teams of professionals. During his career at Sappi, Mr van Hoven has been responsible for coordinating and creating Sappi’s 2020Vision and Thrive strategic initiatives and has been leading some major asset disposals and/or acquisitions in which Sappi had been involved during the past few years. Mr van Hoven is a member of the Sappi Executive Committee and also the custodian of the Sappi Code of Ethics and Group Legal Compliance Programme.
Age: 52
Qualifications: BProc, LLM (International Business Law)
Nationality: South African
Appointed: December 2011
Corporate management*
* All ages as at 30 September 2025.
*** Member of the Group Management Committee.
Mr Richard Wells***
Skills, expertise and experience: Mr Wells joined Sappi in October 1997 and has held several senior financial roles in the organisation including Sappi Kraft, Sappi Southern Africa, Sappi Europe, Usutu Pulp Mill, the Jiangxi Chenming Joint Venture and at Saiccor Mill, where he was also a director of the Lignotech Joint Venture. After many years in financial roles, he joined Sappi Paper and Paper Packaging in 2012 as Vice President Sales and Marketing and has played a significant role to restore profitability in this business. He is well qualified to lead Sappi’s efforts in the international markets.
Age: 56
Qualifications: BCom (Accounting), BCompt Hons, CA(SA), GEDP, EDP
Ms Tracy Wessels***
Skills, expertise and experience: Ms Wessels has worked for Sappi since 2001, holding progressively more senior positions. After starting in research and development at Saiccor Mill, she transitioned into a customer technical services role, which covered both the applications R&D and customer technical services. She brings a strong technical background to her new role, coupled with significant customer relationship management experience, and regular engagement on sustainability-related matters.
Age: 50
Qualifications: PhD (Organic Chemistry), PMD
Ms Marjorie Boles
Skills, expertise and experience: Ms Boles has been with Sappi since 1999. In 2012, she assumed global responsibility for Sappi’s customer-facing digital solutions. She was appointed CIO for Sappi North America in 2016 as well as being a member of the global IT Leadership Council. Prior to joining Sappi, Marjorie was a process optimisation consultant with Andersen Consulting and drove technology improvements for equity and control operations at Fidelity.
Age: 55
Qualifications: BA (Economics and Mathematics), MBA (Entrepreneurship)
Ms Ami Mahendranath***
Skills, expertise and experience: Ms Mahendranath joined Sappi in November 2017 as Group Company Secretary. She provides secretarial services to the Sappi board and all board committees, as well as the Group Executive Committee.
Age: 57
Qualifications: BCom FCG, Certificate in Corporate Governance
Mr André Oberholzer***
Skills, expertise and experience: Mr 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.
Age: 59
Qualifications: BCom (Law), Strategic Communication Management Professional (SCMP®)
Mr Jörg Pässler
Skills, expertise and experience: Mr Pässler joined Sappi in 1999 as South African Tax and Treasury Manager and moved to the Group Treasury operation in Brussels in 2001. He has been Group Treasurer since 2007, responsible for managing the group’s debt portfolio, financial risk management and treasury operations. Prior to joining Sappi, Jörg was the Group Treasurer at a South African construction and property development firm and also spent 17 years in banking.
Age: 64
Qualifications: BCom (Hons) Cum Laude, MCom, HDip (Tax), CAIB (SA), FT Non-Executive Director Diploma
Sappi Limited board*
* All ages as at 30 September 2025.
Non-executive directors
Mr Nkululeko Leonard Sowazi
Skills, expertise and experience: Mr Sowazi has over 30 years’ senior executive and investment management experience and has served on numerous boards of both listed and unlisted companies. Mr Sowazi has a strong commercial and entrepreneurial business track record and presents with an impeccable reputation in the market.
Sappi board committee memberships:
Nomination and Governance Committee (Chairman)
Audit and Risk Committee
Human Resources and Compensation Committee
Social, Ethics, Transformation and Sustainability (SETS) Committee
Age: 62
Qualifications: Masters Degree
Nationality: South African
Appointed: October 2022 (Chairman as of 08 February 2024)
Mr Brian Richard Beamish
Skills, expertise and experience: Mr Beamish is a qualified mechanical engineer with over 40 years of relevant management, business and leadership experience in capital-intensive industries. He was appointed to the Lonmin board in 2013 and served as Chairman from May 2014 until June 2019 when the corporate action with Sibanye Stillwater concluded. He also served as Chair of the Nomination Committee and as a member of the Remuneration Committee and Safety, Health and Environment Committee. His senior executive career was spent within Anglo American, where his final role until retirement was Group Director Mining and Technology, before which he was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Base Metals division.
Sappi board committee memberships:
Social, Ethics, Transformation and Sustainability (SETS) Committee (Chairman)
Human Resources and Compensation Committee
Age: 68
Qualifications: BSc (Mechanical Engineering), HBS PMD
Nationality: British and South African
Appointed: March 2019
Mr Michael Anthony Fallon (Mike)
Skills, expertise and experience: Mr Fallon retired as an executive director of Nippon Sheet Glass Company Limited (NSG Group) at the end of June 2012. Before retiring, Mr Fallon was President of NSG’s Global Automotive division, with 17,500 employees, heading up all the glass and glazing operations in the key automotive regions across the world. With annual sales of around EUR6 billion, the NSG Group is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of glass and glazing products for the building, automotive and speciality glass sectors. His management and leadership experience extends across a wide range of functions from plant management, sales and marketing and supply chain to general management, including mergers and acquisition experience. During his 30-year career in a highly competitive industry, he held several positions, including President of Pilkington operations in North America and director and Chairman of companies in the UK, New Zealand and Finland. In his last four years at NSG Group, he was both a main board director and leader of its Global Automotive division. He was responsible for leading and developing the strategic direction and ultimately the performance and governance of this business. His leadership and experience covered all aspects of the business, from its research and development, sales and marketing, 30 manufacturing sites, supply chain, including 150 warehouses and distribution centres, purchasing, human resources and finance.
Sappi board committee memberships:
Nomination and Governance Committee
Social, Ethics, Transformation and Sustainability (SETS) Committee
Age: 67
Qualifications: BSc Hons (First Class)
Nationality: British
Appointed: September 2011
Mr James Michael Lopez (Jim)
Skills, expertise and experience: Mr Lopez is the former President and CEO of Tembec Inc, where he also served on the board. He held various senior management and executive positions within the company from 1989 onward. In 2017, Mr Lopez successfully negotiated the sale of Tembec Inc, a manufacturer of lumber, pulp, paper/paperboard and speciality cellulose and a global leader in sustainable forest management practices. Mr Lopez previously served as Co-Chairman of the Bi-National Softwood Lumber Council. Previous Chairmanships included the Softwood Lumber Board, Forest Products Innovation, Ontario Forest Products Association and Forest Products Association of Canada.
Sappi board committee memberships:
Human Resources and Compensation Committee
Social, Ethics, Transformation and Sustainability (SETS) Committee
Age: 66
Qualifications: BA (Economics)
Nationality: American
Appointed: March 2019
Ms Zola Nwabisa Malinga
Skills, expertise and experience: Ms Malinga is a Chartered Accountant and has extensive experience in investment banking, real estate, corporate finance and governance. She is the co-founder and Executive Director of Jade Capital Partners – an investment holding company. She was previously a director in the Real Estate Finance Division of Standard Bank where she was also a member of the Executive and Deal Approval Committees. Before this, she was an Investment Banker at Standard Bank and a member of the corporate finance team at Investec Bank Limited. Ms Malinga has leadership and governance expertise having served on numerous boards as a non-executive director including Grindrod Bank, Grindrod Limited and Hospitality Property Fund Limited.
Sappi board committee memberships:
Audit and Risk Committee (Chairman)
Nomination and Governance Committee
Age: 47
Qualifications: BCom, CA(SA)
Nationality: South African
Appointed: October 2018
Dr Bonakele Mehlomakulu (Boni)
Skills, expertise and experience: Dr Boni Mehlomakulu holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cape Town. Her career started at Sasol before joining the Department of Science and Technology occupying various management roles. She served as the CEO of the South African Bureau of Standards for nine years. In addition to her non-executive directorship at Sappi Limited, she also serves as a non-executive director at Hulamin Limited and Yokogawa South Africa. Her past directorships include PBMR (Pty) Limited, Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa, Eskom Holdings SOC Limited and the Technology Innovation Agency. She also served as a South African representative on the governing Council of the International Organization for Standardisation (ISO, Geneva).
Sappi board committee memberships:
Audit and Risk Committee
Human Resources and Compensation Committee
Age: 52
Qualifications: PhD (Chemical Engineering)
Nationality: South African
Appointed: March 2017
Mr Robertus Johannes Antonius Maria Renders (Rob Jan)
Skills, expertise and experience: Mr Renders is a business consultant. He was also the Chairman of the board for Walki Oy until April 2024. He was a board member of Duropack GmbH from 2012 until the end of May 2015, as well as CEO of Duropack from May 2013 until May 2015. From 2006 to 2010, he served as Chairman of OTOR Société Anonyme, a leading packaging provider in France. Between 1989 and 2006, he held various positions at Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA), a leading global producer of hygiene products and packaging solutions, including Mill Manager at SCA Packaging De Hoop, Managing Director of SCA Packaging De Hoop, President of SCA Packaging Containerboard, President of SCA Packaging Europe and Senior Vice President Special Project Global Packaging for SCA Group. Since November 2022, Mr Renders accepted a board position at MEPCO, based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a leading paper manufacturer, packaging and tissue, and recovered paper collection company in the Middle East. He is currently a non-executive board member, Chairman of the Strategy and Executive Committee and was acting Group President from June 2024 until February 2025. Mr Renders is also a service provider in an advisory capacity to the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.
Sappi board committee memberships:
Audit and Risk Committee
Human Resources and Compensation Committee
Age: 72
Qualifications: MSc (Mechanical Engineering), MDP
Nationality: Dutch
Appointed: October 2015
Mr Louis Leon von Zeuner
Skills, expertise and experience: Mr von Zeuner holds a Bachelor of Economics degree from the University of Stellenbosch and is a Chartered Director (SA). He served as Deputy GCEO of the Absa Group at the time of his retirement in 2012 after 32 years of service in banking. His role as board member, aside from the normal focus on strategy profitability, sustainability and has a key focus on governance status. Despite his role change from executive to non-executive Mr von Zeuner has been able to continue to play a leadership role in the activities of various organisations and contribute to growing the businesses. He is results driven and supports growing customer relationships.
Sappi board committee memberships:
Human Resources and Compensation Committee (Chairman)
Audit and Risk Committee
Age: 64
Qualifications: BEcon (Economics)
Nationality: South African
Appointed: September 2022
Executive directors
Ms Eleni Istavridis
Skills, expertise and experience: Ms Istavridis is a seasoned leader with international experience, including 17 years in the United States and 22 years in Asia in financial services and manufacturing. She has deep expertise in strategy, finance and global operations. Most recently she was Executive Vice President at Bank of New York Mellon as Head of Global Client Management for Asia and later Head of Investment Services, Asia Pacific. Earlier she served in a variety of senior leadership roles including President and Chief Operating Officer of Tristate, an Asia-based manufacturer, and Managing Director at Bankers Trust Company. She currently serves as an independent board member of two public companies and has assignments on committees in corporate governance, audit and risk, financial policy and employees and public responsibility.
Sappi board committee memberships:
Audit and Risk Committee
Social, Ethics, Transformation and Sustainability (SETS) Committee
Age: 68
Qualifications: BA, MBA, MIA
Nationality: American
Appointed: October 2022
Mr Stephen Robert Binnie (Steve)
Skills, expertise and experience: Mr Binnie was appointed CEO of Sappi Limited in July 2014. He joined Sappi in July 2012 as CFO designate and was appointed CFO and Executive Director from 01 September 2012. Before joining Sappi, he held various senior finance roles and was previously CFO of Edcon for 10 years after having been in a senior finance role at Investec Bank Limited.
Sappi board committee memberships:
Social, Ethics, Transformation and Sustainability (SETS) Committee
Attends meetings of all other board committees by invitation
Age: 58
Qualifications: BCom, BAcc, CA(SA), MBA
Nationality: British
Appointed: July 2012
Mr Glen Thomas Pearce
Skills, expertise and experience: Mr Pearce joined Sappi Limited in June 1997 as Financial Manager and subsequently held various senior finance roles in South Africa and in Belgium before being promoted to Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director of Sappi Limited in July 2014. Prior to joining Sappi, he worked at Murray & Roberts Limited from 1992 to 1996.
Sappi board committee memberships:
Expected to attend Audit and Risk Committee meetings by invitation
Age: 62
Qualifications: BCom, BCom Hons, CA(SA)
Nationality: South African
Appointed: June 1997