Business News
Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc. Announces Management Changes
Monday 15. December 2008 - General Manager, S.E. Asia and Retirement and Replacement of the General Manager of Its China Joint Venture, China Tobacco-Mauduit (CTM)
Following recent senior management changes, Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc. (NYSE:SWM) today announced additional management changes effective January 1, 2009.
Arnold Alvarez will become General Manager, S.E. Asia with responsibility for SWM’s Indonesian and Philippine paper operations, and for sales of all SWM papers in the region, reporting to Otto Herbst, Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Alvarez, age 40, joined SWM as General Manager, PDM Philippines Industries, Inc. in July 2007. He was previously Operations Director for Kimberly-Clark Philippines, Inc. and held a number of positions of increasing responsibility with Unilever in the Philippines and China. He holds a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of the Philippines.
Frederic Villoutreix, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer elect, commented, “Arnold has done an outstanding job of turning around our Philippines business unit and the expansion of his responsibilities to the S.E. Asian region not only speaks to his accomplishments but also fits strategically with SWM.”
Also, Widjaja Jiemy, President, S.E. Asian Operations and General Manager, CTM, announced his plans to retire from SWM. Mr. Jiemy joined SWM in May 2005 as President, S.E. Asian Operations which includes P.T. PDM Indonesia and PDM Philippines Industries, Inc. In January 2006, he also assumed responsibility as the first General Manager of CTM, SWM’s China joint venture paper operations.
In announcing the retirement of Widjaja Jiemy, Wayne Deitrich, retiring Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer (effective December 31, 2008) commented, “Widjaja has led the construction and development of our ‘greenfield’ paper mill operations in Jiangmen, China. The Mill construction was completed on schedule and under budget. The mill is fully operational and has demonstrated its ability to produce world-class cigarette and porous plug wrap papers. I want to thank Widjaja for completing this enormous task in delivering SWM’s first manufacturing operation in China.”
Replacing Widjaja Jiemy as General Manager, CTM, will be Steve Jiang. As part of a planned succession, Mr. Jiang, age 44, joined SWM in June 2008 as Senior Manager of China Paper Products. In this role, he received extensive training in cigarette and porous plug wrap papers manufacturing at SWM operations in France, the Philippines and China. In September 2008, he joined CTM as Assistant General Manager and was elected General Manager by the CTM Board of Directors on December 10, 2008. Mr. Jiang has an extensive manufacturing background with such Chinese companies as Video Technologies, the Robust Group, Essel Packaging, Diverse Lever, Hiwin Boise Cascade Paper and Xinhua Synthetic Company. He holds a B.S. degree in Automatic Control from the Northeast University of China and a MBA from South China University of Technology.