Faces & Places
Arkay Packaging Celebrates 85th Anniversary
Mitchell Kaneff (left) with his father, Howard, at Arkay’s anniversary party.
On September 19, representatives from prominent beauty companies helped to celebrate the 85th anniversary of family-owned carton supplier Arkay Packaging Corp. (Hauppauge, NY). Held in New York City, the party also feted the retirement of Arkay’s chairman emeritus, Howard Kaneff.
Mitchell Kaneff, Arkay’s current chairman, presented Howard, his father, with an award designed to look like an old-fashioned printing press. In his speech, Mitchell listed his father’s contributions to the carton industry. Among Howard’s achievements, Mitchell said, were inventing the first multiple hot-foil stamping machine and bringing CAD/CAM technology to the United States—making Arkay one of the first carton companies to offer computer-driven design. Finally, Howard pioneered UV printing for the packaging industry in the late 1980s.
“My father’s beliefs in state-of-the-art equipment, research and development, and training of personnel have paved the way for what Arkay is today,” said Mitchell.
Guests included packaging professionals from Chanel, Elizabeth Arden, and The Estée Lauder Companies. Leonard Lauder, chairman of Estée Lauder, sent a video message congratulating Howard.
At the event, Arkay also displayed blueprints for the expansion of its Roanoke, VA, facility. “We’re currently leasing another warehouse,” said Mitchell. “Condensing all of our operations in one location will improve efficiency and make us more competitive for our customers.” The project will break ground at the beginning of 2008.
Xela Pack Marks 20 Years
The Gentile family, from left to right: Anthony Gentile, director of art
and marketing; Christina Gentile, director of operations; Alex Gentile,
president; Cathy Gentile, owner; and Carolynn Gentile O’Connor,
director of sales. Sample packaging supplier Xela Pack (Saline, MI) celebrated its 20th anniversary at the HBA Global Expo trade show. At the end of the show’s first day, September 18, the Gentile family, which owns Xela Pack, shared birthday cake at its booth with suppliers, clients, and friends.
“The HBA show was the perfect venue to celebrate our 20th anniversary,” said Anthony Gentile, Xela Pack’s director of art and marketing. “This year’s HBA show focused heavily on sustainable packaging and products, which complemented our company’s milestone quite nicely. We have many great clients and colleagues that visit or exhibit at HBA, so we were able to include more friends in this celebration than we could have done elsewhere.”
Rexam Honors Innovation Deli for Foam Formula
Jeroen Koolhaas (left), foam product manager, Rexam Airspray B.V.; and
Tim Staniland, managing director, Innovation Deli. At HBA Global Expo, personal care product formulator Innovation Deli Ltd. (Stourbridge, UK) was announced as the winner of Rexam Dispensing Systems’ third annual Formulation Challenge. The competition encourages product developers to invent formulations to suit Rexam Dispensing Systems’ (Alkmaar, The Netherlands) foam dispensers.
This year, the challenge was to develop a body wash product for Rexam’s EZi Foamer, a foam dispenser that works when users squeeze the dispenser’s bottle.
Innovation Deli received an award of 10,000 euros, as well as a paid trip to Holland.
CPC Packaging Sponsors ICMAD Awards for Young Designers
From left to right: ICMAD’s Young Designers award winners: Elizabeth Zelinski, Junghoon Park, and Johanna Tysk. Three design students were awarded for their winning package designs for the Independent Cosmetic Manufacturers & Distributors (ICMAD; Palatine, IL) association’s 2007 Young Designers Competition, sponsored in part by CPC Packaging magazine. The competition asked students from various colleges to decorate stock tottles provided by supplier Weber International Packaging (Plattsburgh, NY). The first-, second-, and third-place winners were Elizabeth Zelinski, Junghoon Park, and Johanna Tysk, respectively.
The awards dinner was held September 19 in New York City. Jean Hoehn Zimmerman, former executive vice president of Chanel, presented the awards. “Keep doing whatever you’re doing until you get it right,” she advised the students. “Innovative packaging is always important. Develop a work ethic as part of a team. Global regulations created a real challenge for packaging. It is not that easy these days.”
Laurice Rahmé (in a purple blouse) signs autographs at her Saks Fifth Avenue
fragrance debut. On September 15, more than 200 people lined up at Saks Fifth Avenue’s New York City flagship store to meet Laurice Rahmé, president of Bond No. 9 New York. Rahmé was debuting Bond No. 9’s newest fragrance, Saks Fifth Avenue for Her and Saks Fifth Avenue for Him.
Created by Bond No. 9 in partnership with Saks, the fragrance’s bottle was decorated with Saks Fifth Avenue’s recently redesigned logo. (For more information on this bottle, please read the “Hip Styles” story in CPC Packaging’s October 2007 issue.)
Risdon International (Watertown, CT) has introduced a new management team for its newly expanded operations in China. The supplier recently completed two major acquisitions in China: the former Decorpart Asia metal-forming and metal-finishing plant in Suzhou, and the Inmagine Plastics facility in Taicang City.
Faqueer Ahmad will head the Risdon Asia management team as executive vice president and managing director. Ahmad previously served as Risdon’s executive vice president, international, and was based in Watertown. He will relocate to China to oversee Risdon’s operations there.
Jackie Khong, recently director of operations at Intercos, has been appointed director of operations at Risdon Asia’s metal-forming and metal-finishing facility. Philip Teu, formerly of ATP Health & Beauty Care, has been named director of operations at Risdon Asia’s plastics plant. Finally, Linda Cooper, also formerly of ATP Health & Beauty Care, is now the liaison between Risdon’s U.S. and Asia manufacturing facilities.
Robert Brands Robert Brands has been appointed managing director of the personal care division of Rexam, which includes the company’s dispensing systems, makeup, home, and personal care divisions.
Most recently, Brands was managing director of Rexam’s dispensing systems division. He was also CEO of Airspray International, the dispensing firm that was acquired by Rexam in 2006.
“Robert has successfully led the dispensing systems division since his appointment last year, and his proven track record as CEO of Airspray provides him with the right background as he now takes on this new challenge to further internationalize the business,” said Graham Chipchase, group director of Rexam’s plastic packaging division. In addition to the personal care division, Rexam Plastic Packaging includes two other divisions: healthcare and closures.
Antoine Bruno Alliora (New York City), a supplier of folding cartons and setup boxes, and a subsidiary of Ileos Group, has named Antoine Bruno its director of sales. Bruno reports to Thierry Lucereau, Alliora’s CEO.
Before joining Alliora, Bruno served as sales and marketing director for Rexam’s dispensing systems and cosmetic closures divisions. He also spent six years with glass supplier Bormioli Rocco.
Claudie Guilbaud In other Ileos news, Claudie Guilbaud has been appointed manager of corporate quality, occupational hygiene, safety, and environment for Ileos subsidiary firm Socoplan. Guilbaud began her career as a chemist and worked for the occupational hygiene and safety departments of various cosmetic and pharmaceutical companies.
Michael Stromberg Crabtree & Evelyn has appointed Michael Stromberg CEO. Prior to joining Crabtree & Evelyn, Stromberg served, among other positions, as executive vice president for Bath & Body Works and as executive vice president and general manager for Bath & Body Works’ White Barn Candle division. He also worked at Jergens/Kao Brands.
Rosanna D’Oleo In an effort to stay in closer contact with its customers and its packaging decision makers, carton manufacturer Curtis Packaging (Sandy Hook, CT) has added Rosanna D’Oleo to its marketing team. D’Oleo reports directly to Donald R. Droppo Jr., senior vice president of marketing.
Avon Products announced several management changes. Elizabeth Smith has been appointed president of Avon Products Inc. Previously, Smith served as executive vice president and president of North America and global marketing. Smith now also oversees global supply chain and global information technology.
“Liz has played a key leadership role in Avon’s turnaround since joining the company three years ago,” said Andrea Jung, Avon’s chairman and CEO. “Aligning our product-to-product market functions under a leader of Liz’s caliber will help us to accelerate the global integration of our key business processes and technology. This will be an important enabler for two of the company’s most critical turnaround initiatives, product line simplification and strategic sourcing, which together are projected to deliver total annual benefits of more than $400 million.”
Two other appointments were also announced. Charles Cramb is now vice chairman, chief finance and strategy officer. He will lead Avon in restructuring and cost containment initiatives as part of Avon’s turnaround plan. Formerly president of Avon U.K., Andrea Slater has been named president of Avon U.S.
Packaging supplier and contract manufacturer SeaCliff Beauty Packaging & Laboratories (Irvine, CA) has hired Bobbie Hanrahan as project manager for the company’s product development and turnkey programs.
Tom Yetter 
Kim Mueller Contract manufacturer Tapemark (West St. Paul, MN) has made several adjustments to its senior leadership team. Tom Yetter will serve as vice president of research and development, while Kim Mueller will assume new responsibilities as vice president of sales and marketing. Both will report to Andy Rensink, Tapemark’s president and COO.
Christian Voegeli Supplier Global Closure Systems (GCS; Paris) has promoted Christian Voegeli to CEO. Previously, Voegeli served as GCS’s president of specialty closures for Europe and the Americas.