RockTenn recently announced that Jim Rubright will retire as chief executive officer and a director on Oct. 31, 2013. Steve Voorhees, chief operating officer of RockTenn, will become chief executive officer upon Rubright's retirement.
Voorhees joined RockTenn as chief financial officer in 2000 and became chief financial officer and chief administrative officer in 2008, and president and chief operating officer in January 2013.
Ward Dickson will join RockTenn on Sept. 16, 2013, as executive vice president and chief financial officer with responsibility for finance, information technology and procurement. Dickson currently serves as senior vice president of finance for the global sales and service organization of Cisco Systems. Dickson formerly served in financial roles at Scientific Atlanta and General Electric.
Stephen Felker, RockTenn's lead independent director and soon-to-be board chairman stated, "RockTenn will lose a remarkable CEO with Jim Rubright's retirement from the company. Under Jim's leadership, RockTenn has grown to become a highly respected leader in the paper and forest products industry. RockTenn's share price has increased more than eight fold and with dividends earned a compound annual return of 18.6 percent — for 14 years."
Rubright stated, "I'm glad to be able to leave RockTenn with a strong and talented leadership team. Steve Voorhees has been instrumental in developing and executing our process improvement and acquisition strategies since he joined RockTenn in 2000 and is a great choice to lead our company.
