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Education:BS, pulp and paper science and engineering,Syracuse University:The Executive Program,Darden Graduate School of Business Administration Career History:Mr. Watkins, 52, is senior vice president of MeadWestvaco Corporation with responsibility for corporate engineering, corporate safety, health and environmental, the Specialty Papers Division and the Forestry Division. Previously he served as vice president of technology for the Mead Corporation.Mr. Watkins joined Mead in 1997 as vice president of Michigan operations for the Publishing Paper Division, where he had oversight of the Escanaba, Michigan, paper mill and related woodland and sawmill operations. In 1999, he was promoted to vice president of human
resources and organizational development for the newly combined Paper Division. Beyond his duties to ensure a successful reorganization of the division, he served as the lead management sponsor for the division’s ERP implementation project. Mr. Watkins was appointed vice president of technology for Mead in 2000. As a member of the corporate executive management committee, his responsibilities included the functions of central research, central engineering and the corporate safety, health and environmental group.
Mr. Watkins began his career in the paper industry in 1977 when he joined Union Camp at its Franklin, Virginia, mill as a process engineer. In 1989, Mr. Watkins was named operations manager of the Eastover mill and managed the start-up of a $750 million expansion of the mill, including a new chemical recovery line, fiber line, market pulp dryer and paper machine. Mr. Watkins was promoted to resident manager of the Eastover mill in 1991 and served as the senior management representative for Union Camp in South Carolina. He served as a member of the division’s multifunction management team, participating in strategic and business planning, as well as leadership in the division’s total quality implementation and order management system redesign.
Professional Associations
Chairman, AF&PA Agenda 2020 CTO Committee
Liaison delegate, World Business Council for Sustainable Development
Co-chair, WBCSD Sustainable Forest Products Industry Working Group
Past president, Syracuse Pulp and Paper Foundation Board
Past member of the South Carolina Governor's Blue Ribbon Committee on Higher Education
Past member of the Palmetto Conservation Foundation
Past vice chair of the Midlands Technical Education Foundation Board
Past member of the University of South Carolina Engineering Partnership Board
Past chairman of the Industrial Chief Executive Group, Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce
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