Sonoco makes leadership changes

Sonoco Products Co. has made several senior leadership changes that went into effect late last week.

The Hartsville, South Carolina-based packaging company has named Jerry Cheatham as interim chief financial officer, replacing former CFO Rob Dillard who left Sonoco.

Cheatham is a 36-year finance leader within Sonoco. He has served as vice president of global finance for the company’s Industrial Paper Packaging segment since December 2022 and previously served in several finance and accounting leadership roles since joining Sonoco in 1988.

“Jerry is a trusted and respected leader within Sonoco who brings strong financial and operational expertise into this role,” Sonoco President and CEO Howard Coker says. “He will ensure an orderly transition of duties and provide further stability to our global finance organization.

“I want to thank Rob for his contributions since joining the company in 2018 and for helping to build our current finance team and focusing our strategy to transform Sonoco into a global leader in sustainable metal and fiber packaging through several significant transactions, including the acquisitions of Eviosys and Ball Metalpack and the recently announced divestiture of our Thermoformed and Flexible Packaging business to Toppan Holdings. We wish him all the best in his future professional and personal endeavors.”

According to Sonoco, it is undergoing a retained search for internal and external candidates to find a permanent CFO.

Also reporting to Coker is Vice President of Strategic Finance Shawn Munday.

Munday joined Sonoco in 2022 and is responsible for its global treasury, tax and mergers and acquisitions functions. He previously has served as professor of the practice of finance and executive director of the Institute for Private Capital at the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School as well as managing director at Citigroup.

Sonoco General Counsel and Secretary John Florence, who has been serving as general manager for the company’s Converted Paper Products division in North America for the last three years, has been given the additional responsibilities over Sonoco’s North America Paper division.

“John has been with the company since 2015 serving on our executive committee as general counsel,” Coker says. “In that time, he also served as our chief human resources officer and he led the integration of our Metal Packaging business following our acquisition of Ball Metalpack. After successfully serving as general manager for our Converted Paper Products business in North America, John will now increase his responsibilities to include our North America Paper business, formally combining these two foundational businesses into a single operating unit representing over $1.4 billion in annual net sales in 2023.

“This combination continues our journey to simplify our operating structure to better leverage our competitive strengths, drive growth and enhance our customers’ experience by bringing together our industry leading uncoated recycled paperboard mill network with our tube, core, cone, partitions, corner post and other paper converting operations.”

Finally, Roger Schrum has been named interim head of investor relations, replacing Lisa Weeks who served as vice president of investor relations and global communications and will leave the company at the end of January.

Schrum returns to Sonoco after retiring in 2022 following a 17-year career with the company.