Sappi appoints Mike Haws as President and Chief Executive Officer of its North American operations

JOHANNESBURG, July 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Sappi Limited, a global leader in dissolving wood pulp as well as graphic, packaging and speciality papers, today announced that Michael G (Mike) Haws (56), currently Vice President Manufacturing at Sappi North America, has been appointed as President and CEO of Sappi North America as from 1 October 2019.   Mike Haws succeeds Mark Gardner (63), a 38 year veteran of Sappi in North America, who will retire at the end of September 2019. Mark Gardner has been President and CEO of Sappi North America for 12 years.

Commenting on the retirement of Mark Gardner, Steve Binnie, Chief Executive Officer of Sappi Limited said:

"I would like to thank Mark for his sterling service to Sappi over 38 years and for the support he has shown me as CEO. He is an exemplary leader both for the company and for the industry. His tenure saw massive changes as we restructured and refocused the business, a task he embraced and has executed with aplomb."

Mike Haws joined Sappi in 2012 as Managing Director of the Somerset Mill before being promoted to Vice President Manufacturing in October 2015 with responsibility for the Somerset, Westbrook and Cloquet Mills, the Allentown sheeting facility, Safety, Research and Development and Customer Care. Prior to joining Sappi, he had extensive experience in the industry and held numerous leadership roles with St Regis, Champion International, International Paper and Verso Paper.  While leading the Somerset Mill, Mike received the Pulp and Paper International (PPI) Mill Manager of the Year award in 2014.

Commenting on the appointment of Mike Haws, Steve Binnie said:

"I am pleased that we are able to ensure a smooth transition in leadership from Mark to Mike. Mike is an experienced industry leader who has been integral to the development and execution of Sappi's 2020Vision and the investments we have made in North America to grow our dissolving wood pulp and packaging and specialities businesses. I am confident that under Mike's leadership our business will take full advantage of the exciting opportunities for the pulp and paper industry in North America."

"The appointment is testimony to the success of Sappi's strong succession planning processes and the importance we place in stability and continuity during any such leadership transition."

Mike Haws, an American, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Paper Science and Engineering from the College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, New York and has undertaken an executive education programme at Harvard Business School.

About Sappi Limited

A global leader in paper, paper pulp and dissolving wood pulp solutions, Sappi Limited (listed and in the Top 40 on the JSE), is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa; has over 12,000 employees; manufacturing operations on three continents, in seven countries (nine mills in Europe, three mills in America and four mills in South Africa) and customers in over 150 countries worldwide

Sappi works closely with customers to provide relevant and sustainable paper, paper pulp, dissolving wood pulp and biomaterial products and related services and innovations. Our market-leading range of paper products includes: coated fine papers used by printers, publishers and corporate end-users; casting release papers used by suppliers to the fashion, textiles, automobile and household industries; and in our Southern African region newsprint, uncoated graphic and business papers, premium quality packaging papers and paper grade pulp. Our dissolving wood pulp products are used worldwide by converters to produce viscose fibre, pharmaceutical products as well as a wide range of household and consumer products.

In FY2018 we produced approximately: 5.7 million tons of printing and writing, speciality and packaging paper; 2.3 million tons of paper pulp, and 1.4 million tons of dissolving wood pulp.

We are investing in developing our biomaterials (nanocellulose, fibre composites and lignosulphonate) and biorefinery (second generation sugars and bio-energy) businesses.

We continue to grow into a profitable and cash-generative diversified business with an exciting future in woodfibre, a renewable resource.

For further information visit www.sappi.com

SOURCE Sappi Limited