ICPF Board Selects New President

Following the October 13, 2006 International Corrugated Packaging Foundation (ICPF) Board of Directors meeting in Chicago, Chairman John Kelley announced the Board had selected Richard M. Flaherty to serve as President for the Foundation.

“The ICPF Board Search Committee, incorporating both AICC and FBA members, initially narrowed the applicants for the position down to a pool of more than 50 well-qualified candidates. After further reviewing credentials, the Committee, comprised of Jim Haglund (Central Container Corp.), Larry Cooper, (C & B Corrugated), Dan Berger (Smurfit Stone), Kirt Patel (Georgia Pacific), Bruce Benson (ICPF), Steve Young (AICC) and Dwight Schmidt (FBA), interviewed five finalists and made a decision to recommend Richard Flaherty to the full Board for its consideration. The Board met with him and the confirmation vote was unanimous.”

Flaherty comes to ICPF with decades of experience in economic development, business development and association management. He served as the President of an association, College Parents of America, where he developed strong working partnerships with major colleges and universities across the country. He has held leadership positions in economic development and regional job policy & development initiatives, most recently serving as Executive Vice President for the Alexandria (VA) Economic Development Partnership. Mr. Flaherty established the city's enterprise zone, small business development center and graduate education campus in partnership with George Washington University and other area universities. He implemented the City's strategy to attract headquarters operations and facilitated the development of Alexandria into the Nation's fourth largest center for national associations, behind Washington, D.C., New York and Chicago. During his work there, Alexandria's growth in business resulted in an increase of 29,000 jobs, a 52% increase.

Mr. Flaherty was initially recruited to the Washington D.C., area by The Greater Washington Board of Trade to serve as Director of the Business Development Bureau. There he developed and implemented the region's first technology business development strategy and its first technology council.

A graduate of the University of Michigan, Flaherty has received numerous honors from national and international organizations, including the Greater Washington Society of Association Executives' prestigious Distinguished Service Award that is bestowed annually to a single individual or organization, “in recognition of the largest contribution to promoting the growth and vitality of the national association community in Greater Washington”.

In accepting the position, Flaherty told the ICPF Board, “The critical next step will be to continue to build and expand upon the relationships among the academic community and ICPF's corrugated constituency. I am honored to have the opportunity to work in what I consider to be an exciting arena. We are creating the educational environment to meet the talent needs of corrugators for many years. At the same time, educational institutions are being offered through ICPF new direct approaches in helping their graduates find rewarding careers in one of our country's important and sustainable industries.”

CorrAlliance Chairman Michael D'Angelo, (VP-Corrugated Products, Bobst Group) summed up the Board's reaction to Flaherty's candidacy: “Richard has exactly the right blend of experience to move ICPF into its next growth phase. He understands the relationship among the Foundation, the program mission & agenda, and our investors. At the same time, he will be able to bring to the table his excellent experience in forging major partnerships. We are all excited about this new era for ICPF.”

On a personal note, Mr. Flaherty has been a resident of Northern Virginia since he first came to work in the Washington D.C. area. His wife is a partner in a legislative affairs and public relations firm that represents finance, insurance, tax, national transportation, and other business issues on Capitol Hill.