WELCOME, AICC 2022–2023 CHAIRWOMAN, JANA HARRIS

achieved for Subway by transitioning from E fl ute to F, allowing twice as many packaging units to be held in-store.

People, Family

Like many an independent, Arvco has a family feel to any visitor touring the plant. Th e company employs around 220 people full time. Citing longtime employees who have been with the company 20, 30, or 40-plus years, Greg says, “We treat people like people. It’s a culture thing. We treat people with respect; we treat people well.”

Arvco has had its share of diffi culty fi nding good employees, just as others in the industry. But the company also takes pride in not laying off employees for economic reasons. “I have never economically laid anyone off in the 30 years I’ve been here,” Greg says. “My job is to make sure they’ve got something to do, so we don’t believe in layoff s. It’s one of the advantages we have.”

To attract and keep the valuable employees it has, Greg is studying a pilot project to pay for an associate degree at a local community college. “I was talking to one of my customer service reps the other day, and she has a son who just graduated from high school,” he says. “He can’t aff ord to go to college, so he’s going to get a job for a while and try to save money for college. I thought, ‘Th ere must be a lot of kids in that boat. What if we off er to pay for an associate degree at community college if they come to work here?’”

Greg sees this as an answer to the aging of his workforce and the need to attract younger, more motivated workers. Says Greg, “I think the talent level will get better because you’re going to be attracting people who are aspiring to go to college and better themselves.”

Team for the Future

If the workers at Arvco feel like family, imagine how family at Arvco feels like family. As the second generation of Arvco ownership, Greg has followed his father’s model of bringing in his sons to the business.

Nicholas Arvanigian, Greg’s younger son, is a sales representative for the company. Alex Arvanigian is vice president of operations, a position he has held since 2018. Says Greg, “When Alex was a kid, he played competitive hockey at a pretty high level, and I used to tell everyone, ‘Alex is the guy you want on the ice at the end of a 1–0 game.’ He’s cool under pressure; he doesn’t get fazed. Th at’s a really good trait to have in our business.”

Alex’s view of the business is on the production fl oor and the issues converters face there each day. “I oversee production between here and Cadillac, shipping, maintenance, all of it,” he says. “Th e biggest challenge now is fi nding ways to get more out with fewer people—fi nding ways to automate simple processes.”

Asked if he had any advice for younger managers, Alex simply says, “Expose yourself in diff erent areas of the business, because it all works together. Corrugated is kind of a life sentence. It’s a really good business to be in.”

Baldwin, from his position as CFO, considers his most important job to be the company’s relationship with its bankers. Th ough not a family member, he spent 10 years in commercial banking, serving as Arvco’s banker for fi ve of those before Greg lured him away in the fall of 2008, just before the fi nancial crisis. “I started, and a week or two later, Lehman Brothers fi les for bankruptcy,” he says. “Th at’s really when shockwaves got sent through the monetary system. It was a trial by fi re.”

Baldwin, through his banking experience, has positioned Arvco for future investment and expansion. “Traditionally, a lot of CFOs come through the CPA path; I came through commercial banking,” he says. “Today, it’s all about how we can maximize borrowing capabilities to fund some of these projects for improvements and capital investment.”

Rounding out the management team is Bob Ford, vice president of sales. Ford’s been a member of the Arvco team for 17 years.

Arvco is a truly independent corrugator— one with no mill ownership or sheet feeder affi liation. Of course, it’s a subject about which Greg has much to say. “It’s tough to be an independent corrugator, which is why we do the stuff we do,” he says, explaining that the advent of sheet feeders over the years has benefi ted the sheet plant sector greatly.

In fact, Greg says, Arvco itself has taken advantage of the shift in economics: “My dad used to say, ‘If I can’t put it on my corrugator and make money, I’m not going to take the business.’ I say, ‘If I can’t put it on my corrugator and make money, can I buy sheets and make money, or buy fi nished boxes and make money?’”

Arvco’s long history as an independent in the industry of course includes its years of involvement in the industry’s associations, particularly AICC. George was a founding member in 1974; he served as the Association’s president in 1979–1980 and was named to its Hall of Fame in 1985. Greg, for his part, served as chairman of the Association in 2001–2002, the fi rst son of a past president to do so. Greg was named to the Association’s Hall of Fame in 2008, and he serves on TAPPI’s Corrugated Packaging Council and now on the board of directors of the Fibre Box Association. Alex has begun involvement in AICC’s Emerging Leaders program and TAPPI’s Young Professionals.

Greg calls Arvco, for the breadth of its product lines, the fl exibility of its service, and the state of its technology, the “Swiss Army knife of the corrugated box business.” Always forward-looking, always, in his words, “not following the rules,” he continues to build an innovative and cutting-edge company in a changing and competitive business. 

Steve Young is AICC’s ambassador-at-large. He can be reached at 202-297-0583 or syoung@ aiccbox.org.

Photos courtesy of Carey Stinson Photography.

As AICC looks toward the future, its new leader is poised to realize opportunity through challenges

By Geoff Williams

The past few years have been an adventure for anyone working in the paper-based packaging industry—and for most people on the planet. After all, 2020 may have been the year that vaulted the world into the COVID19 pandemic, but 2021 and 2022 have respectively brought their own challenges. Supply chain issues, the labor shortage, and infl ation have been at the forefront of everybody’s minds. And it isn’t as if these issues have simply gone away.

Great challenges require great leaders, and once again, AICC is fortunate to have one at the helm: Jana Harris, who with her education, charm, and life and career experience, is—as they say—the whole package.

Harris, who as many of you know speaks with a slight Texas twang, is a second-generation business owner. She is CEO of Harris Packaging Corp. and American Carton Co.

Her parents, Joe and Joyce, started Harris Packaging in 1976. Joe had been working in the industry for almost a decade when he and his wife opened their own sheet plant in Haltom City, a suburb of Dallas-Fort Worth. Joyce died far too young—in 1991—and the following year, Joe expanded the company and started American Carton in nearby Mansfi eld. He fi gured his customers who were buying folding cartons from him would likely also purchase corrugated boxes.

Harris grew up impressed with what she was seeing, and she wanted to be a part of it all. As a teenager, she told her father she wanted to work for the family business, but he wasn’t too keen on the idea.

“I remember as a teenager telling my father that I wanted to be a salesperson for Harris Packaging,” Harris told the Dallas Business Journal in 2014. “I will never forget him saying that no daughter of his would be selling in this male-dominated industry.”

Harris majored in exercise science at the University of Texas at Arlington, graduating summa cum laude, and soon became a diagnostic lab technician. Somewhere in there, she also started and sold a business.

But by 2006, Joe had softened and invited his daughter and her sister Jenise Cox to join the companies. Neither needed any convincing. Before long, by day, Harris was wearing numerous hats in customer service, purchasing, scheduling, and, yes, sales. And by night, she was raising two daughters.

Th ree years later, the two sisters were majority owners in the company, and profi ts continued to rise. Th eir staff eventually doubled.

BoxScore caught up with Harris before she headed out to Corrugated Week in San Antonio to discuss what she hopes to accomplish while overseeing AICC—and how she got into the Association in the fi rst place.

BoxScore: So, you’ve been a member of AICC for a long time. When did that begin?

Harris: Joe asked us to work for him in 2006. I started working in customer service, and my sister has always been on the fi nancial end. We didn’t know much about the industry, and he highly recommended that we attend the meetings. We went to regional and national meetings as well, and I really enjoyed everything about it. I always felt that we walked away learning a lot, and we always walked out of those meetings smarter than we were. And we’re really happy that our children are now active in AICC as well. then I became the education committee chair for a handful of years, until I took over the budget committee, which is the thing you do before you become the chair. So, yes, I’ve been very involved.

BoxScore: And so, you’ve just climbed up the ranks at AICC as the years went on?

Harris: Well, I was asked to speak at one of the national meetings, and then-President Steve Young (currently ambassador-at-large for AICC) said I should be on the board. So, I joined the board in 2011 as a regional director. I stayed in that position for a while, and

BoxScore: How has AICC changed since you’ve been involved with the organization? Granted, that was 2006 and not all that long ago.

Harris: I would say when Jenise and I went to the meetings, we often felt like we were some of the only ladies there. And so that’s been a nice change over the years, especially with the Emerging Leader (EL) program. Th e meetings seem to be more half-and-half these days, and I’ve been very encouraged by that. And there are more ladies on the board as well. I’ve defi nitely noticed that change. I have some very close friends, where I can pick up the phone and talk to them at any time, they also have such great advice. And I know Jenise—she is in a CEO group—is often reaching out to them. We’ve gotten a lot of advice about running a family business with multiple generations, and that’s an issue that’s very important to us. I always think that our friends at AICC, they often challenge you to be the best you can be and to think bigger than what you even might be considering.

Forging Forward Through Ups and Downs

Indeed, Harris and Cox’s companies have been extremely successful since they took over—with accolades continually coming. In 2012, Harris Packaging and American Carton were selected the 2012 Small Business of the Year by the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce.

In 2019, Harris had become such a pillar of the community that she was invited to throw out the ceremonial fi rst pitch at a Major League Baseball game, before the Texas Rangers played the Tampa Bay Rays. (She reportedly acquitted herself well, but she said later that her pitch was high and a little to the right.) Th is past year, the University of Texas at Arlington honored its 100 fastest-growing maverick-owned businesses at a business event, ranking Harris Packaging at No. 17 and American Carton at No. 19. From a business perspective, Harris and Cox have been a marvel. Th e two even became

BoxScore: Can you give some examples of how AICC has helped you over the years?

Harris: Th e friendships that we’ve made have been priceless. Not only do

Harris’ connection to Harris Packaging and American Carton employees has helped lead the companies forward with great success.

AICC President Mike D’Angelo welcomed Harris as AICC’s new chairwoman at AICC/TAPPI Corrugated Week in San Antonio in September.

“I always think that our friends at AICC, they often challenge you to be the best you can be and to think bigger than what you even might be considering.”

silent partners in an Italian restaurant in Fort Worth called Tre Mogli.

“My goal is to eventually make enough money for the food I eat there,” Harris says. Th e food presumably goes well with wine. Her husband, Zachary Campbell, recently became a silent partner in a winery—Sanglier Cellars—in Sonoma County, California.

In other words, Harris’ life has been very successful and quite an adventure with her being involved in a lot of businesses and industries. And she has been excited about her daughter, Jordan Dawson, who works in customer service and purchasing at Harris Packaging and recently became an AICC EL freshman delegate.

But as good as things have been, 2022 has been a brutal year for the Harris family. On July 29, 2022, Harris’ youngest daughter, Taylor Dawson, who had health issues for several years, passed away. “I almost decided to step down,” Harris admits, saying she wasn’t sure she was up to the task of being the chairwoman for AICC.

It would have been understandable had Harris done just that. But ultimately, she decided that traveling the country, meeting with members, being active, staying involved, and being in a leadership role with the Association might be just what she needed.

Let’s get back to our discussion. BoxScore: What advice would you give someone who may be a member of AICC but isn’t really very involved?

Harris: You get out of the experience what you put into it. If you open yourself up to getting involved, whether joining a board or getting on a committee, and you don’t have to be on the board to do the committee, I think you’re going to fi nd that it’s a fantastic experience. Once you make those relationships, the value is so great. In addition to the education and the meetings themselves, we’ve met a lot of our vendors through AICC, which has been wonderful. But it starts with going to the meetings—and talking to people. Hopefully, some people will reach out to you and make you comfortable from the start. I always try to fi nd the new person at the meetings who doesn’t seem to be connecting and to plug them in, but I know we miss a handful, for sure.

BoxScore: What are you hoping to do with AICC this year? What are some of your goals?

Harris: Well, my passion is education. Better Minds, Better Boxes is what I always say. Basically, I’m very active with our local university with their visual communication design program. I’m on the advisory board, and I volunteer to judge for competitions. We’ve got a scholarship for its packaging program. But that little bit of time investment on the campus and getting to know the dean has meant that I’ve been able to bring on