Packaging News Power 50 2009: 20-11

Each Wednesday until 1 July, when the July issue of Packaging News is published, we will reveal the next 10 people to have made the list. The top 10 will be unveiled on 1 July.

Click here to see numbers 50-41
Click here to see numbers 40-31
Click here to see numbers 30-21
Click here to see the top 10

20 Bob McLellan (21)
Chief executive, DS Smith Packaging
It’s been a year of enormous change for DS Smith Packaging, with the completion of its £104m project at Kemsley mill and dealing with the recession.

Yet that hasn’t stopped Bob McLellan, who has held his current role since 2001, finding time for two new positions – first, as president of the Confederation of Paper Industries, and second as president of FEFCO, the European federation of corrugated board manufacturers.

Since taking on the CPI position last autumn, McLellan, a vehement supporter of packaging’s place in society and especially corrugated’s position in the supply chain, has pushed for the organisation to have a stronger public voice.

Just as the recovered materials market was in the grip of a press onslaught – from the Mail on Sunday – over stockpiling and a collapse in prices, he defended recycling but called for the development of a national strategy on household recycling. A true champion for packaging.

19 Thomas Körmendi  (NEW)
Managing director, UK and Ireland, Tetra Pak
Thomas Körmendi has taken his place in the Power 50 after being promoted to the role previously occupied by Peter Knutsson, last year’s number 13, in March. Alongside this new responsibility, Körmendi continues in his previous role as vice president for Tetra Pak’s North Europe cluster.

Körmendi joined Tetra Pak from Procter & Gamble in 1991. In 1993, he was appointed vice president at Tetra Laval Food, before becoming general manager of Tetra Pak Bulgaria in 1996. He took a short break from the carton giant in 1997 when he became managing director of Perstorp Flooring in the Benelux. He soon returned in 1998 as managing director of Tetra Pak Hungary.

Körmendi has taken the UK reins at a low point for the economy, but he has a positive outlook. “Without a doubt, the economic climate is challenging, but it is in these times that good companies show their greatness,” he says.

18 Stuart Lendrum (24)
Head of print and packaging, Sainsbury’s
Retailers’ influence on the packaging world has never been greater, and as head of packaging at Sainsbury’s, Stuart Lendrum’s power is on the up.

Like his counterparts in other retail chains, the former Safeway packaging buyer has spent the year helping Sainsbury’s further reduce its packaging. For instance, he recently led the introduction of Amcor Flexibles’ PushPop pack for blueberries and chocolates that is 75% lighter than previous packaging.

Lendrum also continues to support the use of biodegradable packaging materials for certain food lines and in the past 12 months has overseen the adoption of a non-genetically modified compostable film for its SO Organic rocket salad.

The retailer also tried to use packaging to persuade customers to try a different type of fish. Limited edition packaging inspired by artist Jackson Pollock was used to encourage fish-buying customers to switch from cod to pollack.

17 David Lennon (NEW)
Chief executive, Clondalkin Specialist Packaging
A late entry to this year’s Power 50, Lennon has been propelled into the top 20 following his appointment to the head of pan-European cartons and labelling group Clondalkin Specialist Packaging. Yet if he is new to Clondalkin, Lennon, who replaces John Fitzgerald in the role, has undoubted pedigree.

His previous role until earlier this year was as director of global market development at rival cartons group Chesapeake, and he also held the position of regional managing director for Europe for the company. Before that, he trained as a marketer and worked as a consultant but got into print when he took on the role of managing director of Irish printer Berry Print Group in 1994.

Clondalkin Group chief executive Norbert McDermott was certainly pleased with the appointment, describing Lennon as “uniquely well equipped” to lead the development of the Specialist Packaging division in the years to come. Lennon
himself says that Clondalkin is a company he has “admired for many years”.

16 Adrian Curry (15)
Chief executive, Quinn Glass
With the return to the courts of the planning permission debacle over the Elton plant, Quinn Glass has been put firmly back in the spotlight in the past 12 months. A High Court decision in April ordered the local council to issue closure notices to stop production within nine months, although the Northern Ireland firm has now submitted an appeal to the government. Yet Curry is said to be calm about the decision. After all, despite rival Ardagh Glass’s best efforts to have the plant closed, observers have suggested that the government would be unlikely to order the demolition of a factory that employs more than 600 staff – especially during a recession.

Elsewhere, Curry and his team have put in a solid business performance and continue the company’s environmental work in lightweighting bottles. Quinn Glass has also signed important deals for the use of recycled material with glass recycling firm Recresco and produced a flint glass bottle for a South African wine for Comic Relief.

One industry observer suggests Curry’s inclusion on the list is self-explanatory: “Quinn is the quickest growing glass manufacturer with the newest plant in Europe.”

15 David Currie (7)
Operations director, Ardagh Glass
Ardagh Glass is Europe’s third largest container glass manufacturer and as operations director David Currie uses his more than 40 years’ industry experience to oversee 20 production facilities and some 7,000 staff in seven different countries.

Headlines in the the past year about Ardagh have been dominated by its dispute with rival Quinn Glass over the latter’s Elton bottling plant, which was built without planning permission. But it would be a mistake to think that this has been the only issue in Currie’s inbox.

Ardagh has continued to invest in its facilities, including a new £35m furnace in the Netherlands, to ensure it remains at the forefront of bottle production. And on the environment side, Ardagh is heavily involved in European trade body Feve and its Friends of Glass campaign to boost glass’s green credentials as a recyclable material.

Colleagues describe Currie’s knowledge of the sector as unsurpassed, and put his success and influence down to his focus on customers’ requirements. A senior colleague says: “When we have agreed a contract with a customer it is a matter of honour that we produce bottles of the best quality when they need them.”

14 John Monks (11)
President, BPIF Cartons
According to John Monks’ wife, he works harder now than before he retired. This is not hard to believe when you consider he splits his time between his work as president of BPIF Cartons, his work with the Packaging Federation, his role as mentor to a number of managing directors, consultancy work with finance houses and more.

Monks started his career in packaging at the now-defunct Metal Box at the age of 14. He worked largely with folding cartons and was encouraged to go to the London School of Printing on day release and evenings. 53 years later, Monks is still a driving force in the UK carton industry.

13 David Hathorn (6)
Chief executive, Mondi
David Hathorn summed up the understated mood of the industry in February this year when he described his corrugated group’s performance as “credible” – while announcing a Ä103m loss for 2008. As for many of his rivals, it’s been a tough year for Mondi that has been characterised by major restructuring, including closing a number of UK plants and selling others in continental Europe. But it’s not all bad news for the South African former accountant. For one thing, a major investment in lightweight recycled containerboard is underway in Poland, while Peter Oswald, who heads up the Europe and International division, is now the go-to guy for Mondi’s operations in Europe.

12 Helene Roberts (12)
Head of packaging, Marks & Spencer
Not just any packaging – Marks & Spencer’s packaging. While all retailers have introduced environment strategies and packaging reduction targets in recent years, M&S, via Plan A, is probably still the flagbearer.

Helene Roberts oversees the packaging for around 5,500 food lines and her job embraces design, technical aspects, working with suppliers and delivery. She has also led a drive for sustainability that has encouraged increased use of recycled material, the lightweighting of packs as well as due consideration for the adoption of biodegradable PLA where appropriate.

M&S has rolled out a charge for single-use carrier bags it says has led to an 83% cut in their use. An industry observer says: “Despite the facts there are retailers higher in the pecking order in terms of sales, M&S still seems to set the packaging standards.”

11 Mike Arrowsmith (8)
Chief executive, Linpac
Mike Arrowsmith’s Linpac attracted the wrong sort of headlines last month when The Sunday Times claimed that its financial backers had threatened to “wrap up” the business over debt refinancing talks. Yet while the company, arguably the UK’s most international packaging business, is spending the summer renegotiating its lending, the indefatigable Arrowsmith is showing little sign of undue concern.

His group’s biggest division, Linpac Packaging, is eyeing expansion in the east European markets and has been investing in recycled PET at its UK sites. Meanwhile Linpac Allibert’s R&D department has been pushing out new, green products like it’s going out of fashion, not to mention Linpac being named Environmental Company of the Year at last November’s UK Packaging Awards. How he negotiates his way through the current debt talks and the coming year remains to be seen; yet it would be brave to bet against the Zimbabwe-born Arrowsmith having another successful year.

Next week: the top 10 will be revealed and the complete list will be published in the July issue of Packaging News.

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