In March of this year, Altamont Capital Partners announced its investment in Key Container Corporation, a corrugated box manufacturer in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
The move was made to support Key’s continued growth and expansion. Altamont’s investment, combined with its knowledge across industrials and packaging, was predicated on helping Key Container’s management team build a scaled corrugated platform.
Founded in 1959 by Jack Sundel and his son-in-law Richard Strauss, Key Container is now led by David Strauss, Richard’s son. It provides specialty and custom corrugated packaging products and services to customers across the Northeast.
After founding and running a successful box plant for many years, Jack Sundel, right, partnered with his son-in-law, Richard Strauss, to create Key Container in 1959.
In addition, David’s son, Matthew, serves as Sales Manager and offers customers a fourth generation of family leadership. Backed by Altamont’s resources and sector expertise, David will continue to lead Key Container as President to expand its regional presence. Throughout its lengthy history, Key Container has been on the buying end of several valuable acquisitions, as well.
Growing The Business
In 1994, the company established Custom Corrugated in Lincoln, Rhode Island, to focus on its customers’ orders involving small quantity size and intensive hand labor.
In 2002, Key acquired Mount Tom Box, located in West Springfield, Massachusetts, to more effectively service its clients located in the Western region of the state.
In 2019, Custom, which merged with the Miller Box in 2008, moved to its current 300,000-square-foot facility in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. This larger facility enabled Key to store additional stock and automate various job functions through modern technologies.
Just last year, Custom acquired Grimes Box, which expanded its packaging supply options and improved its Just-In-Time Warehouse and Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) programs. The company named was subsequently renamed to Custom & Grimes Box.
“We are excited to partner with Altamont as we continue to support our customers with their packaging needs,” said David Strauss, President of Key Container. “Altamont’s proven growth playbooks and experts within their network will strengthen existing operations, enable new customer relationships and future expansion, and support our goal of providing our customers with the whole package.”
“Over the past six decades, Key Container has established itself as a regional manufacturing leader,” said Billy Medof, Operating Partner at Altamont. “Ever-changing customer needs require that packaging suppliers stay nimble, capable, reliable, and customer-first. We believe Key Container, with its top-notch facilities, operations, and customer service, is well-positioned in today’s evolving market, and we’re excited to work in lockstep with David and the team to support the company’s transformation and growth.”
“As a family-run company with stellar fundamentals operating in an industry with stable and attractive long-term growth, Key Container is precisely the kind of opportunity that we see as having terrific potential to scale,” said Chase Beeler, Managing Director at Altamont. “We’re confident that our industry experience and Altamont Ascend, our system for strategic platform building, will build on Key Container’s strengths to unlock the company’s full potential.”
Giving Back
The beating heart of altruism pumps throughout Key Container and everything it does. It’s built around a strong foundation that the good measure of success is how much a company gives back to its community.
The company is proud to support a variety of local charities and businesses, including the Boys & Girls Club of Pawtucket, which serves more than 40,000 hot meals to schools each year. Many of these youths may not have a hot meal otherwise. Key Container also supports Homers for Kids, a summer-long program that unites local businesses in support of the Club’s Educational and Recreational Programs.
The company also supports the American Heart Association, several local food banks and participates in holiday toy drives.
Advisory Board Formed
In response to the recent acquisition, Key Container Corporation has formed an advisory board that brings together four packaging industry experts to provide strategic guidance that will help the company better meet evolving customer needs while supporting its next phase of growth
Through its partnership with Altamont, Key Container looks to accelerate its growth strategy, working alongside the firm’s operational and investment professionals to build a scaled corrugated packaging platform focused on serving customers through strategic expansion and operational excellence.
The board includes:
Dave Boles, former President and Vice Chairman of Atlantic Packaging Products, where he managed the company’s successful expansion into the U.S. market and drove sustained, meaningful growth. His experience spans commercial strategy, operations and business transformation within the global packaging industry including serving as former North America COO of Quebecor World and President and CEO of Arriscraft International.
Matt Kaplan, former President and CEO of KapStone Paper & Packaging, which he co-founded with Roger Stone. Under his leadership, KapStone grew into a leading North American producer of containerboard, corrugated products and specialty papers, evolving into a large publicly traded packaging platform before its approximately $4.9 billion acquisition by WestRock. He brings extensive experience in packaging industry consolidation and strategic acquisitions.
Jose Maria Rodriguez Meis, President and COO of GPA Global. Previously, he held multiple senior leadership roles at International Paper, overseeing packaging businesses ranging from approximately $5 million to $2.7 billion in revenue, including serving as General Manager of Latin America Packaging and Area Vice President & General Manager of the U.S. Packaging Platform.
Mark Wilde, one of the packaging and paper industry’s longest tenured Wall Street analysts, with more than 30 years covering paper, packaging and forest products. He is currently Senior Advisor at McKinsey & Company and previously served on the Board of Directors of Sylvamo as well as Managing Director at BMO and Deutsche Bank.
“As Key Container continues to grow, we’re committed to building a business that delivers exceptional value for our customers and partners,” said Billy Medof, Executive Chairman of Key Container. “The collective experience of our four advisory board members will be invaluable as we continue expanding our platform, identifying new opportunities and strengthening our position in the corrugated packaging market.”
Members of the Advisory Board will work alongside the Key Container Board of Directors, which includes industry veterans Mark Burgess and Tonya Kowa-Morelli.
Burgess is CEO of Mauser Packaging solutions and a global packaging executive with a proven track record of scaling and exiting leading packaging platforms.
Kowa-Morelli was previously President and COO of Huston Patterson/Lewisburg Printing and is an experienced family-owned packaging operator with expertise in integration, operations and organizational development. She has very recently been named Vice President of AICC, The Independent Packaging Association.
Kowa-Morelli has spent most of her career with Huston Patterson, where she served as a third-generation owner and ultimately as President. Following the company’s sale to Private Equity in 2022, she helped lead the growth and integration of the organization into Lewisburg Patterson Company (LPC), serving as Chief Operating Officer of the combined organization as a member of its Executive Leadership Team. Kowa-Morelli has been an active AICC member throughout her career, serving as a member, speaker, and advocate for the next generation of industry leadership.
The Advisory Board will work closely with Key Container’s leadership team and Altamont to provide strategic guidance as the company continues building its corrugated packaging platform. Members will support value creation by facilitating introductions to new business opportunities, customers, suppliers and industry talent, while sharing competitive and operational insights to inform key business decisions.
