Business News
Barry-Wehmiller Taps Packaging Veteran to Lead Strategy Initiatives
Monday 24. November 2014 - Bob Chapman, Chairman and CEO, is pleased to announce that Carol O'Neill, a respected veteran of the packaging and manufacturing industries, has been named Barry-Wehmiller's Vice President of Strategy, Technology and Key Initiatives. In the new position for the rapidly-expanding $2+ billion global organization, O'Neill will lead the effort to examine Barry-Wehmiller's long-term vision and the organizational and technical infrastructure needed to ensure its success.
“We’re considering a significant number of new acquisitions which, along with anticipated organic growth, will help grow Barry-Wehmiller into a $5 billion organization in the near future,” offered CEO Bob Chapman. “This plan for targeted robust growth of both our business and our cultural initiatives calls us to make sure we remain steadfast in our commitment to our highest purpose: meaningful work and a secure future for the team members who devote their lives every day to our success. Being able to bring on someone of the caliberboth in experience and characterof Carol places the review of our long- term strategy and its impact on our people-centric culture into extremely capable hands.”
O’Neill has extensive background in leadership, packaging and manufacturing as well as consulting and information technology. She began her career with a management consulting firm in Boston and led productivity improvement efforts at the New York City Transit Authority before entering the packaging world as Director of Performance Improvement at Sealed Air. There she played many roles including Chief Information Officer and Senior Vice President of Business Development. O’Neill left Sealed Air to run a $300 million private food company in Chicago until enticed back into the packaging industry to run Spartech’s (now PolyOne) Packaging business. O’Neill left PolyOne to join Barry-Wehmiller as a consultant to support the acquisition and integration of Arcil, the Paris-based fresh dairy packaging firm acquired by Barry- Wehmiller in December of 2013.
“I have been tied to the Barry-Wehmiller organization for almost a decade now and have always felt a powerful affinity for its culture and values,” O’Neill said. “Over the years I have challenged Bob and his team to do everything possible to ensure that those values and the culture they’ve carefully nurtured pervade this organization for generations to come. I am thrilled to be in a position to directly contribute to that effort as a part of the Barry-Wehmiller team.”
O’Neill has a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School and master’s degrees in business administration and food research from Stanford University.