ASPI 2013 Spring Meeting
 

ASPI Spring 2013 Meeting Speakers

Listed alphabetically
Chip Dillion - Partner - Vertical Research Partners
C.A. (Chip) Dillon, III is a Partner at Vertical Research Partners covering the Global Paper and Packaging Industry. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and consistently ranks highly in the major polls/surveys of U.S. Paper and Packaging Analysts, including a No.1 ranking on eight occasions in the Institutional Investor (II) poll. In addition, Chip is the only U.S. Paper and Packaging Analyst to be inducted into The Wall Street Journal Analyst "Hall of Fame." Chip was named the top stock picking analyst in the "General Industries" category in its annual "Best on the Street" rankings in 2010. That year, Chip also was recognized as the #1 Stock Picker and Earnings Estimator by StarMine.

A Wall Street veteran, Chip has covered the industrial space for more than two decades. He joined Vertical Research in July 2011 after serving as a Managing Director at Credit Suisse and prior to that, Citigroup Investment Research. He also worked at First Manhattan Co. and J.P. Morgan Investment Management.

Born in Raleigh, NC, Chip earned a BS from the University of North Carolina in 1980, and an MBA from Columbia University in 1986. Chip and his wife, Margaret, have five children and reside in the suburbs of New York City. He works out of the firm's New York City office. When not engaged in his investment research work, Chip remains busy keeping up with his children's activities, community and church commitments, sports and traveling.

 

Rod Fisher – President - Fisher International
Rod Fisher is the founder of Fisher International, a leading consulting firm supporting the pulp and paper industry with business intelligence and management consulting services since 1985. With research resources in nearly every pulp and paper producing country in the world, Fisher International’s expert consultants, proprietary databases, analytical technologies, and business management tools are used by pulp and paper producers, suppliers, investors, and buyers around the world every day to bring analytic discipline to their strategic and operational decisions.

Rod graduated from Harvard University in 1974 and received his M.B.A. in International Business Strategy from the Wharton School of Business in 1980.
 
 
 
 
 
John F. Isbell – Partner - Business Restructuring, Creditors' Rights & Bankruptcy Business Litigation

John is a partner in the Business Restructuring, Creditors' Rights & Bankruptcy practice group and is based in the firm's Atlanta office. He concentrates his practice in the areas of bankruptcy and insolvency law, including insolvency-related commercial litigation in both state and federal courts. John represents secured lenders, debtors/borrowers, official committees of unsecured creditors, landlords, and other parties in interest in relation to, among other things, bankruptcy cases, receivership litigation, workouts, restructurings and state court foreclosures and confirmation proceedings. John frequently lectures on bankruptcy and commercial litigation topics before bar and trade groups, as well as continuing legal education programs.

John is admitted to practice in the states of Georgia and Alabama.

 

Michael L. Newsom - President - Qorval Creditor Recover Services, LLC
 
Michael L. Newsom is the President of Qorval Creditor Recover Services, LLC ("Qorval CRS"). He holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering and a Master of Business Administration, both from the University of Toledo.
Mr. Newsom has extensive experience in financial analysis, strategic and capital planning, process engineering, production management, and environmental affairs.  
In 2011 Mr. Newsom, along with two colleagues, formed Qorval CRS to continue working on cases carried over from Bridge and to focus on moving forward in direction similar to that which was charted while at Bridge.
Mr. Newsom was a feature speaker at the 2012 ABI Southeast Conference discussing the attributes of his mathematical model used for determining Ordinary Course of Business with respect to preferences. He has also sponsored environmental and engineering seminars, conducted environmental training sessions and written white papers on such subjects as marginal cost/marginal revenue approach to maximizing profits, analysis of unit variables for profit models, use of discounted cash flow analysis for project selection, annual EPA hazardous waste training, PID and statistical process control, Title V air emissions permitting, and the maximization of asset value in facility decommissioning. He has also been a repeat guest speaker at the International Glass Conference on production related issues.
 
 
 
 
Bob Snyder - President and CEO - Orchids Paper Products
Bob Snyder began his career in the Pulp and Paper industry in 1970. Since then, he has held senior management positions in multi-machine, multi-site manufacturing facilities, nationally and internationally. He is currently the President and CEO of Orchids Paper Products (AMEX: TIS), a fully integrated manufacturer of tissue products, primarily for the at-home private label market.

Previously, he worked for Kruger, Inc. as Vice President and General Manager of Corner Brook Pulp and Paper Limited, an operation comprised of a newsprint mill, timberlands and a power generation facility; and served as General Manager of KTG USA, an integrated paper manufacturer of premium grade tissue and a subsidiary of Kruger. Snyder is a past President of PIMA (Paper Industry Management Association), and presently am serving as a Board member of TAPPI (Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industries).

Snyder has been married more than 42 years, and has 2 grown children. In his spare time, he enjoys travel, golf, wine tasting and movies.

 

Alexander Toeldte - President and CEO - Boise, INC
Mr. Toeldte has served as the company's president and chief executive officer and a director since February 2008. Mr. Toeldte joined Boise Cascade Holdings, L.L.C., in early October 2005 as president of the company's Packaging and Newsprint segment and, in late October 2005, became its executive vice president, Paper and Packaging and Newsprint segments. From 2004 to 2006, Mr. Toeldte was chair of Algonac Limited, a private management and consulting firm based in Auckland, New Zealand.

Mr. Toeldte's previous experience includes: serving as executive vice president of Fonterra Co-operative Group, Ltd., and chief executive officer of Fonterra Enterprises (Fonterra, based in New Zealand, is a global dairy company); previously, Mr. Toeldte served in various capacities with Fletcher Challenge Limited Group (formerly one of the largest companies in New Zealand with holdings in paper, forestry, building materials, and energy), including as chief executive officer of Fletcher Challenge Building and as chief executive officer of Fletcher Challenge Paper, both of which were publicly traded units of the Fletcher Challenge Limited Group; and Mr. Toeldte served as a partner at McKinsey & Company in Toronto, Brussels, Montreal, and Stockholm.

Mr. Toeldte is the chairman of the board of directors of the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA). Mr. Toeldte studied economics at the Albert-Ludwigs-University in Freiburg, Germany, and received an M.B.A. from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

 

Mark Watkins - Senior Vice President - MeadWestvaco Corporation
Mr. Watkins is senior vice president of MeadWestvaco Corporation with responsibility for corporate engineering, stewardship, sustainability, safety, health and environmental. 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.