Sonoco Names DiPasquale to Lead Sonoco Plastic's Blow Molding Unit

Steve Gendreau Named Division Vice President, Innovative Packaging Solutions - Fresh & Natural

HARTSVILLE, S.C., Feb. 20, 2014 /CNW/ - Sonoco (NYSE: SON), one of the largest diversified global packaging companies, has named Jeff DiPasquale to lead Sonoco's Blow Molding business, in addition to his duties as division vice president and general manager of the Company's Thermoforming Plastics business, effective March 1, 2014.

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"Jeff has significant leadership experience in the blow molding business," said Rob Tiede, senior vice president, Global Consumer. "He is uniquely qualified for this new leadership role and brings more than 28 years of experience in the plastics industry. In his new role, Jeff will lead our blow molding unit as a growth vehicle for the Consumer segment and continue to deliver on the Company's financial commitments to our stakeholders."

Prior to joining Sonoco in April 2011 as Division Vice President of Manufacturing for Sonoco Plastics, DiPasquale held various positions of significant responsibility within the plastics industry, including Vice President and General Manager of Personal Care with Graham Packaging, CEO for Jet Plastica, and Senior Vice President of Manufacturing with Tekni-Plex, Inc. DiPasquale has an MBA from the University of Memphis and served as an officer in the Marine Corps after graduating from The Citadel with a Bachelor of Science degree in business.

Tiede added, "We're also pleased to announce that Steve Gendreau has been named division vice president, Innovative Packaging Solutions - Fresh & Natural. Steve will report to me and lead the charge in driving growth in the Fresh & Natural food packaging sector, one of our end-use market pilots."

With Sonoco since 1989, Gendreau was most recently the division vice president and general manager for Blow Molding in the Sonoco Plastics group. During his tenure with Sonoco, he has been director of Sales for Sonoco's Rigid Paper group and Plastics North America organization, and the director of Marketing and Technology for Sonoco Protective Solutions. Gendreau was also division vice president of the Kraft Corporate Customer team representing all of Sonoco's business with Kraft. He graduated from Michigan State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in packaging.

About Sonoco
Founded in 1899, Sonoco is a global provider of a variety of consumer packaging, industrial products, protective packaging and packaging supply chain services. With annualized net sales of approximately $4.9 billion, the Company has more than 19,900 employees working in 335 operations in 33 countries, serving many of the world's best-known brands in some 85 nations. Sonoco is a proud member of the 2013/2014 Dow Jones Sustainability World Index. For more information on the Company, visit our website at www.sonoco.com.

SOURCE: Sonoco

Roger Schrum, [phone], [email protected]

http://www.sonoco.com

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