John D. Williams has been President and Chief Executive Officer of Domtar since January 2009. He is also a member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Williams has more than 30 years of experience in both consumer products and packaging. He began his career in consumer product sales in 1976, gaining insight into key market dynamics in the U.K. and the U.S. In 1988, he became European Managing Director of Sweetheart International, a major food packaging and food service business, where he cultivated a customer-driven market view and contributed to record profit and sales growth. In 1992, the company was acquired by the Finnish conglomerate, Huhtamaki. Mr. Williams was appointed Chief Executive Officer and Group President of the packaging business (Polarcup), one of the company’s core divisions. Mr. Williams’ experience in the packaging sector continued to grow at Rexam, the world’s second largest consumer packaging group. There, he held a number of senior management roles in specialty food packaging from 1996 to 2000. His professional journey then took him to SCA Packaging, a business group of the global consumer goods and paper giant, SCA. As President of SCA Packaging Europe from 2005 to 2008, Mr. Williams helped transform the company from an undifferentiated manufacturer into a market-driven, customer-oriented packaging solutions provider. Mr. Williams is a member of the Board of Directors of Owens Corning (NYSE: OC), the Paper and Packaging Board Chairman (the Paper Check-off), and the past Chairman of the Board of the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA). In 2010, he was named North American CEO of the Year by RISI as well as Global CEO of the Year by Pulp & Paper International (PPI). Mr. Williams was named “Executive Papermaker of the Year” for 2012 by PaperAge Magazine.

Business