Sonoco shakes up finance leadership amid business reorganization

Rob Dillard, Sonoco’s former chief financial officer, has departed the company, according to an announcement Monday. The company is carrying out an internal and external search for a permanent replacement.

Dillard had been with the company since 2018. Formerly chief strategy officer, he was named CFO in 2022. In a statement, CEO Howard Coker thanked Dillard for his role in building the current finance team and in “several significant transactions,” namely the 2022 acquisition of Ball Metalpack, the 2024 purchase of Eviosys and the 2024 divestiture of the thermoformed and flexibles packaging business.

Longtime Sonoco employee Jerry Cheatham has stepped in as interim CFO. Cheatham will continue serving as vice president of global finance in the industrial paper packaging segment, a role he’s held since the end of 2022.

This comes as Sonoco is combining its converted paper products and paper businesses in North America. As a single operating unit, they would have represented more than $1.4 billion in annual net sales in 2023, Coker said in Monday’s announcement.

The move “continues our journey to simplify our operating structure to better leverage our competitive strengths, drive growth, and enhance our customers’ experience by bringing together our industry leading Uncoated Recycled Paperboard (URB) mill network with our tube, core, cone, partitions, corner post and other paper converting operations,” he said. 

Other changes to the senior leadership team include:

• North America paper leadership: John Florence, who has been with the company since 2015 and serves as general counsel, secretary and general manager for converted paper products in North America, is adding operational responsibilities for the North America paper division.
• Head of investor relations: Roger Schrum, who retired from Sonoco in 2022 after 17 years at the company, is returning as interim head of investor relations. Lisa Weeks, who currently serves as vice president of investor relations and global communications, is leaving at the end of January.
• VP of strategic finance: Shawn Munday will have responsibilities for Sonoco’s global treasury, tax and mergers and acquisitions functions as vice president of strategic finance. He joined Sonoco in 2022 as vice president of global M&A.