From left to right, top row are Hans McCarthy, Jana Baehman and Brandon Tichnell. Second row, William "Bill" Hoffman, Roseann Lee and Tom Chambers. Bottom row, Craig Lane and Chris Wood.

WestRock Announces Personnel Changes At Covington Mill   Covington, VA (Aug. 30, 2019) - WestRock’s Covington mill announces position changes that were internally announced in August. Hans McCarthy has accepted the position of process engineer for the Fiberline. In this position, Hans is responsible for identifying economic and quality opportunities, as well as bottlenecks. McCarthy earned his B.S. in Paper Engineering from SUNY-ESF in 2019. He worked as a process engineering co-op at WestRock, Solvay, NY, from June 2017 through January 2018. McCarthy also worked at Neenah Technical Materials as a filtration engineer in 2018. Jana Baehman has accepted the position of CQC & quality systems manager with the Technical Sales Service group. In this position, she will be leading the claims team across the consumer mills group. Baehman earned her B.S. in Paper Science and Engineering from the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point in 1999. She joined Appvion, formerly Appleton Papers, in Appleton, WI, in 2000. Appvion is the producer of Carbonless, direct Thermal and Specialty paper. Baehman started at Appvion as a process engineer and moved to a production area manager role in 2007. In 2009, she went back to the technical side as a process engineer for the Continuous Improvement team. Baehman earned her Six Sigma Black Belt Certification from the Milwaukee School of Engineering in October 2010. In 2014, she moved to Quality and finished her career with Appvion in 2018, as the quality and technical manager. She spent the last ten months as a quality manager at an electronics manufacturing company. During this time, she focused on sustaining and improving their quality management system in an effort to maintain ISO 9001, AS9100, ISO 13485, and Nadcap certifications. Brandon Tichnell has accepted the position of process engineer for the Fiberline. In this position, Tichnell is responsible for day-to-day operations in the Bleach Room and Wastewater Treatment Plant. Tichnell earned his B.S. in Materials Engineering from Frostburg State University in May 2018. He worked as a machinist at Beitzel Corporation from August to October 2018, and as a process engineer for Verso at the Luke, Maryland, mill from October 2018 until June 2019. William “Bill” Hoffmann has accepted the position of fiberline assistant superintendant - Woodyard. In this position, Bill is responsible for the overall day-to-day operations of the Woodyard. Hoffmann earned his B.S. in Paper Science and Engineering from SUNY in 1982. He has worked for the last 37 years for Westvaco, MeadWestvaco, NewPage, and Verso, at the Luke, Maryland, mill. Hoffmann held various production positions in the Pulp Mill from 1982 to 2000. In 2000, he assumed the role of assistant superintendent of the Pulp Mill, and in 2003, became the business unit manager of the Pulp Mill and Power & Recovery. In 2009, he assumed the role of business unit manager - Pulp Mill, and in 2011, business unit manager - Fiberline. Hoffmann accepted the position of fiber quality / reliability manager for the Fiberline and Power & Recovery in 2016, before becoming business unit manager for the Fiberline and Power & Recovery in 2018. Roseann Lee has accepted the position of environmental manager. In this position, she is responsible for providing oversight on all environmental activities for the Covington mill. Lee received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware in 1996, and her Masters Degree in Manufacturing Leadership – Forest Bioproducts from Georgia Tech. She began her career at MWV as a process engineer in the Covington Carbon Plant in 1996. Lee held positions of increasing responsibility within the carbon organization and was responsible for plant startup, production, and maintenance at MWV’s joint venture carbon honeycomb plant in Waynesboro, Georgia. She returned to Covington as a production manager in the Carbon Plant from 2005 to 2011. She joined the Covington mill as an OBE lead in the Technical department in 2011 and accepted the position of assistant superintendent in the Bleached Pulp Mill in 2013. In 2016, Lee joined the Environmental department. Tom Chambers has accepted the position of HR generalist in the Human Resources department. In this position, he is responsible for managing day-to-day business within the HR function and providing general assistance to the HR team. Chambers earned his B.A. in Industrial Organizational Psychology from BYU-Idaho in 2015. In 2016, he earned his Masters in Human Resources from Utah State, where he also obtained his MBA in 2017. Chambers worked for IP in Shelbyville, IL, as an HR generalist from 2017 to 2019. Craig Lane has accepted the position of operation manager. In this position, Lane is responsible for the safety, quality, and production of Power, Recovery, and the Fiberline. Lane earned his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Virginia Tech. He began his career with Westvaco in 1994 as a technical assistant and worked in numerous departments thoughout the mill as he advanced through the ranks, primarily in the Fiberline, Power, and Recovery. He was named superintendent - Recovery in 2003, assistant superintendent - Power and Recovery in 2006, and superintendent for the Fiberline in 2007. Lane was production manager for the Fiberline, Power, and Recovery from 2010 to 2014, and also served as the sponsor for the No. 1 Power Boiler project from 2011 to 2013. Lane was promoted to production manager for mill operations in 2014, and moved to production manager of paper mill operations in early 2018. He accepted the postition of capital project production manager later in 2018, overseeing the C1 rebuild as well as other projects. Chris Wood has accepted the position of operation manager. In this position, Wood is responsible for the safety, quality, and production of the Paper Mill, Stock & Additives, and Loading. Wood earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Clarkson University in 1989. He joined Appleton Coated in Newton Falls, New York, in July 1989 and held various positions of increasing responsibility ending with papermill superintendent. Wood served as the manufacturing manager at Bowater Nuway in Covington, Tennessee, from 2001 - 2003. From 2003 - 2006, he was the production / technical manager for Sprague Paperboard in Versailles, Connecticut. Wood began his career with WestRock in 2013 as the mill manager at the St. Paul mill in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

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