Restrepo Appointed Independent Director of Smurfit Kappa Board

 

Smurfit Kappa, Ireland, has appointed Gonzalo Restrepo to its board of directors as an independent, non-executive director. The appointment is effective immediately. Thomas Brodin also has been appointed as the group’s senior independent director.

In addition, Gary McGann has accepted the invitation of the board to continue as a non-executive director following his retirement from his role as Group CEO at the end of August 2015.

Restrepo is the former CEO of Almacenes Exito SA, a leading retail company in Latin America and a subsidiary of the French company, Casino Group. Almacenes Exito has stores in Colombia and Uruguay with more than 36,000 employees. Gonzalo served as the CEO of Almacenes Exito from 1990 until he retired from this position in 2013. During his tenure as CEO, Almacenes Exito grew from a four store company in Colombia in 1990 to close to 500 stores today. Gonzalo is currently chairman of Compania Colombiana de Petroleos SA and a non-executive director of Cardif Colombia Seguros Generales SA. He graduated from Syracuse University, USA, with a BS-management in 1973 and was awarded an MBA in marketing in 1976 from the University of Georgia, USA.

Smurfit Kappa Group chairman, Liam O'Mahony, noted that "Gonzalo has significant experience in the Latin America region generally and the retail industry specifically. The retail market represents the end market for many of our customers and we are delighted to bring an independent director with his depth of experience to the board. We believe he will make a valuable contribution to the continuing growth and development of Smurfit Kappa in the Americas."