Original Publish Date: 10/06/05
A former NFL linebacker will be the new president of Stora Enso North America at the beginning of next year, the company announced Wednesday.
John Gillen will become the region manager for North America and president of the Wisconsin Rapids-based Stora Enso North America Corp., on Jan. 1, following the retirement of Lars Bengtsson.
Gillen, 46, of Des Plaines, Ill., currently is senior vice president of Coated Mechanical Papers and oversees those operations at the Biron, Niagara and Whiting mills.
He has worked as senior vice president since 2002 and has been invited to become a member of the company's management group.
Gillen was a member of the then-St. Louis Cardinals in 1981-82 and the New England Patriots in 1983 before playing in the USFL for teams in Chicago and Arizona. He left football in 1987 to enter the paper industry.
Gillen will succeed Bengtsson, currently president of North American operations, but will continue to perform his current job responsibilities with Coated Mechanical Papers. Bengtsson will retire Dec. 31, according to a company press release.
Neither Gillen nor Bengtsson were available for comment Wednesday, said Tim Laatsch, senior vice president of communications.
The announcement came five weeks after parent company Stora Enso Oyj merged its Wisconsin Rapids-based North American division into its global operations. The paper and timber company no longer will report separate financial results for North American mills and has reorganized its leadership structure.
Stora Enso Oyj, based in Helsinki, Finland, created its North American division when it bought Consolidated Papers Inc. of Wisconsin Rapids in 2000.
When the division was eliminated Sept. 1, Bengtsson said it was no longer necessary to separate North American business from the company's global product divisions. The company has completed what it called a profit enhancement program, which included $250 million in mill upgrades and the elimination of more than 1,000 jobs in North America.
Stora Enso employs about 5,000 people in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Canada, down from 6,050 when the profit enhancement program started two years ago. The company has about 2,100 employees in Wisconsin Rapids, Biron, Whiting, Stevens Point and Kimberly.Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune
