Staff Report
Published Dec. 7, 2009

M. Jack Sanders (left) has been named executive vice president of Sonoco’s consumer markets businesses, effective Jan. 1. Harris E. DeLoach Jr., the company’s chairman, president and CEO made the announcement. Sanders, 56, will succeed Charles Sullivan, 66, who is retiring effective March 31.

“Jack has demonstrated strong operations leadership during his 22-year career with Sonoco and will be tasked with continuing to grow our global consumer packaging and services businesses,” DeLoach said.

In this new management assignment, Sanders will have global operating responsibility for all of Sonoco’s businesses serving consumer markets, including global rigid paper and closures, global rigid plastics, global flexible packaging and global packaging services. Prior to this appointment, Sanders was executive vice president for industrial and was responsible for the company’s vertically integrated global industrial converting and paper operations.

Sanders, a 1976 graduate of Louisiana State University, joined Sonoco in 1987 as national sales and marketing manager for wire and cable reels. In 1991, he was named general manager for  Sonoco’s protective packaging division and was promoted to division vice president and general manager of protective packaging in 1998. Sanders was elected a corporate officer and named vice president for industrial products, North America, in 2001. He was subsequently named vice president of global industrial products in 2005, senior vice president in 2006 and executive vice president in 2008.

Sullivan (left) joined Sonoco in 2000 after 19 years of service with Cargill, an international marketer and processor of agricultural, financial and industrial products, including positions as regional director of Cargill Asia/Pacific and as president of Cargill’s salt division.

DeLoach also announced that all of the company’s global industrial businesses will report directly to him. In addition, John Colyer has been named vice president for global industrial converting, reporting to DeLoach. Colyer, 48, will have responsibility for the company’s global tubes and cores, protective packaging, wire and cable reels and paperboard specialties.

Colyer joined Sonoco in 1983 and has held numerous business leadership and manufacturing positions at Sonoco in businesses serving industrial and consumer markets. Before this appointment, he was vice president for North America converting. He also served as vice president of the industrial products division, North America, and served as division vice president and general manager of the division since 2006. In 2004, he became division vice president of manufacturing. He is a graduate of Southern Oregon State University with a bachelor of science in business administration.