William D. Gooden, vice president of The Newark Group, died on September 1, 1997. He had been with the company for 12 years and served as an officer of the Recycled Paperboard Technical Association during many of those years. Gooden served as a director of the the Syracuse Pulp and Paper Foundation from 1984 to 1985 when he was general manager of a Container Corporation of America mill. The foundation supports Paper Science and Engineering at ESF. He joined the board of directors again in 1991, and was chairman of the scholarship committee and second vice president at the time of his death.

George R. Karr, a retired employee of Willamette Industries, recently passed away. Karr joined the Western Corrugated Box Co. as secretary treasurer in 1955, the year the company was formed. In 1959 he was named controller of Western Kraft Corp.'s container operations. He was later promoted to assistant to the president, responsible for container operations. In 1967, a merger of a number of wood and paper products companies, including Western Corrugated and Western Kraft, created Willamette Industries. After 20 years of service with the company, Karr retired. He resided in Tigard, Oregon, with his wife, Evelyn.

Christopher Kraft was recently appointed northwest regional sales manager for Anderson & Vreeland Inc. In his new position, Kraft will supervise sales and technical support for A&V customers in a six-state Pacific northwest territory. He previously served as technical sales representative for the company, and brings to his new position more than 16 years of flexographic printing and platemaking experience. The company has also appointed Paul J. Zeinert as manager of technical services. In this capacity, Zeinert will provide technical support and training for the company's nationwide staff of technical sales representatives and customers throughout the United States.

Warren Hall, president of NOSCO Inc. for 17 years, will also serve as president of the NOSCO Printing Group, a recent development of the company. Hall will supervise acquisitions, strategic planning, succession planning and career development, policy and procedure development. Reporting directly to Hall are Russ Haraf, executive vice president of finance and administration and Kim Gerard, vice president of human resources. Haraf is responsible for the financial and information services functions for the new group, while Gerard will oversee all human resources and organizational development functions. Ernie Sio has been promoted to controller for NOSCO Inc., where he will be responsible for all financial functions at the divisional level. Susan Fowler is the new information services director for the company, and Ron Anderson is the new director of materials, who will oversee estimating, purchasing, scheduling and shipping/receiving.

Jeffrey Match has joined the sales staff of Independent Machinery Inc. of Palatine, Illinois. Match's new responsibilities as district sales manager of the western region include representing the company's five lines of finishing equipment: hot foil stampers and tray formers; window patchers; folder-gluers; laminator/mounters; and coaters and calendar systems. Match brings with him more than 20 years of related sales experience.

Marvin W. Payne was promoted to the position of regional manager of Greif Bros. Corp. He will be responsible for the company's Michigan Packaging corrugated sheet manufacturing operations at Mason and Grand Rapids, Michigan. The general managers of these two plants will report directly to Payne. Robby Todd has been appointed general manager of the company's Southeastern Packaging corrugated sheet manufacturing plant located in Concord, North Carolina.

Container Graphics Corp. (CGC) announced the retirement of two senior executives, both vice presidents and directors of the company. William L. Biller was one of the company's first employees 37 years ago. He began as a typesetter and eventually became general manager of the Toledo, Ohio, plant. His most recent duties have been as vice president of sales and marketing. Paul D. Werner began as a customer of the company. He later joined CGC's Toledo sales team more than 28 years ago, which eventually led to positions as general manager in New Jersey and then eastern regional manager. He has been vice president of customer relations for several years.

Videojet Systems International Inc. has announced the retirement of Hank Bode as president and CEO. Bode spent his 25-year career with the company as its highest ranking officer. He plans to remain associated with the company in the role of consultant to ongoing projects and acquisitions. Craig E. Bauer has assumed his new role as president and CEO of Videojet. An employee of the company since 1978, Bauer has progressed through a variety of positions including vice president of marketing and sales and executive vice president.

Union Camp has promoted Timothy S. Nicholls to general manager, international packaging, effective January 1, 1998. Nicholls will be responsible for all of the company's overseas packaging operations, spanning Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America and Puerto Rico. He was most recently general manager in Puerto Rico.

Westvaco promoted of Joseph M. Wong to research director at the company's Charleston, South Carolina, research center. In his new position, Wong will be responsible for the direction of the research center and its relationship with the operating divisions and other sectors of the company. He has been with the company since 1987.

Larry Barber has been named vice president and general manager of the converting group at MacMillan Bloedel Packaging Inc. He began work at the company's U.S. headquarters in Montgomery, Alabama, on October 1. Barber joins the company from Inland Paperboard Packaging Inc., where he began work as a sales representative in 1971. Since 1994, he has served as division vice president and northeast area manager for Inland's packaging group.

Gary Doster has been promoted to vice president of sales and marketing at F.N. Burt Co. Inc. in Buffalo, New York. Doster joined the company in 1978 as a management trainee. He also worked as sales service representative, sales service department manager, manager of new business development and, most recently, national accounts sales manager.

NICOAT has appointed Scott Waight as the company's representative for Washington, California, Oregon, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana and British Columbia, Canada. Waight's most recent experience was with Grossberg Tyler Lithography in Seattle, Washington, where he acted as pressroom manager for more than three years.

Robert Lee Morris has joined Louis P. Batson Co. as its accounts receivable manager. Morris will service accounts receivables for all three companies within Batson: Louis P. Batson Co.; Louis P. Batson Inc.; and Batson Yarn and Fabrics Machinery Group Inc.

Bob Schwartz has joined the management team of ABBA Rubber International Inc. as director of sales and as a member of the executive committee. Schwartz brings with him 19 years of experience in technical sales and design and manufacturing of rollers for the paper, corrugated, coating and metal industries. His new responsibilities also include sales management and new product and market development.

William C. Whitehead has been promoted to division controller for Graphic Packaging Corp. His new responsibilities at the Wayne, Pennsylvania, headquarters include division financial re- porting and evaluation of major capital appropriations. In addition, he advises division management of financial ramifications, control issues and cost reduction evaluations.

Sun Chemical Corp. named Melvin M. Cox to the position of corporate vice president and general counsel. Cox joined the company in 1989 as a corporate attorney and has been involved in the company's acquisitions over the last eight years, providing counsel and advice on both domestic and international fronts. He has also served Sun as its senior corporate attorney and assistant general counsel.

Hitek Equipment Inc. recently appointed Southeastern Corrugated Suppliers Inc.'s Bill Gemp to represent selected diecutting and sheet counter products in the southeastern United States.

Andy Ward has joined Graphic Finishing as die department manager. Ward comes to the company with 17 years of experience in the converting and folding carton industry. He will be responsible for design aid and the production of all mylars, prototypes and dies.

H&N Packaging Inc. has appointed Hermann Dettmar as its new president. Dettmar started as a trainee for Haendler & Natermann in Hann Munden, Germany, 40 years ago. In 1992, after concentrating his efforts for many years on exports to the United States, he moved there permanently. Dettmar was named president of H&N's U.S. operations that same year.

Porth Machinery announced the appointment of Kellie Porth as its director of marketing and sales representative in the Midwest. Porth most recently worked at Nematron Corp., a computer control manufacturer. Before that, she worked in research and development.

Gulf States Paper Corp. has elected Harel (Pete) Tucker, Jr. as vice president of sales for its pulp and paperboard division. Previously, Tucker served as general sales manager for the same division.

The Association of Independent Corrugated Converters (AICC) elected its officers and directors for the 1997-1998 membership year at the conclusion of its 1997 annual meeting, held September 24-27, in San Antonio, Texas. The following officers were elected unanimously:

President: Richard J. Kelly, president, Dusobox Creative Packaging Group, Orlando, Florida

1st Sr. Vice President: Thomas Skinner, president, Phoenix Packaging Inc., Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Sr. Vice Presidents: James M. Davis, vice president, DeLine Box Co., Denver, Colorado; Craig Hoyt, president, Buckeye Boxes Inc., Columbus, Ohio; Greg Arvanigian, president, Arvco Container Corp., Kalamazoo, Michigan

Executive Vice President: A. Steven Young, AICC, Alexandria, Virginia

Secretary: Paul H. Vishny, Esq., D'Ancona & Pflaum, Chicago, Illinois

Regional Vice Presidents: Region One, Cindy Baker, vice president, Scope Packaging Inc., Orange, California; Region Two, Todd Thompson, executive vice president and general manager, Sound Container Inc., Renton, Washington; Region Three, John Shillington, president, Shillington Box Co., St. Louis, Missouri; Region Four, Brian Buckley, president, Brian Thomas Display & Packaging, Houston, Texas; Region Five, Lee Shillito, president, Triad Packaging on Tennessee, Bristol, Tennessee; Region Six, Glen Arnold, president, Great Lakes Packaging, Germantown, Wisconsin; Region Seven, Edwin McLean, vice president/sales, Advance Packaging Corp., Grand Rapids, Michigan; Region Eight, James Doherty, Jr., assistant to the president, Weber Display & Packaging, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Region Nine, Paul Shine, president AIM Corrugated Container Corp., Buffalo, New York; Region Ten, Gary Meader, president, Aegis Container, Milford, New Hampshire; Region Eleven, Brad Morphy, vice president, Morphy Containers Ltd., London, Ontario, Canada; Region Twelve, Marc Rolland, general manager/sales manager, Emballages Montcorr Ltee., Coteau du Lac, Quebec, Canada; Overseas, Chuck Throckmorton, regional manager/Asia, Ward Machinery Co., Atlanta, Georgia

Directors at Large: Michael Sime, president, Creative Carton Co., Minneapolis, Minnesota; John Allen, president, Danbury Square Box Co., Danbury, Connecticut; Larry Cooper, president, C&B Corrugated, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada; Jay Wertheimer, president, Wertheimer Box & Paper Corp., Chicago, Illinois; Fred Edelman, president, Art Kraft Container Corp., Tullytown, Pennsylvania

Immediate Past President: Joseph R. Palmeri, CEO, Jamestown Container Corp., Falconer, New York

Chairman, Past President's Council: William I. Flinn, chairman, Scope Packaging Inc., Orange, California

Directors Emeritus: William Hanan, CEO, Bay Cities Container Corp., Pico Rivera, California; Larry Falstein, Consultant, New World Services, Chicago, Illinois

Associate Members' President: Eli Kwartler, president, Kwartler Associates, Pelham, Massachusetts

The AICC also honored those members whose service ended this year. They are: Jim Haglund, president of Central Container Corp., Minneapolis, Minnesota; Jim Ray, president, Hartford Containers, West Hartford, Connecticut; George Jamison, president, Sheets Unlimited, Renton, Washington; Gary West, president, Custom Packaging, Lebanon, Tennessee; and Jack Rogers, Isowa North America.