PCA's Stecko selected Global CEO of Year

Pulp & Paper, Oct 2004

AWARDS

Packaging Corp. of America (PCA) chmn. and CEO Paul Stecko-who led his corrugated packaging company through an aggressive debt-reduction effort during the worst U.S. box market downturn in 25 years from 20002002-has been named the 2004 Global CEO of the Year by Paperloop Inc.

Stecko, 59, will receive the award on Nov. 15 at Pulp & Paper Week's 12th annual Paper/Forest Products Global Outlook Conference at the Roosevelt hotel in New York City. Previous winners of the distinguished award are Domtar Inc. pres./CEO Raymond Royer (2003); Weyerhaeuser Co. chmn., pres./CEO Steven Rogel (2001 and 2002); International Paper chmn. and CEO John Dillon (2000); and Jefferson Smurfit Group chmn. and CEO Dr. Michael W.J. Smurfit (1999).

Paperloop editorial director Will Mies said Stecko was nominated in a survey of financial analysts, investment officers, and portfolio managers, as well as editorial staff of Pulp & Paper Week and PPI This Week, Paperloop's weekly industry newsletters.

"Paul Stecko emerged as the top nominee in a field of outstanding executives," Mies said. "Analysts cited Stecko's consistent focus on producing shareholder value during a very difficult economy and at a time of intense global competition."

"Investors have a lot of confidence in Paul. He has a very streamlined approach, gets to the heart of the matter quickly and is analytically very astute," said Buckingham Research analyst Mark Weintraub. "I think these qualities also make him a great manager." Weintraub called PCA "a terrific performer" since it went public in 2000.

The sixth-largest Containerboard producer in North America, PCA is a pure play in containerboard and corrugated and operates 66 box plants in 25 U.S. states. PCA is 80% integrated with four Containerboard mills.

Stecko has served as CEO of PCA since January 1999 and as chairman of PCA since March 1999. During that time, he guided the company through its split with the former Tenneco Packaging Inc. (part of which is now Pactiv Corp.), sale of a major ownership stake to Madison Dearborn Partners LLC, followed by an initial public offering (IPO) to shareholders.