International Paper Names New VP/GM, Transitions to Whiteness
Paul Herbert, senior vice president of Memphis, Tennessee-based International Paper's Printing & Communications Papers division, recently named Jean-Michel Ribieras vice president of the company's newly merged Converting Papers and Pulp business.
Ribieras has been with the company for 12 years and has held sales and global business management roles in both Europe and the United States. He received a bachelor's degree in business administration from the Ecole Superieure des Dirigeants d'Entreprise business school in Paris and an MBA from the University of Hartford in Connecticut. Most recently, Ribieras was the vice president and general manager of International Paper's pulp business.
In other news, the company recently informed its North American customers that its entire range of uncoated freesheet papers for imaging, commercial printing, envelopes and forms will be improved to a new standard of whiteness and brightness. The company is also transitioning the way it describes its products from the old General Electric (GE) brightness standard to the global Commission Internationale d'Eclairage whiteness scale.
"We are initiating this improvement for our customers because we believe that whiteness is the best descriptor of the appearance of paper," said Rick Hartman, director of product development. "The change will also put us in line with papers that are produced around the world."
In the United States, brightness is the traditional measured value that appears on most reams of paper. According to Hartman, the GE brightness measures only a portion of reflected light. He said that it was originally designed to quantify pulp bleaching and was eventually adopted to measure paper brightness. Whiteness was developed as a single value to describe the appearance and appeal of paper.
For more information, visit www.internationalpaper.com.
- Companies:
- International Paper
- People:
- Paul Herbert
- Rick Hartman