Richard a. peterson

Retired as a Vice President of Champion International Paper Company (now International Paper Company). Mr. Peterson started his career in the Paper Industry as a summer vacation fill-in employee at St. Regis Paper Company plant in Tacoma, WA. Following the summer vacation period he was retain by the company and rose through the ranks of the Technical, Engineering, and Manufacturing departments. In 1978 Mr. Peterson was transferred to the company’s plant in Pensacola, FL. as Paper Manufacturing Operations Manager and to oversee the building of a new facility alongside the original plant. The primary purpose of the expansion was to develop a new and stronger paper through technical innovations within the paper making process.

Following the success of the Pensacola venture, Mr. Peterson was then transferred to the Roanoke Rapids, NC facility as Manufacturing Manager and to also oversee a plant expansion that had become somewhat behind schedule. The expansion project was brought back in line and proved to be successful as all functions of the operation were completed. This project consumed nearly 2 years of planning and construction, plus an amount of running time to "fine tune" the new equipment.

Following the success in North Carolina, Mr. Peterson was called upon to become the Vice President of Operations in the Houston, TX area. Through development of better relations with the various Union locals employed at the plant, along with improving working conditions and job security, profitability of the plant was increased substantially over any previous years. One side benefit of the profitability improvement allowed a more secure future for all persons employed at the facility.

Retiring at an early age (53) Mr. Peterson was looking forward to making up for the long hours and hard work during his career by enjoying a few of his hobbies. However, this was not to be. General Chemical Corporation strongly recruited him to manage their chemical and mine operations in Green River, WY. Seeing the company through what was assumed to have been a difficult bargaining period with the Union locals, Mr. Peterson once again retired.

But, this retirement was short lived. A call from a friend that was Vice President of Operations for Bell Manufacturing Company brought Mr. Peterson to Menominee, MI. This facility was an older operation that hadn't received much in the way of modernizations through the years. A improvement plan was formulated; and at the end of the project, Mr. Peterson retired stating "This time it's for GOOD!"

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