The dynamics of a global player with the reliability of a family-owned company
Eric Le Lay
Chief Executive Officer
Eric Le Lay holds an Engineering degree from UTC France as well as an MBA from HEC School of Management in France. He has spent nearly 30 years in the packaging industry. Eric started his career as a Production Engineer and later Business Unit Controller at Kraft General Foods, where he spent 8 years. He then served as a Plant Manager at Johnson & Johnson and United Biscuits prior to joining Amcor. In his 12 years at Amcor, Eric rose from Plant Manager to Managing Director of the European Chilled Foods division. Eric spent 15 years with Huhtamaki and most recently served as President of the Foodservice & Fiber division at Huhtamaki where he was a Member of the Global Executive Team.
Jörg Achhammer Executive Vice President Legal
Jörg Achhammer is a fully qualified lawyer and completed an executive management program at INSEAD in Fontainbleau. His expertise includes the management of international transactions in M&A, corporate finance and capital markets. He held various functions at RKW and is currently responsible for Legal, Governance and M&A. Prior to joining RKW he worked i.a. as an attorney at the U.S. law firm White & Case, completed secondments at financial institutions in London and Frankfurt and worked for the automotive supplier Schaeffler during a major restructuring.
Mussie Berhane Executive Vice President Commercial, Marketing & R&D
Mussie Berhane has a commercial degree in foreign trade with specialization in Sales, Supply Chain Management, Procurement and Marketing. Prior to his appointment as Executive Vice President Commercial, Marketing & R&D, he successfully developed the sales, marketing and R&D teams in the Consumer Packaging and Industrial Solutions business segments as VP Sales and Marketing. Previously he worked for Treofan GmbH, currently called Jindal Films for various managerial and expert positions ending up as European Board Member for the Global business. Mussie has extensive expertise in a wide array of strategic, business and restructuring matters across several industries as a result of his executive, management and operational experience. Throughout his international career, he has worked in Germany, France, China, India and the United States.
Philippe Ferrand Executive Vice President Operations
Philippe Ferrand holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from ENSIC Nancy, France, and has more than 30 years of operational experience in the paper and flexible packaging industry. He started his career as Lab Manager and Product Manager and later as Production Manager in the paper industry at Arjo Wiggins (now owned by Munksjo). Philippe then held senior management positions at Amcor and Chesapeake (now owned by West Rock/Smurfit Kappa). During his career, he has been responsible for sites and operations throughout Europe and China. Prior to joining RKW, Philippe spent 8 years at Huhtamaki, most recently as Senior Vice President Operations & Technology.
Corrado Piroli Chief Financial Officer
Corrado Piroli has a degree in Economics and Accounting. He comes to RKW from the Seves Group. There, he most recently served as CFO for more than 10 years, before which he held various finance functions. Seves Group, based in Luxembourg, is the leading global manufacturer of glass insulators for power transition lines. Corrado is a native Italian (Parma) and has lived and worked in Italy, the Czech Republic, China, Austria, France and Luxembourg.
David Watkins Executive Vice President Human Resources
David Watkins holds a degree in Transportation Management and a Master’s in Business Administration. He began his career in Sales, Marketing and Account Management in the Travel Industry working extensively throughout the UK and mainland Europe. After nearly a decade, he moved to BMW Group based out of Munich, initially to support the launch of the MINI product before moving internally to guide the global handler network in business and process execution and in customer loyalty topics. Since 2009 David has held leading positions in Human Resources within global industrial companies such as Schindler and Oerlikon leading HR teams across multiple countries. David has trained as a certified Executive Coach and is accredited in numerous leadership and other personality profiling methods.