The Opportunity:
Smurfit Westrock is seeking an accomplished manufacturing executive to lead the Covington Mill, one of the Company's most strategic integrated manufacturing operations. The General Manager serves as the senior executive leader of the facility and is accountable for all aspects of mill performance, including safety, environmental stewardship, financial performance, operational excellence, employee engagement, labor relations, customer satisfaction, capital deployment, and community relations. This role requires an exceptional leader capable of balancing strategic vision with operational execution while leading a large, complex manufacturing organization.
How you will make an impact:
Leads a large manufacturing organization consisting of salaried and hourly employees. Directs manufacturing, maintenance, engineering, environmental, quality, logistics, HR, and business support functions. Oversees significant operating and capital budgets and serves as the primary representative of Smurfit Westrock with community leaders, regulators, labor leadership, customers, and key stakeholders.
Safety Leadership
Provide visible and active safety leadership throughout the organization. Drive world-class safety performance through employee engagement and leadership accountability. Ensure compliance with federal, state, local, and company safety regulations. Champion proactive risk identification, incident investigation, and sustainable corrective actions.
Environmental Stewardship
Ensure compliance with environmental regulations and operating permits. Promote responsible resource stewardship, sustainability initiatives, and continuous improvement in environmental performance. Maintain effective regulatory and community relationships.
Operational Excellence
Lead manufacturing, maintenance, engineering, and support functions to achieve best-in-class reliability, productivity, quality, and cost performance. Drive continuous improvement utilizing Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, reliability excellence, and operational discipline. Ensure consistent delivery of high-quality products that exceed customer expectations.
Financial Leadership
Maintain full P&L accountability for the mill. Develop and execute annual operating plans, forecasts, and capital budgets. Identify opportunities to improve profitability, reduce costs, optimize asset performance, and strengthen overall business competitiveness.
Strategic Leadership & Transformation
Lead execution of enterprise strategies and mill-specific objectives. Champion innovation, organizational transformation, capital investment programs, and long-term business planning. Build alignment around strategic priorities and ensure disciplined execution.
Labor Relations Leadership
Develop productive labor-management relationships built on trust, accountability, and respect. Lead effective administration of collective bargaining agreements, grievance resolution processes, arbitration preparation, and labor negotiations in partnership with Corporate Labor Relations and HR leadership.
Talent Development & Organizational Effectiveness
Attract, develop, and retain top talent. Build a high-performing leadership team, drive succession planning, strengthen organizational capability, and promote employee engagement through visible leadership and effective communication.
Customer & Commercial Partnership
Partner with commercial, supply chain, and customer teams to ensure operational performance supports growth objectives, customer satisfaction, product innovation, and long-term business success.
Community & External Relations
Serve as the senior representative of the facility within the local community. Build strong relationships with community leaders, government agencies, industry groups, and educational partners while protecting and enhancing the company's reputation.
What you need to succeed:
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Paper Science, Business Administration, or a related field.
- Minimum of 15 years of progressive manufacturing leadership experience.
- Significant P&L leadership experience within large-scale industrial manufacturing operations.
- Demonstrated success leading complex manufacturing organizations with responsibility for safety, operations, maintenance, engineering, and people leadership.
- Experience leading unionized manufacturing environments and managing labor relations matters.
- Experience in pulp, paper, packaging, forest products, or related process manufacturing industries.
- Proven track record of delivering strong safety, operational, people, and financial results.
- Experience driving operational excellence through Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, reliability excellence, or similar continuous improvement methodologies.
- Strong business acumen with demonstrated ability to balance strategic priorities and day-to-day operational execution.
- Exceptional leadership, communication, employee engagement, and change management capabilities.
- Ability to build effective relationships and influence stakeholders across all levels of the organization.
Preferred Qualifications
- MBA or other advanced degree.
- Experience leading large integrated manufacturing facilities with full operational accountability.
- Demonstrated success leading major capital projects, asset modernization programs, and operational transformation initiatives.
- Experience managing highly complex labor relations environments, including collective bargaining negotiations, grievance administration, and arbitration preparation.
- Proven ability to lead organizational change and drive sustainable cultural transformation.
- Experience serving in a General Manager, Mill Manager, Operations Director, or similar executive manufacturing leadership role.
- Demonstrated success developing leadership teams, succession plans, and organizational capability.
- Experience representing a manufacturing operation with customers, regulators, community organizations, and government stakeholders.
Leadership Competencies
- Strategic Leadership
- Safety Leadership
- Business Acumen
- Operational Excellence
- Talent Development
- Change Leadership
- Collaboration & Influence
- Results Orientation
- Customer Focus
- Executive Presence
