When independent converters gather in the same room, the camaraderie, learning opportunities and sparks of inspiration and ideas have no limits. That’s why some of the brightest minds in the industry decided to make that kind of experience official with the launch of Roundtable CEO Group in 1999.
Joseph R. Palmeri of Jamestown Container, who was one of the original members, said that they were all on the same page. They wanted to benchmark against each other to improve their processes. This was an advantage the integrated companies had the ability to do with their many plant locations. Now the independents could lean on each other for support and gain answers to any questions or problems they were having. “We discussed future equipment purchases and who in the group may have had any experience with a piece of equipment that was being considered for purchase. Being in a small group you can get into much more details,” Palmeri said.
In addition to Palmeri, the first group included Jay Wertheimer of Wertheimer Box; Brian Buckley of Brian Thomas Industries; Tom Skinner of Phoenix Packaging; Roy Allen of Buckeye Containers; Mike Sime of Creative Carton; Tim Alter of Illinois Valley Container; Brad McCroskey of Triple A Container; and CPA Mitch Klingher of Klingher Nadler, who facilitated the group with his late partner, Mort Akerman of M.S. Ackerman & Co.
The inaugural meeting took place at the Plaza Hotel in New York City with industry giant Dennis Mehiel, the former CEO and principal shareholder of Box USA, as the guest speaker. Palmeri said that it helped that the facilitators were CPAs so they could better understand the numbers.
“This group ushered in an era of CEO group formation that is continuing to this day, and while the members changed over time due to deaths, retirements and company acquisitions, it is still a vibrant entity that gives its members a powerful tool for collaboration amongst a group of talented converters who do not compete with one another,” Klingher said.
Fast forward 25 years and Klingher still facilitates the group, and though the mission has not changed over the years, the membership has. The Roundtable CEO Group celebrated their silver anniversary milestone in style in the Big Apple in July. The event included dinner and dancing at Swing 46 on New York’s famous Restaurant Row, “Hell’s Kitchen,” a Broadway show, dinner at Wolfgang’s Steakhouse, a tour of President Container in Middletown, New York, and a meeting at the Sofitel Hotel.
“It is an excellent collection of successful operators and terrific people, and I am proud to have been able to keep it operating and thriving 25 years later,” Klingher said.
Today’s nine-member group, which includes four second-generation members, includes: Larry Grossbard of President Container Group; Justin Mooter of Viking Paper; Joe M. Palmeri of Jamestown Container; Jenise Harris Cox of Harris Packaging; Jay Alter of Illinois Valley Container; Bob Landaal of Landaal Packaging; Tony Schleich of Lawrence Paper; Andrew Akers of Akers Packaging; and Sahar Mehrabzadeh of Bay Cities.
There have been several independent converter CEO groups over the years. Klingher said that eight are still in operation and that he facilitates four of them. The Roundtable CEO group generally meets twice a year. Joseph M. Palmeri said that he started attending in place of his father two years ago.
“The value is the benchmarking, the information sharing, the industry knowledge sharing, and, most importantly, the friendships,” he said. “The same reasons why the group started 25 years ago.”
