BOSTON, MA. October 17, 2005 -- Paperloop today announced that Georgia-Pacifics chairman and chief executive officer, A.D. Pete Correll, was selected as the 2005 CEO of the Year. Correll was presented the award via satellite from the 20th RISI North American Forest Products Conference in San Diego.
Correll was named CEO of the Year in an annual Paperloop survey of investment analysts and portfolio managers that includes such criteria as leadership, vision and strategic accomplishment.
Will Mies, Paperloop Editorial Director-News Services, said the award recognizes Corrells role in the major transformation of Georgia-Pacific over the past five years.
Under his watch, Georgia-Pacific changed from a cyclical forest products producer into a more consumer-oriented company, which obtains half of its profits from tissue manufacturing, with an increasing focus on selling products - whether tissue, building materials or office papers - through mass retail channels, said Mies.
The key to the transformation was Georgia-Pacifics acquisition of Fort James Corp. in 2000, which significantly expanded the companys existing tissue business and vaulted it into the ranks of the worlds top tissue producers. This was followed by the spin-off of the companys 4.7 million acres in timberlands, a half dozen major pulp and paper mills, and two major distribution businesses"No wonder Correll likes to say the company is 'no longer your fathers Georgia-Pacific,'" Mies said.
Analysts praised Corrells vision in moving the company away from cyclical and declining commodity pulp and paper markets into the more stable and higher margin tissue business, as well as his determination in reducing debt despite difficult market conditions in the years following the Fort James acquisition.
Correll has worked 40 years in the paper and forest products industry. He has been chairman and chief executive officer of Georgia-Pacific since 1993. He joined the company in 1988 as a senior vice president for pulp and paper and was elected president and chief operating officer in 1991. Prior to Georgia-Pacific, Correll held management positions at Mead, Westvaco and Weyerhaeuser.
A native of Brunswick, Ga., Correll holds a bachelor degree in business administration from the University of Georgia and masters degrees in pulp and paper technology and chemical engineering from the University of Maine.
Correll serves as a director for several corporations, including Norfolk Southern Corp. and SunTrust Banks, Inc. and serves on the board of various nonprofit organizations including The Nature Conservancy, the Institute of Paper Science and Technology, the Business Council, the Grocery Manufacturers of America,
The Carter Center, and the University of Georgia Foundation.
Past recipients of the Paperloop CEO of the Year award include Paul Stecko of Packaging Corp. of America (2004), Raymond Royer of Domtar Inc. (2003), Steve Rogel of Weyerhaeuser Co. (2002 and 2001), John Dillon of International Paper Co. (2000) and Michael Smurfit of Jefferson Smurfit Group (1999).