Wightwick announced earlier this year that he planned to retire upon completion of the Buhrmann acquisition, which took place last month.

David Meiklejohn, PaperlinX chairman, says, “We are very pleased to appoint a person of Tom Park’s calibre to this position. Tom’s appointment follows an extensive selection process, which involved consideration of candidates both in Australia and overseas. With the substantial global profile of PaperlinX we were looking for an experienced executive with both Australasian and International experience and Tom fits these requirements”.

Tom Park was born and educated in the United States. After graduating from The Harvard Business School in 1974, Tom worked in the US in a number of roles. He transferred to Australia in 1981 and worked with General Foods and Kraft Foods until February 2000. He has also been actively involved with relevant business associations and committees and with the Business Council of Australia.

Meiklejohn says, “Tom’s extensive experience, both as a senior executive with international responsibilities and as a CEO in Australia was a major factor in our selecting him to replace Ian Wightwick. Ian has done an outstanding job in establishing and expanding PaperlinX over the past three and a half years.

“The Board is looking forward to working with Tom Park in his new role. There are a number of immediate business issues to address but Tom and his management team have the experience and expertise to deal with these and to successfully build on the PaperlinX strategy of recent years.”

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