Personnel Notes

Ralph Simon, vice president of the material management group of SP Newsprint, Atlanta, has received the Phil Alpert Memorial Award from the Paper

Simon received the award at the closing banquet of the PSI 2007 fall meeting in Arizona.

"Our award recipient is dedicated [to] putting the best forward for the employer and the customer, which could sound like a contradiction, but our recipient does it with style and grace," Joel Litman of Texas Recycling said when presenting the award to Simon.

After graduating from college and working for several paper companies, including Crown Zellerbach, Wilson Paper and Consolidated Fibre, Simon eventually accepted a position with Southeast Paper, now known as SP Newsprint.

In addition to helping the company achieve its success in the newsprint manufacturing and secondary fiber markets, Simon has also played key volunteer leadership roles with the PSI Chapter of ISRI.

"Recently, our recipient was the chairman of the always challenging, sometimes contentious and controversial Standards and Practices Committee," noted Litman. "These standards are used worldwide by buyers and sellers of millions of tons daily."

Johnny Gold, vice president of The Newark Group, a past Phil Alpert Memorial Award recipient and former PSI Standards and Practices Committee member, said there were a lot of loopholes in the standards and practices that the committee needed to tightened up.

"Ralph was dedicated to it, and he did a 100 percent job to get it straightened out. He took the chair position seriously and made it right for our industry," Litman added.

Litman also said Simon has achieved his accomplishments while maintaining commendable ethical standards. "This year’s Phil Alpert Memorial Award recipient looks in the mirror each morning and knows that whatever occurs during the day—whether it be working with a customer, an employee or being with family—it will be done the best way. There is a conscience," Litman said.

Vecoplan LLC, High Point, N.C., has promoted Jason Herndon to the position of technical support manager.

Herndon has been with the company, which provides shredding, conveying and separation technologies, for nine years and was formerly a senior service technician.

As technical support manager, he serves as the liaison between customers, factory staff and field technicians, providing a central repository of information on any given service call. He also oversees quality control and customer satisfaction on technical service issues.

"As the sheer number of customers, machines and systems that we have in the field has grown and the sophistication of our technology has increased, the need for senior level management of our customer support assets has also increased," Vecoplan VP of Technical Services Todd Carswell says. "Jason brings extensive knowledge and expertise to this department, having been a service technician both in the factory and in the field for nearly a decade."

Harris Waste Management Group Inc. has hired Ken Liang as director of procurement and strategic sourcing.

Liang has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from South China University of Technology, a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Louisiana Tech University and an MBA from Auburn University.

In his career, Liang has gained experience in global supply chain optimization, quality management, product development, engineering and manufacturing operations.

He is a native of China and has been living and working as a U.S. citizen for the past 20 years. Liang will be based in the company’s Peachtree City, Ga., headquarters.

Harris Waste Management Group designs, manufactures and sells scrap processing, recycling and waste handling equipment.

Royce Lehrman has been promoted to facility manager at the Iowa City location of City Carton Recycling.

Lehrman oversees all operations of the Iowa City recycling facility and is responsible for implementing the products and services marketing plan for the plant, with goals to maximize customer service, vendor relations, sales and profits. He is also responsible for plant building needs, equipment needs and personnel.

Lehrman has more than 12 years of experience in management and supervision and joined City Carton in January 2006.

City Carton Recycling, based in Iowa City, provides recycling programs for municipal, commercial and industrial customers throughout Iowa and the Midwest.