Courtesy / ND Paper
Tom Pazdera has been hired as the new general manager of the ND Paper mill in Rumford, heading a 540-person workforce there.
June 7, 2021
ND Paper hires new GM at Rumford pulp plant
By William Hall
Less than two months after hiring a new top executive for its Old Town mill, ND Paper has made a leadership change at the company’s other Maine plant, in Rumford.
ND Paper, an Illinois-based subsidiary of Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings) Ltd. of China, has named Tom Pazdera general manager and vice president of the American company’s Rumford Division. He starts this week and replaces Randy Chicoine, who left to take a position outside the company, a spokesman told Mainebiz on Monday.
Pazdera brings 30 years of experience in the pulp, packaging and paper industry, including work with International Paper, MeadWestvaco and Boise Paper. Most recently, he served as president and unit head of AV Terrace Bay, in Canada, where he oversaw day-to-day operations of a pulp mill with an output of 1,100 tons per day.
Pazdera’s hire comes after ND Paper in April brought on Bruce Hogan to head the company’s pulp mill in Old Town. The previous GM there, Craig Kerschner, was promoted to ND Paper's corporate director of pulping technology. He had overseen operations in Old Town since the company purchased the then-shuttered mill in 2018.
In addition to his experience as a process engineer, Pazdera has guided business operations and management teams at several larges-scale paper manufacturing sites across the country during crucial turning points, a news release said.
“Tom is a proven leader of transformational organizations, because he brings the personable leadership as well as the technical knowledge to advance our operations during a critical time,” said Michael LaVerdiere, ND Paper executive vice president and COO.
ND Paper CEO Ken Liu added, “Tom brings incredible knowledge and industry experience that will prove instrumental in helping us create a new era of growth and success at our Rumford Division. Because beyond operations and management of our largest facility, Tom will also be critical in helping us execute the continued capital transformation program for the division and the company.”
Pazdera commented: “I am thrilled to join this growing company. The time is ripe for opportunity — to transform processes, invest in people and usher this iconic mill into a new era of prosperity. With a shift to new markets, the future has never been brighter.”
Pazdera is a native of Arkansas, where he graduated from the University of Arkansas with a degree in civil engineering. He is married and has three adult children.
Like the Old Town mill, the Rumford plant was purchased by ND Paper in 2018. Today the facility employs over 540 and produces 215,000 tons of freesheet paper annually and 120,000 tons of kraft pulp. The manufacturing site was founded as the Oxford Paper Co. in 1901, and since then has produced stock for everything from Campbell’s Soup labels to the iconic L.L.Bean Inc. catalog.
In the future, the Rumford Division will be expanding its presence in packaging papers, including unbleached kraft papers and lightweight containerboard, ND Paper said in the release.
Nine Dragons Paper is the largest containerboard producer in Asia, with annual sales of $10 billion.
The Old Town mill currently has 155 employees. ND Paper also operates a plant in West Virginia and one in Wisconsin.
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