GLOBAL speciality paper, pulp and packaging group Sappi has announced that Graeme Wild (52) has been appointed as CEO of Sappi Southern Africa from December 1, succeeding Alex Thiel, who has been CEO of Sappi Southern Africa for 14 years.
Wild, who is currently the vice president sales and marketing at Sappi Southern Africa, will take over the reins from Thiel, who will now assume new strategic project duties until his retirement at the end of December next year.
Wild joins the top leadership team of Sappi, which has a market value of R28.6 billion, with its share price up 21.95% in the past five years.
In August, Sappi reported a whopping 80% increase in earnings to 9 US cents (R1.57) for the third quarter to June 30, compared with 5 US cents at the same time a year before. Ebitda was up sharply by 40% to $151 million from $106m. Profit for the period, within guidance, was up over 25% to $51m.
Steve Binnie, the CEO of Sappi, commenting on the contribution of Thiel, said: “I would like to thank Alex for his significant service to date to Sappi during his 34 years with the company and for the support he has shown me as CEO. He is an outstanding leader both for the company and for the industry.
“Returning from Sappi Europe in 2010, he led the restructuring and repositioning of the South African business to improve profitability, align with our group strategic objectives, and deliver on our sustainability commitments. The region streamlined and focused its operations and product portfolio, enhanced customer engagement, improved efficiencies as well as safety performance and implemented a number of expansion and performance improvement projects, including the recent dissolving pulp expansion and environmental improvements project at Saiccor Mill.”
He said Thiel had successfully refocused the business on the dissolving pulp and containerboard segments with sales revenue increasing from R11.7 billion to R27.1bn and Ebitda from R1.8bn to a record R6bn.”
On the appointment of Wild, Binnie said, “I am pleased that we are able to ensure a smooth transition in leadership from Alex to Graeme. Graeme is an experienced leader who has served the group at a global level, has deep understanding of investors as well as the increased priority of sustainability concerns.
“He has been integral to the development and execution of Sappi’s strategy and the investments and decisions we have made in South Africa to ensure we maintain our domestic leadership in paper and packaging, along with our dissolving pulp and forestry asset investments. I am confident that under Graeme’s leadership the business will take the next steps to ensure competitiveness and the adjustments required by our sustainability commitments, while delivering clear value to the communities where we operate, he said.
Binnie further pointed out that the appointment was testimony to the success of Sappi’s strong succession planning processes and the importance it placed on stability and continuity during any such leadership transition.
Wild holds a BSc Forestry degree from the University of Stellenbosch, an MBA (cum laude) from the Gordon Institute of Business Science, as well as a Sappi MDP from the Graduate School of Business Leadership at Unisa. He has also completed an Executive Education programme at the Harvard Business School in the United States.
BUSINESS REPORT