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Home • Investor information • Investor relations • Corporate governance • Board of directors

Board of Directors

Dr Dermot Smurfit

Dermot Smurfit led the consortium of investors which acquired Savon Sellu from M-real in January 2005 and was appointed as a Director on 22 December 2004. He became the Group’s Chairman on its establishment in 2006. He was previously the joint Deputy Chairman of Jefferson Smurfit Group PLC, one of the world’s leading packaging groups, from 1994 to 2003 and was its Director of Sales and Marketing worldwide from 1997 to 2003. Prior to this he held a number of other senior positions with the Jefferson Smurfit Group. Dr Smurfit is Chairman of the World Containerboard Organisation and a former Chairman of FEFCO which represents the interests of European corrugated board manufacturers. He is currently a non-executive director of ACE Limited, Chairman of Eurolink Motorway Operation Limited, Chairman of Timber Capital Limited and Deputy Chairman of The Forest Company Limited. He is a member of the Foundation Board of the University of Limerick. 

David Walton

David Walton joined the Group as its Chief Financial Officer on 1 January 2009 but has been engaged by the Group in an advisory capacity since March 2008. His appointment as a Director will be proposed at the Annual General Meeting to be held on 28 April 2009. Between 2001 and 2007, Mr Walton was employed by API Group plc, an international packaging company listed on the London Stock Exchange. He was API’s Finance Director from 2001 to 2003 and its Chief Executive from 2004 to 2007. He was previously a Senior Vice President at NASDAQ-listed Applied Graphic Technologies, Inc. and prior to this worked for Wace Group plc, the international printing group, and Ernst & Young Corporate Finance. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Young and has extensive international experience having lived and worked in the UK, US, France and Australia.

Dermot S. Smurfit

Dermot S. Smurfit was appointed as a non-executive director on 29th April 2010. Mr Smurfit is a director and Chief Operating Officer of GameAccount Global Limited, one of Europe’s leading providers of internet gaming software. Prior to this he worked in investment banking with Wit Capital LLC. Mr Smurfit is a qualified lawyer.

Christopher Knight

Chris Knight was appointed as a non-executive director on 11 April 2007. He was formerly an investment banker and was a Managing Director of Deutsche Bank until 2001. He is a Chartered Accountant and is Chairman of Brooks Macdonald Group plc and NB Real Estate Group Limited and a non-executive director of Intertek Group plc. Mr Knight is Chairman of the Audit Committee and a member of the Remuneration and Nomination Committees.

Juha Niemelä

Juha Niemelä was appointed as non-executive director on 4 April 2005. He has spent his entire career in the paper and forestry industry, first joining United Paper Mills (“UPM”), one of the world’s leading forest products groups, in 1971. He was appointed as a member of the Executive Board of UPM in 1983 and following the merger of UPM, Kymmene Corporation and Repola Corporation in 1996, was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of UPM-Kymmene Corporation, a position he held until 2004. Mr Niemelä is a non-executive director of M-real Corporation, Chairman of Veikkaus Oy, the Finnish national lottery group, and Vice-Chairman of Green Resources AS. Mr Niemelä is Chairman of the Nomination Committee and a member of the Audit and Remuneration Committees.

Tony Smith

Tony Smith was appointed as a non-executive director on 4 April 2005. He has worked in the paper industry since 1959 and between 1977 and 2000 was employed by Jefferson Smurfit Group plc. From 1986 until his retirement in 2000, he was Chief Executive Officer of the Smurfit Paper, Board and Reclamation Division where he had responsibility for 16 manufacturing facilities. He was also previously a member of the Jefferson Smurfit Group worldwide mill technical and executive committees and is a former council member of the British Paper Federation. Mr Smith is Chairman of the Remuneration Committee and a member of the Audit and Nomination Committees.