Sappi North America's Rebecca Barnard Wins SAF Leadership Award

Society of American Foresters Recognizes Barnard as Young Leader of the year

BOSTON, Oct. 21, 2021 Sappi North America, Inc., a leading producer and supplier of diversified paper, packaging products and pulp, announced today that Forestry Certification Manager Rebecca Barnard received the Society of American Foresters' (SAF) Young Forester Leadership Award.

The Young Forester Leadership Award recognizes outstanding leadership by a young forestry professional in the development and promotion of an individual program or project, or for a sustained leadership role benefiting the practice of forestry and SAF. Recipients must be 40 years of age or younger, and evaluation is based on outstanding leadership in the profession, outstanding leadership in SAF and sustained leadership roles benefitting the practice of forestry.

"Receiving SAF's Young Forester Leadership Award is a personal and professional honor," said Barnard. "Reflecting on the accomplishments and achievements during my career, these successes were made possible only by the passion and collective efforts of many equally dedicated leaders within our industry and the support I've received from my employers, including Sappi. I look forward to continued service to the forestry profession and SAF."

Rebecca Barnard was named Sappi's manager of forest certification in 2018 and holds over 15 years of forestry experience. Prior to her role at Sappi, she served as the National Forestry Programs Manager for the National Wild Turkey Federation from 2013-2018 and as the Forest Certification Coordinator for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources from 2008-2013. Rebecca currently chairs SAF's National Committee on Forest Policy after serving a three-year Committee membership term.  Rebecca has been a SAF member since college and held various leadership positions with the Minnesota SAF State Society.

"We are thrilled for Rebecca's achievement," said Anne Ayer, Vice President, Pulp Business and Supply Chain. "Rebecca is a tremendous asset to Sappi with her wealth of industry knowledge and expertise. This award is a testament to her commitment to responsible forestry and forwarding Sappi's mission of sustainable innovation. It could not be more well deserved."

The Young Forester Leadership Award has been granted to one member of SAF each year since 1985.  More information can be found on SAF's National Awards page.

To learn more about Sappi North America's forestry programs, visit https://www.sappi.com/forestry-in-north-america.

About Sappi North America, Inc.
Sappi North America, Inc., headquartered in Boston, is a market leader in converting wood fiber into superior products that customers demand worldwide. The success of our three diversified businesses – high-quality graphic papers, pulp, and packaging and specialty papers – is driven by strong customer relationships, best-in-class people and advantaged assets, products and services. Our high-quality graphic papers, including McCoy, Opus, Somerset, and Flo, are the key platform for premium magazines, catalogs, books, direct mail and high-end print advertising. We are a leading manufacturer of dissolving pulp with our Verve brand, a sustainable fiber, which is used in a wide range of products, including textile fibers and household goods. We deliver sustainable packaging and specialty papers for luxury packaging and folding carton applications with our single-ply packaging brands, Spectro and Proto, and for the food and label industries with our specialty papers, LusterPrint and LusterCote. We are also one of the world's leading suppliers of casting and release papers with our Ultracast, PolyEx and Classics lines for the automotive, fashion and engineered films industries. Customers rely on Sappi for high technical, operational and market expertise; products and services delivered with consistently high quality and reliability; and, state-of-the-art and cost-competitive assets and innovative spirit.

Sappi North America, Inc. is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Sappi Limited (JSE), a global company headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, with more than 12,000 employees and manufacturing operations on three continents in seven countries and customers in over 150 countries.

About The Society of American Foresters
The Society of American Foresters (SAF) is the national scientific and educational organization representing the forestry profession in the United States. Founded in 1900 by Gifford Pinchot, it is the largest professional society for foresters in the world. The mission of the Society of American Foresters is to advance the science, education, technology, and practice of forestry. A 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization, SAF members include natural resource professionals in public and private settings, researchers, CEOs, administrators, educators, and students.