Fort Dearborn names new CEO

ELK GROVE VILLAGE - Fort Dearborn Co., a supplier of high-impact prime labels for consumer goods, has named Kevin Kwilinski as Chief Executive Officer.

Kwilinski, former CEO of Paperworks Industries, a privately held recycled paperboard packaging company, succeeds Jim Buzzard, who will resume his role as nonexecutive chairman of Fort Dearborn's board of directors.

"Kevin brings more than two decades of experience in the global packaging industry and a track record of developing and executing successful growth strategies," said Buzzard. "His professional experience exemplifies Fort Dearborn's core values of customer intimacy, financial discipline and a performance-driven culture, and I am confident he will help Fort Dearborn become the leading North American prime label supplier."

Prior to joining Fort Dearborn, Kwilinski spent more than 20 years in the global packaging industry, most recently as CEO of Paperworks Industries, he guided the company's growth by supporting an aggressive go-to-market strategy and simultaneously implemented continuous improvement processes that resulted in a significant improvement in product quality, customer service levels and customer satisfaction.

Prior to Paperworks, Kwilinski served as CEO of Portola Packaging, a global food and beverage rigid packaging company. Under his leadership, Portola experienced rapid growth through new product development, market share gain and acquisitions. Before joining Portola, he was senior vice president of supply chain for Graphic Packaging, a $4 billion global paperboard packaging company with responsibility for sales, operations and inventory planning, continuous improvement and acquisition integration.

"I am excited to lead Fort Dearborn through its next stage of growth and look forward to helping the company continue to deliver best-in-class value to customers," said Mr. Kwilinski. "Fort Dearborn is poised to pursue strategic initiatives, including attracting and retaining top talent and pursuing additional growth through existing and new customers as well as strategic acquisitions."