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Local Impact, Global
Perspective
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By Pam Droog
Patrick J. Moore
President and Chief Executive Officer
Smurfit-Stone Container Corp.
Patrick Moore, president and chief executive officer of Smurfit-Stone
Container Corp., says he always was intrigued with money and finance.
He attributes that interest to growing up in a blue-collar neighborhood
on the south side of Chicago.
“Everyone lived in a little two- or three-bedroom, post-war bungalow,
with tons of kids,” he recalls. “So I guess since I grew up not
having a heck of a lot, I always dreamed about having more.”
To pursue that dream, Moore earned a degree in business administration
from DePaul University while he worked at Continental Bank in Chicago.
The bank offered tuition reimbursement, which allowed Moore to take
some graduate level accounting and finance classes and earn the
equivalent of an M.B.A.
Moore remained at the bank until 1987, when one of its customers,
the former Jefferson Smurfit Corp., asked him to move to St. Louis
and join the company. It was, and still is, the second place Moore
has ever worked.
“At that point I was not really looking to change careers,” Moore
says. “But Smurfit was a very interesting company. It has always
been very growth-oriented, entrepreneurial in nature, and it rewards
people who perform well.”
That’s obvious, looking at Moore’s Smurfit career, which began with
the position of assistant treasurer. Within three years he moved
up to treasurer, then vice president and treasurer. In 1994, he
was named vice president and general manager of the company’s Industrial
Packaging division. Two years later, Moore became vice president
and chief financial officer. This past January, he was named to
his present position.
During 15 years in packaging, Moore has seen a lot of changes, but
none so dramatic as the recent trend toward consolidation. As the
world’s largest integrated producer of paperboard and paper-based
packaging products, Smurfit-Stone has led that movement. The company
itself is the result of the 1998 merger between Jefferson Smurfit
Corp. and Stone Container Corp. of Chicago. The new Smurfit-Stone
acquired a large Canadian producer, St. Laurent, 18 months later.
“Part of the rationale for the merger was to begin to facilitate
the change in the industry,” Moore explains. “Smurfit-Stone has
been the catalyst and remains at the forefront of that change.”
Historically, there have been too many packaging producers with
very small market shares. Consolidation will lead to fewer producers
with larger market share, “and that gives us a competitive edge,”
Moore says.
Specifically, the market has evolved from mom-and-pop stores into
large retailers like Wal-Mart and Costco.
“Those retailers are very demanding from a packaging standpoint,”
Moore says. “The package has to perform a number of roles, such
as transport the product from production to retail, then sell the
product, so we see a lot of high graphic impact to attract consumers.”
The company competes with producers of plastic and other non-paper
packaging, so innovation is encouraged. Smurfit-Stone also emphasizes
customer satisfaction and environmental stewardship. But the primary
focus is employee safety. In fact, the company was named the safest
in the industry in 2001.
“We are exceptionally proud of that recognition within the industry,
but we won’t rest until we’re the safest company in all of industry,”
Moore says. “That’s an objective we hope to achieve down the road,
because our people are our greatest asset.”
Those people number nearly 40,000 in more than 300 facilities worldwide.
Moore communicates with them through meetings, conference calls,
employee newsletters, trips to the field and videotapes.
Besides communicating with employees, Moore devotes a lot of time
to developing and maintaining relationships with Smurfit-Stone customers.
“We do a lot of business with very recognizable consumer products
companies,” Moore says. “One of my roles is to make sure the resources
we allocate to those customers are sufficient and appropriate.”
Moore also provides leadership and strategic direction, as well
as “people development.” He explains, “That’s very important to
me. I spend a lot of time making sure we have the right people in
place for succession planning, training and development.”
The typical day for Moore starts with a 5:30 a.m. workout, and if
he’s in St. Louis, ends with dinner at home at 7 p.m. In between,
he could be working in the company’s Chicago office, visiting a
plant in Europe, meeting with customers or investors, on the phone
or giving a speech.
Moore divides his time between Chicago and St. Louis, and as a result,
he’s developed some specific opinions about what he’d like to see
happen in the region. First, he says, “The split between City and
County government is an incredible distraction to getting things
done.” Second, he’d like to see continued investment in the infrastructure,
particularly the airport. And third, he believes it’s important
to invest in downtown, especially in housing and services that would
attract young people to live there.
When he’s not contemplating regional challenges or the complexities
of packaging, Moore likes to play golf and tennis, read novels and,
most recently, World War II histories. He and his wife Beth enjoy
traveling with their three children.
Moore anticipates further exciting challenges in his new role as
president and CEO. For Smurfit-Stone, he foresees continuing growth
for the company which had $8.3 billion in sales last year, ranking
it 231 on the Fortune 500 and 340 on the Forbes 500 lists.
“Ask me again next year, and I’m sure we’ll be even higher!” he
says.
Pam Droog is a frequent contributor to
St. Louis Commerce Magazine. |
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