SCORING BOXES

OFFICERS

Chairwoman: Jana Harris, Harris Packaging/American Carton, Haltom City, Texas First Vice Chairman: Matt Davis, Packaging Express, Colorado Springs, Colorado Vice Chairs: Gary Brewer, Package Crafters, High Point, North Carolina Finn MacDonald, Independent II, Louisville, Kentucky Terri-Lynn Levesque, Royal Containers Ltd., Brampton, Ontario, Canada Immediate Past Chairman: Gene Marino, Akers Packaging Service Group, Chicago, Illinois Chairman, Past Chairmen’s Council: Jay Carman, StandFast Packaging Group, Carol Stream, Illinois President: Michael D’Angelo, AICC Headquarters, Alexandria, Virginia Secretary/General Counsel: David Goch, Webster, Chamberlain & Bean, Washington, D.C. AICC Canada: Lee Gould

DIRECTORS

West: Sahar Mehrabzadeh-Garcia, Bay Cities, Pico Rivera, Califormia Southwest: Jenise Cox, Harris Packaging/American Carton, Haltom City, Texas Southeast: Michael Drummond, Packrite, High Point, North Carolina Midwest: Casey Shaw, Batavia Container Inc., Batavia, Illinois Great Lakes: Josh Sobel, Jamestown Container Cos., Macedonia, Ohio Northeast: Stuart Fenkel, McLean Packaging, Pennsauken, New Jersey AICC Canada: TBD AICC México: Sergio Menchaca, EKO Empaques de Cartón S.A. de C.V., Cortazar, Mexico

OVERSEAS DIRECTOR

Kim Nelson, Royal Containers Ltd., Brampton, Ontario, Canada

DIRECTORS AT LARGE

Kevin Ausburn, SMC Packaging Group, Springfi eld, Missouri Eric Elgin, Oklahoma Interpack, Muscogee, Oklahoma Guy Ockerlund, OxBox, Addison, Illinois Mike Schaefer, Tavens Packaging & Display, Bedford Heights, Ohio Ben DeSollar, Sumter Packaging, Sumter, South Carolina Jack Fiterman, Liberty Diversifi es, Omaha, Nebraska

EMERGING LEADER DELEGATES

Lauren Frisch, Wasatch Container, North Salt Lake, Utah John McQueary, CST Systems, Atlanta, Georgia Jordan Dawson, Harris Packaging, Haltom City, Texas

ASSOCIATE MEMBER DIRECTORS

Chairman: Greg Jones, SUN Automation Group, Glen Arm, Maryland Vice Chairman: Tim Connell, A.G. Stacker Inc., Weyers Cave, Virginia Secretary: John Burgess, Pamarco/Absolute, Roselle Park, New Jersey Director: Jeff Dietz, Kolbus America Inc., Cleveland, Ohio

Immediate Past Chairman, Associate Members:

Joseph Morelli, Huston Patterson Printers/Lewisberg Printing Co., Decatur, Illinois

ADVISORS TO THE CHAIRMAN

Al Hoodwin, Michigan City Paper Box, Michigan City, Indiana Gene Marino, Akers Packaging Service Group, Chicago, Illinois Greg Jones, SUN Automation, Glen Arm, Maryland

PUBLICATION STAFF

Publisher: Michael D’Angelo, mdangelo@AICCbox.org Editor: Virginia Humphrey, vhumphrey@AICCbox.org

EDITORIAL/DESIGN SERVICES

The YGS Group • www.theYGSgroup.com Vice President: Serena L. Spiezio Content & Copy Director: Craig Lauer Managing Editor: Therese Umerlik Senior Editor: Sam Hoffmeister Copy Editor: Steve Kennedy Art Director: Alex Straughan Account Manager: Frankie Singleton

SUBMIT EDITORIAL IDEAS, NEWS, & LETTERS TO:

BoxScore@theYGSgroup.com

CONTRIBUTORS

Maria Frustaci, Director of Administration and Director of Latin America Cindy Huber, Director of Conventions & Meetings Chelsea May, Education and Training Manager Laura Mihalick, Senior Meeting Manager Patrick Moore, Membership Services Manager Taryn Pyle, Director of Training, Education & Professional Development Alyce Ryan, Marketing Manager Steve Young, Ambassador-at-Large

ADVERTISING Taryn Pyle

703-535-1391 • tpyle@AICCbox.org

Patrick Moore

703-535-1394 • pmoore@AICCbox.org

AICC

PO Box 25708 Alexandria, VA 22313 Phone 703-836-2422 Toll-free 877-836-2422 Fax 703-836-2795

www.AICCbox.org

ABOUT AICC

PROVIDING BOXMAKERS WITH THE KNOWLEDGE NEEDED TO THRIVE IN THE PAPER-BASED PACKAGING INDUSTRY SINCE 1974

We are a growing membership association that serves independent corrugated, folding carton, and rigid box manufacturers and suppliers with education and information in print, in person, and online. AICC membership is for the full company, and employees at all locations have access to member benefi ts. AICC o ers free online education to all members to help the individual maximize their potential and the member company maximize its profi t.

WHEN YOU INVEST AND ENGAGE, AICC DELIVERS SUCCESS.

Better Minds, Better Boxes

I’m Jana Harris, CEO and co-owner of Harris Packaging, a sheet plant in Fort Worth, Texas, and American Carton, a folding carton plant in Mansfield, Texas, along with my sister Jenise Cox and our father and founder, Joe Harris.

Why have I chosen Better Minds, Better Boxes as my theme? I have a passion for education, especially the education of individuals who could consider a career in our industry.

I became active with our local university, the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), in 2013 when the International Corrugated Packaging Foundation (ICPF) partnered with UTA’s College of Liberal Arts to introduce packaging design and graphics into its course offerings. UTA supported this because it gave art students another career avenue—one they probably had never considered.

Some of our employees and I go to UTA every semester and speak about our industry. We judge its sales competitions, which have helped us snag some good sales folks. Harris Packaging sponsors a Joe Harris Scholarship in the College of Liberal Arts in our father’s honor. He’s a UTA graduate—as am I.

Since our involvement at UTA, we have hired 10 students for sales, marketing, and design. It is a great avenue for us to find employees. The benefit to our companies of investing some time with UTA has been tremendous. If you are not doing the same with your local schools, you should consider doing so.

That’s a little background about my passion. In this coming year, I am going to focus on getting the word out about our industry to the next generation of workers. I see three avenues through which we can accomplish this.

First, continued involvement and investment in our industry foundations: ICPF, which works in partnership with colleges and universities, and the Foundation for Packaging Education, which supports training for our industry’s employees. ICPF brings four-year and two-year college and university students to our plant doors. AICC’s Foundation for Packaging Education continues their development inside our doors. Please continue to support or consider supporting both foundations. They are vital to the future of our industry.

Second, I believe we need to tap into the pool of talent in our trade schools and STEM high schools. By collaborating with those within the corrugated, folding carton, and rigid box industries, we can introduce paper-based packaging to an audience that has no idea we exist.

I have started a relationship with my local STEM high school. It is very interested in offering packaging education to its students. Based on this recent experience, I hope to have more exciting news to share with you on STEM and how you can connect.

Finally, I don’t want to forget the young people already working in our industries. AICC and TAPPI offer their respective Emerging Leader (EL) and Young Professionals programs. If you have young, promising leaders in your organizations, please help them get involved in our industry associations. Jenise and I currently have three participating in the EL program. I recommend these programs for your upcoming superstars.

Spending time on campuses and around educators has shown me that very few students know about our industry. If they do not know us, how can they consider us? But my experience with the ELs and my 10 UTA hires has shown me that once we get them in, they are hooked and excited to be a part of our industry.

To grow our industry, we need to be in front of our next generation of workers. We have amazing career opportunities for them.

Let’s go spread the news!

Jana Harris CEO and co-owner, Harris Packaging and American Carton Co. AICC Chairwoman