Harry Spiegelberg

Harry Spiegelberg’s journey from a farm in New London to
a renowned figure in the paper industry is a testament to his
dedication and expertise. Excelling academically from a young age, he was valedictorian of his high school class
and participated in forensics. He pursued a degree in
Chemical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, graduating in 1959. During his time at UW-Madison, Harry joined ROTC and continued his service in the reserves
eventually reaching the rank of Captain.

Upon graduation, Harry joined Kimberly-Clark where his
career flourished. He continued his education, earning a master’s degree in chemistry from Lawrence University, followed by a Ph.D. in Physics from the Institute of Paper Chemistry. In 1980, he further expanded his expertise with an MBA from the University of Chicago.

At Kimberly-Clark, Harry’s career trajectory was impressive. Starting as an Engineer, he swiftly advanced through various roles, including Research Chemist, Superintendent of New Product Concepts, Director of R&D, Director of Feminine Care R&D, Director of Household Products R&D, Director of Tissue Products R&D, Vice President of Consumer Tissue Research and finally, Vice President of Technology and Patent Strategy.

Harry’s passion for innovation and problem-solving was evident throughout his career. His Ph.D. thesis, “The Effect of Hemicelluloses on the Properties of Individual Pulp Fibers,” underscored his deep understanding of the paper industry. He was a prolific inventor, credited with numerous U.S. and international patents. Notably, he co-invented a method to enhance the internal bulk, absorbency, softness, and strength of tissue products. Another significant invention was an antiviral tissue designed to inactivate viruses causing the common cold. Although developed in the mid-1980s, regulatory challenges delayed its commercialization until the 1990s.

Beyond his technical contributions, Harry co-founded the Paper Industry International Hall of Fame. Kimberly-Clark’s Atlas paper mill became home to the Hall of Fame and the Paper Discovery Center, now known as Atlas Science Center. Harry served in various leadership roles for the Hall of Fame, including Vice-Chairman, Chairman and CEO.

Harry’s community involvement extended beyond his professional achievements. He was an active member of his church and Rotary, served on the Institutional Review Board of Theda Clark Health System and was a steadfast supporter of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His multifaceted contributions to both the industry and his community highlight a legacy of innovation, leadership
and service.

Harold Miller

Harold Miller’s distinguished career in the paper industry began shortly after he graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1951 as a process engineer. In 1952, he joined Marathon Corp. in Menasha as a Junior Engineer and later moved to American Can Corporation.

In 1966, at the age of 38, Harold and four partners founded Marathon Engineers/Architects/Planners, Inc., a consulting and design firm dedicated to the pulp and paper industry. The firm quickly grew, establishing offices in Menasha, Milwaukee, Little Rock, AR and Augusta, GA. As one of the original founders and Vice Presidents, Harold earned a reputation as the instrumentation guru of the company.

By 1981, Harold had ascended to the roles of Chief Executive Officer and Chairman and in 1986 he added the title of President. Under his leadership, Marathon Engineers thrived and in 1989 the firm was recognized as one of the top 50 Engineering/Architectural firms in the United States and the largest in Wisconsin specializing in the pulp and paper industry.

Harold led the sale of the company to Jaakko Poyry in 1990 and it continues today as Poyry Appleton. Throughout his tenure, he made significant contributions to customer paper manufacturing needs, enhancing efficiencies, increasing production and improving quality, thereby ensuring that their clients maintained a competitive edge. Marathon’s impact was extensive, participating in over 5,500 projects globally and earning numerous awards.

Beyond his professional achievements, Harold was an influential figure in the Fox Cities community. He served on the Board of Directors for several local firms, including MEI Services and Electromeasure Co., which evolved into Plexus. His community involvement was extensive, serving as the Menasha Police Commissioner for ten years and supporting various local organizations through volunteer leadership and substantial anonymous donations.

After retiring, Harold continued to contribute significantly to his community. He was particularly proud of his roles with two Fox Cities institutions: the Atlas Science Center, formerly the Paper Discovery Center in Appleton, where he served as Director and the Heckrodt Wetland Preserve in Menasha, where he was Chairman. Harold’s legacy is marked by his professional accomplishments and his dedicated community service.

Christian Schiel

Christian Schiel was born on May 11, 1932 in Busteni, Romania. He came from a family of papermakers. His grandfather manufactured the first paper produced in Romania in 1882 (Fabrica de Hartie Busteni, C. & S. Schiel). His father was the technical director of the company. He spent the first 12 years of his life in Busteni, surrounded by the Carpathian Mountains, where he developed a passion for mountaineering. In 1944, his family left Romania as refugees from the advancing Russian army. During the chaotic
post-war years in Germany, young Christian Schiel built his own career serving a three-year apprenticeship as a millwright, and ultimately earning a degree in mechanical engineering at the Oskar von Miller Polytechnikum in Munich in 1954.

He joined J.M. Voith G.m.b.H. in Heidenheim as a Design and Planning Engineer. Within two and a half years, he was entrusted with the full development of a fiber board mill for a South American customer. To complete his training with some international experience, he spent 5 years in North America: at The Powell River Company (BC/Canada) and Mead Corporation in Chillicothe, Ohio, where he had the good fortune to work with Peter Wrist (Hall of Fame 1998) on the development of the Fabric Press.

In 1962 he returned to Heidenheim, where he was employed for most of his career, until his retirement in 1997, as the Chief Development Engineer with a mandate for continual innovation to ensure the company’s leadership in papermaking technology. Christian Schiel and his team were exceptionally creative and productive, developing technologies that led to dramatic increases in paper machine productivity and improvements in paper quality. Their developments include a series of forming devices based on the roll-forming concepts for the manufacture of a broad range of paper grades, the technology to manufacture fabric sleeves creating a vastly simplified method of introducing fabrics into press nips, and most notably the development of the fully-enclosed flexible-nip presses, as well as the technologies for the manufacture of their flexible roll sleeves that have fundamentally changed the design of all paper machine press sections to this day. His work is documented in more than 40 publications, 149 US patents and a commensurate number of patents in other jurisdictions and is still applied in most modern paper machines around the world.

In 1994, Christian Schiel was awarded The Walter Brecht Medal by ZELLCHEMING for outstanding achievements in the pulp and paper industry.

In 1997 Christian Schiel retired in Murnau, Germany where he and his wife Regine, often accompanied by their children and grandchildren, enjoyed long walks and outings on skis in the nearby Bavarian Alps. His life-long passion for mountaineering was established during his childhood in Busteni. One noteworthy accomplishment that was not directly related to papermaking that Christian was particularly proud of was the successful climb on August 15, 1958, to the summit of Mount Waddington, considered the most challenging climb in the Canadian Coast Mountains.

Christian Schiel died in Murnau on September 30, 2021.

Richard Reese

 Dick Reese is currently the President of Dick Reese and Associates, Inc. in Georgia. Prior to forming his own company, he worked for a number of paper and paper related companies including Hammermill, Huyck, Pöyry-BEK, Sirrine and Georgia-Pacific. He has been a prolific author of technical papers appearing in technical journals and trade publications. In addition, he has presented numerous presentations at technical conferences. His major area of activity has been in the development of paper machine performance guidelines and paper machine performance analysis and reporting techniques that were used to identify paper machine strengths and limitations. 

Dick has been very active in TAPPI and has been recognized with the 1997 Paper and Board Manufacture Technical Award, 1999 Engineering Division Technical Award and the 2011 Gunnar Nicholson Gold Medal. 

Kari Alpo Erik Jordan

Kari Jordan is the former President and CEO of Metsä Group. Prior to assuming this position, he had been involved in the banking industry in Finland. Under his leadership,  Metsä was restructured and transformed from a heavily indebted company into a profitable enterprise. During this restructuring, approximately 60 major actions were undertaken. This included 30 major divestments, as well as a number of dissolution of joint ventures and number of strategic acquisitions. He also influenced the Finnish paper industry, as well as changing the nature of Metsä. His business acumen was sought after by many outside of the Metsä Group and he has served on a large number of corporate institutional boards. Mr. Jordan holds a masters in Science and Economics. He retired from Metsä in 2018.

Henry J. Rogers, John S. Van Nortwick & William M. Van Nortwick - Hearthstone Joint Induction

Henry Rogers and the Van Nortwicks were a major factor in the development of the Fox Valley as the center of papermaking in the upper midwest. The Van Nortwick family had an established role in papermaking. John M. Van Nortwick (father of William M. and John S. Van Nortwick) had founded the Batavia Paper Company in Illinois. For a time it was the largest producer of paper in the west. The newsprint it produced supplied the Chicago Tribune. 

Sons William and John, along with Henry Rogers, recognized the potential of the vast forests of Wisconsin coupled with the power potential of the Fox Valley to found the Ames Wood Pulp Mill (later renamed the Appleton Paper and Pulp Company). Following the initial success of this venture, the partners began an expansion that ultimately provided a papermaking operation in the Fox Valley, second only to Kimberly-Clark Corporation. Early on they recognized the value of the Fox River for providing power to the industry and brought up controlling rights to much of the river. Initially, power to the mills was provided by water wheels directly driving mill equipment, but it because apparent that the rive could not power all the paper operations on the river. The partners then invested in electrifying their operations, which ultimately led to other mills electrifying their operations.

From 1870-1890, a time when the paper industry along the Fox River was founded and flourished, men like the Van Nortwicks and Henry Rogers helped chart the course of the industry. By the end of the period, the combined pulp and paper concerns owned and operated by the Van Nortwicks and Rogers were surpassed only by the holdings of Kimberly-Clark in terms of the number of plants. The Van Nortwicks and Rogers were surpassed by on one in terms of their contributions to the paper industry based upon their ownership of leading paper companies of their day, control of the water power of the Fox, the founding of the village of Combined Locks, Wisconsin and their vision for the future in terms of the use electricity.

David Appel

David Appel was born in Washington, D.C. He obtained degrees from Leheigh University and the University of Iowa. At Iowa, he received both M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Fluid Mechanics. He later taught and did research at the University of Iowa and later at the University of Kansas. He then joined Kimberly-Clark Corporation and applied his fluid mechanics expertise to develop new methods for making tissue. He was primarily responsible for designing and developing the crescent former type of tissue machine, which has become a standard in the industry. In recognition of his contributions, Darwin Smith, CEO of Kimberly-Clark, created the Ernst Mahler award given to recognize outstanding technical achievement. At least 14 U.S. patents list him as inventor or co-inventor. These describe not only the tissue machine, but also equipment to manufacture air-laid and nonwoven materials.

Gordon Nicholls

Gordon A. Nicholls was born in Auckland, New Zealand in 1926, to Leonard and Wilhelmina Nicholls. While at a country primary school in Pukekawa, he received a boarding school scholarship to King’s College, Auckland, beginning in 1939. He entered Auckland University College at age 16 in 1943 and completed his BSc in 1945, MSc (Honours) in 1946, PhD in Organic Chemistry in 1948. He was subsequently awarded a DSc degree in 1985 on the basis of published research.

Dr. Nicholls held a US Public Health Service, National Cancer Institute post-doctoral fellowship at The University of Rochester in 1950-52. There he met his future wife Mary, and they married in Brattleboro, Vermont in 1952 before moving to London, UK where Gordon held a chemistry research position at the National Institute for Medical Research at Mill Hill. He returned to New Zealand in 1955 to work at NZ Forest Products Ltd (NZFP), as Chief Research Chemist. Along the way, he was seconded to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Division of Forest Products in Melbourne, Australia for nine months. In 1960 Dr Nicholls was a visiting research worker at the University of California, Forest Products Laboratory in Richmond, and developed significant contacts with the US pulp and paper industry.

In 1966, Dr Nicholls joined the Institute of Paper Chemistry in Appleton, soon becoming Professor of Pulp and Paper Technology and Senior Research Associate. During 1966-76 he led significant research in oxidative pulping and bleaching, taking in account earlier research into dry process hardboard manufacture at NZFP. His course on Pulping and Bleaching Processes developed from a minor elective to the “must do” course at the Institute. 

During 1976, Dr Nicholls returned to Auckland, NZ and worked as a consultant for the next decade. He has been an enthusiastic hiker and fisherman as well as an inspiration to his grandchildren, encouraging them through travel to understand their international heritage. Gordon and Mary live in Auckland, New Zealand, and have three daughters, five grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

Roberto Berardi

Roberto Berardi was born on June 23, 1947, in Brescia, Italy.

After earning a Master’s Degree Cum Laude in Electrotechnical Engineering from Politecnico di Torino, Roberto started his career in the Marketing Department of Scott Paper Company. His first position was Assistant Product Manager, during which he developed the launch of ‘Scottex Casa’, the first advertised paper towel in Italy.

 In 1977, he became the youngest Executive of Scott Paper Italy as Marketing Manager, head of all the tissue categories. He literally rebuilt the marketing department mostly with talented women. Successfully performing relevant roles among which include Logistic Director, Commercial Director, Consumer Division Director; lastly, Managing Director for critical markets like Iberia and Italy. 

Since Kimberly Clark-Scott merged, his continuous strive and focus led him to be appointed President for the European Family Care Sector. In four years, Kimberly Clark European business expanded with unprecedented growth market share, profits, reaching outstanding results, including the U.K. marketplace. 

In 2005, after 32 successful years in the industry, Roberto decided to retire becoming Vice-Chairman of the European Tissue Symposium and by teaching Marketing Principles as Affiliate Professor at the prestigious ESCP Europe Business School and at the SAA Management School. 

In 2007, he was then nominated Chairman of the European Tissue Symposium.

Hitherto the activities of the ETS were mostly dedicated to technical and regulatory issues; however, under his leadership, ETS expanded its focus on brand new initiatives aimed at promoting tissue categories for the overall benefit of the industry thus improving health and hygiene for European and Worldwide users. 

He significantly enhanced awareness of all hygiene benefits along with the sustainability of Tissue Products by founding the AFH Task Force, a Scientific Panel providing in-depth Studies and by his participation in International Scientific Conferences and Trade Fairs.  

From concept to completion, Roberto has shaped ETS website comprehensive content in six languages thus increasing access from 4000 to 400,000 visitors per year promoting within the Industry the definition of ‘Position Papers’ on environmental aspects.

Roberto and his lovely wife, Ersilia, have two daughters, Lucy and Nicoletta and five grandchildren. 

Donald Dick

Donald Dick was born in Edmonton, Alberta, CA on December 18, 1923. He received his B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from the University of Alberta, which led him to a career mostly in the pulp and paper industry for 65 years. 

His early career consisted of positions with H.A. Simons, where he supervised the structural department, followed by the engineering office at MacMillan Bloedel’s Harmac Pulp Mill in Nanaimo, BC and on to Northwestern Pulp & Power in Alberta where he was the Plant Engineer. 

After a few other positions with the Power Corporation of Canada and Stone & Webster Canada, he formed his own consulting firm in Toronto in 1969, along with son Bill, which subsequently became known as Dick Engineering Inc. While the business began to diversify, Don focused on the pulp and paper industry. During this period other engineering firms were consolidating, but Dick Engineering continued to stand on its own by “selecting projects with great care, interest and efficiency”. The company provided state-of-the-art designs to stay ahead of the industry trends.

While at Power Corporation, Don was responsible for the development of Kruger’s Turcot mill located in Montreal, one of the first containerboard mills based entirely on post-consumer recycled paper. Don went on to further this concept with similar mills for Reed Paper (now Cascades), Sonoco and Solvay Paperboard (now Westrock). 

After resisting offers from several larger firms, Don and Bill sold Dick Engineering in 2013. Don retired in 2015.

In March 1951, Don married Jennie, and they raised four children; son, Bill and three daughters, Muriel, Kristina and Rundi. 

Don’s professional affiliations include; Professional Engineers of British Columbia, CPPA and TAPPI. His work took him to various parts of the world, often accompanied by his wife. Don’s travels include: Mexico, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Colombia, Chile, Venezuela, the UK, Italy, Spain, India and China. In addition, Don worked on many projects in Canada and the US. 

Richard Kerekes

Dr. Kerekes is Professor Emeritus from the University of British Columbia. His career in the paper industry spans more than 40 years. Through his research, he has contributed to the development of new technology in the areas of fiber processing and papermaking.
Richard was born on July 9, 1940 in Welland, Ontario to Joseph and Elizabeth Kerekes.
Kerekes received a B.A.Sc. (1963) and a M.A.Sc. (1965) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Toronto. In 1970 he earned a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from McGill University (Montreal).

Shortly after earning his Ph.D., Dr. Kerekes joined PAPRICAN and was based in Pointe Claire, Quebec. In 1978 he moved to British Columbia where he helped to establish PAPRICAN in western Canada and led the creation of the Pulp and Paper Centre at UBC.

Kerekes’ vigorous research program led to breakthroughs in understanding numerous operations in papermaking, including pulp mixing, refining, forming, pulp screening, pressing, and calendering. Among these accomplishments was pioneering work on the hydrodynamics of blade twin-wire formers. Application of his body of research has enabled substantial improvements to both fiber and paper quality.

His fundamental research on fiber suspensions led to the formulation of the Crowding Number, a dimensionless number important in understanding the flocculation tendencies of pulp, as well as the behavior of fibrous networks.

Kerekes is the author or co-author of over 120 technical papers and a Fellow of the following technical associations: The Chemical Institute of Canada, TAPPI, The Canadian Academy of Engineering, the International Academy of Wood Science, and PAPTAC. He has received numerous honors and awards including: the John S. Bates Gold Medal of PAPTAC, the TAPPI R&D Award and W.H. Aiken Prize, the Johannes Van den Akker Prize (in 2007 and 2009), and the TAPPI Gunnar Nicholson Gold Medal.

Richard and his wife Valerie celebrated 40 years of marriage in 2018. They have one son, Joseph.

Luigi Lazzareschi

Luigi Lazzareschi was born on February 13, 1963 in Pescia, Italy, an area with a long tradition of paper production. His father, Giuseppe, partnered with Emi Stefani in 1966 to start a papermaking business. This laid the foundation for what is today known as the Sofidel group, a company that, under the leadership of Luigi Lazzareschi, has grown to be the sixth largest tissue-producer globally.

Mr. Lazzareschi joined Sofidel in 1987 and became Head of Marketing in 1988. In his more than 30 years with Sofidel, and as current CEO of the Sofidel group, Mr. Lazzareschi led expansion from a small, Italian company to a multi-national corporation with 18 companies throughout Europe and the United States. By 2017, total production exceeded one million tonnes of paper, and the company employed more than 6,000 people.

Driven by a strategy prioritizing innovation, service to mass retail, and advertising as keys to growth of market share, he enabled the company to move away from strictly price-oriented competition. This approach led to the rise of Regina; Sofidel’s most well-known brand.

Under Lazzareschi’s leadership, Sofidel placed strategic importance on environmentally responsible growth; emphasizing industry-leading sustainability targets related to CO2 emissions, water consumption and raw material sourcing.

Mr. Lazzareschi has been recognized for his leadership with various awards including: Knight of the Italian Republic, Commander of the Italian Republic, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and the Transatlantic Award from the American Chamber of Commerce in Italy.
Mr. Lazzareschi and his wife, Maria Pia Del Perugia reside in Coselli, Italy.

Liisa Viikari

Dr. Liisa Viikari was born in Helsinki, Finland on 30 January, 1949.

Dr. Viikari served as a professor from 1995 until her retirement in 2013, first at VTT and since 2007 at the University of Helsinki. Prior to receiving a Doctor of Technology degree in 1986, she earned a Master of Science in Biochemical Engineering, and a Licentiate in Biotechnology. Dr. Viikari is also a Docent in Biochemical Process Technology.

Dr. Viikari is both a scientist and an educator. She is the author or co-author of over 450 publications, including about 200 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. Additionally, she has authored or co-authored over 30 patents and patent applications. By 2008, Dr. Viikari had more patents to her name than any other Finnish woman.

Her research focus on industrial biotechnology; especially on the development and use of enzymes in converting wood and agricultural residues into useful products has had substantial impact on the pulp and paper industry. Her work with hemicellulolytic enzymes enabled the reduction of chlorine-based bleaching. In addition to positive environmental impact, the technology actually enabled a brightness improvement. This work was a critical development, paving the way for Elementally-Chlorine Free (ECF) and Totally Chlorine Free (TCF) bleaching processes. Later work focused on the use of enzymes for biorefining, and enzymatic modification of lignin to produce useful chemicals capable of replacing oil-based products. Most of her R&D activities were carried out in close collaboration with industry. Many of Dr. Viikari’s contributions represent important process innovations for the pulp and paper industry; additionally, much of her work has shown the potential for a forest-based biorefining industry.

Dr. Viikari has been honored with the following awards: the VTT Prize for Scientific Excellence, The Emmanuel Merck Award, the Anselm Payen Award, the Award of the Ministry of the Environment, the Walter Ahlstrom Award, Knight First Class of the Order of the White Rose of Finland, the Charles D. Scott Award, and the Linnebon Prize.

Dr. Viikari and her husband, Timo, have three children.

Heikki Peltola

Heikki Peltola was born in Asikkala, Finland on May 14, 1943.

Mr. Peltola graduated from the University of Helsinki in 1969 with a Master of Science degree. After beginning his career at Enzo-Gutzeit, he joined United Paper Mills Corporation (UPM) in 1971 as a production engineer. After an exemplary career with UPM spanning nearly four decades, he retired in 2005 as Senior Vice President of Technology.

In the 1970s and 1980s, UPM saw rapid growth and expansion in manufacturing of wood-containing printing papers. Mr. Peltola managed the construction and start-up of multiple of these new lines. Judicious risk-taking and some key development partnerships enabled successful incorporation of new technologies into full-scale production assets for the first time. Some of these technologies were: mechanical pulping (TMP), twin-wire forming, high-speed electric drives, wider machines, and on-machine blade coating. These bold moves put UPM in a strong competitive position when other companies were faltering. This strength enabled UPM to expand through acquisition and merger into UPM-Kymmene, the forest-based bio industry giant that it is today. Mr. Peltola’s technical leadership and wise project management was critical to the success of the company and to the advancement of many technologies important to the paper industry.

Mr. Peltola served in numerous project management and technology roles at various UPM mills throughout Europe and beyond, including as Technology Supervisor at a UPM joint venture in China and Singapore. In 2001, he was named Senior Vice President of Technology.

In 2005, Mr. Peltola and his wife retired to a life in the country on their forest farm in Finland.

Honghi Tran

Honghi Tran was born in Ninh Hoa, Khanh Hoa, Vietnam on April 20, 1951 and received his bachelors (1975) and masters (1977) degrees in engineering, both from the Shizuoka University, Japan. In 1982, he completed his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 

Tran increased the energy and chemical recovery efficiencies of the mills. His fully expanded sootblower nozzle design is now used in over 95% of the world’s recovery boilers. His other inventions include: Low pressure sootblowing steaming in use in many new recovery boilers; use of borate autocausting technology; Theory explaining the stabilization of burner operations in the kiln and Fundamental studies on the recovery boiler conversion chemistry. 

As Frank Dottori Professor of pulp and paper engineering and director of the Pulp and Paper Centre at the University of Toronto, Tran has been an outstanding contributor to the pulp and paper industry. He has acted as a conduit between university research and industry needs; including 55 industrial partners and over 140 university-company partnerships, both national and international. Over 200 of his students (undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral) have gone on to pursue careers in the industry. He also conducted a TAPPI Kraft Recovery Course that trained about 3,700 people mainly from paper industry and its suppliers. 

Tran is the recipient of over 12 awards including the most prestigious ones like the TAPPI Gunnar Nicholson Gold Medal (the highest honor given by TAPPI); the John S. Bates Gold Medal (the highest award given by PAPTAC); and the Lifetime Achievements and Contributions Award from the International Chemical Recovery conference technical program committee. 

Tran has published nearly 280 conference and journal articles including 19 technical papers of which 17 have been awarded “best conference papers”. He also holds 8 patents. 

Tran resides with his wife Airan Tran in Toronto. They have two children: Daughter Angela Kingyens who lives in Palo Alto, CA, U.S.A and Son Christopher in Ottawa, Canada.

Douglas Wahren

Douglas Wahren was born in Norrköping, Sweden on March 12, 1934. He received his Masters (1956) and Ph.D. (1964) in Mechanical Engineering, both from the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.

After graduation, he worked with many prestigious institutions including Beloit Corporation, U.S.A (1964); STFI, Stockholm, Sweden (1969-73); AB Karlstad Mekaniska and Werkstad, (KMW), Sweden (1974-79); Institute of Paper Chemistry, Appleton, Wisconsin, U.S.A (1979-87); STORA Tech., Sweden1987-96); and in 1996 founded his own consulting firm “The Profit Professor” (1996). Douglas Wahren was a man full of ideas. 

Wahren’s excellent work on three-dimensional fiber networks has led to the development of modern hydraulic paper machine head boxes. His research has led to a greater understanding of sheet formation from “fiber dispersion” to “Floc dispersion” and has been the basis for many subsequent wet-end innovations such as high consistency forming. 

Wahren’s research has led to other notable achievements such IMPULSE DRYING (1970), a process involving more intense drying rather than trying to further the size of the dryer section. STFI’s Impulse technology program was inaugurated by the King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf with Wahren as the guest of honor. 

Wahren’s SSVL Project report with James Davis (1981) is an excellent resource for the closed paper mill concept for saving energy and water. Wahren holds seventeen (17) patents, and has published three (3) books and at least fourteen technical papers. In recognition of his significant achievements, he was awarded the TAPPI Gunderson Nicholson Gold Medal (1998), TAPPI Research & development Research Div. Award and William H. Aiken Prize (1990); TAPPI and Board Mfg. Div. Award and Harris O. Ware Prize (1988); Swedish Royal Academy of Engineering Science Award (1987); TAPPI Fellow (1981) and the Honorary title of professor at Stockholm’s Royal Institute of Technology (1973). He married his childhood friend, Inger, in 1957.

Wahren caught polio in 1949 at the age of fifteen, was unconscious for six weeks and found himself paralyzed from the neck down. His treatment with penicillin, strenuous physical therapy, positive outlook and sheer determination helped him get better. He was a member of TAPPI Paper Physics Committee and Sigma Xi.

Wahren died on December 27, 2011 in Täby, Sweden where his wife still resides. He had two children: Daughter Caroline who lives in Täby; Son lives in Waterville, Ohio, U.S.A.

Averill John Wiley

Averill Wiley was born in Pullman, Washington, on June 10, 1911. After attending Whitworth University for two years, he received his Bachelors (1935) and Masters (1936) of Science degrees, both from the Washington State University and subsequently did graduate work for 2.5 years at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Averill was an early environmental scientist who specialized in the development of alternative uses of the spent products from the pulp and paper industry. 

Following a short stint as a bacteriologist for the city of Spokane, Washington, he was hired as the Technical Director of the Wisconsin Sulphite Pulp Manufacturers Research League (SPMRL) to operate and manage a small pilot plant in Appleton, Wisconsin. By 1966, SPMRL grew to include 38 U.S. and 3 Canadian pulp mills, a laboratory and the pilot plant. The staff grew to include 56 chemists, technicians and administrators. The SPMRL was later renamed as Pulp Manufacturers Research League (PMRL) that eventually merged with the Institute of Paper Chemistry, Appleton, Wisconsin. (late 1970s).

Many productive and environmentally significant uses of sulphite pulp wastes were developed under Wiley’s direction. He was one of the first to make use of reverse osmosis technology for cleaning up effluents from sulphite mills. He later conceptualized that it takes less energy to freeze water than to evaporate it and combined reverse osmosis technology with a freeze-concentration step that reduced energy costs for the overall process. It was a highly successful pilot-plant demonstration at two pulp mill locations.

Wiley was the author, or co-author, of 65 technical papers, one book and seven (7) U.S. and foreign patents. 

Wiley was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Gaulladet College in Washington, D.C. “for a distinguished career as a bacteriologist, biochemist, and research director (1968); Invited to present a research paper at the International TAPPI Conference in Stockholm, Sweden (1953); He was chosen out of 700 candidates and awarded the Nash Prize for Conservation for his “Outstanding Contribution in Reducing Sulphite Stream Pollution (1950).

He was a member of the American Chemical Society, Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry and the Alexander Graham Bell Society. He received the Nash Award for Conservation for his “outstanding contributions in reducing sulphite stream pollution”. Wiley accomplished all of this even though he had lost his hearing at the age of 15 due to meningitis

Averill Wiley died in Appleton in 2002 at the age of 91. His wife, Maud, died in 2013. They have two sons, Averill J. Wiley Jr. and William T. Wiley.

Thomas A. Gardner

Thomas Gardner was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin on June 8, 1926, the first born son of Alfred T Gardner, papermaker at Combined Locks Paper company. The family moved from Appleton to Port Arthur, Ontario in 1941 where Tom attended Port Arthur Collegiate for two years. Prior to completing high school in Duluth, he served one season on the Great Lakes cruise ship, SS Noronic, and a second season on ore carriers. He then served in the Canadian Navy in the North Atlantic in 1944-45. Gardner received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon in 1949.

Following graduation, Gardner worked for Abitibi Power and Paper in Ontario, Canada as a design engineer (1949-53); for Marathon Corporation (American Can) in Neenah, Wisconsin as senior staff engineer (1953-64); and then worked with Overly Inc., Neenah, Wisconsin, where he designed and built Gardner High Velocity Dryers and floater dryers (1964-74). He later licensed Valmet-Enerdry, Thunder Bay, Ontario, and Knoxville, Tennessee, to build and install Gardner pocket ventilation systems (1971-90). As President and CEO of Gardner Systems Corporation, Neenah, Wisconsin, he developed and produced Gardner Blow-Through Steam Control Systems (1990-2011).

While working at Marathon, Gardner developed and patented his ideas of applying air jets at high velocity to produce high rates of heat and mass transfer for drying webs, and in 1958 successfully installed the first on-machine coater equipped with a Gardner Dryer.

Gardner dryers found use in a variety of applications worldwide such as drying coatings on paper machine coaters, on high speed off-machine coater installations, on Yankee tissue machines, and for drying of heat-set inks. He also invented and patented the high velocity “Floater” dryer that dried heat-set inks on both sides of the web at up to four times previous speeds.

He then developed and patented the Pocket Ventilating system that provided uniform drying across the web in paper machine dryers.

At Gardner Systems he went on to develop the new Gardner-Blow-Through Steam Control System for supplying steam and condensate drainage at high efficiency from paper machine dryers including the latest high speed dryers. Over 150 of these systems have been installed on paper machines around the world.

Gardner has 5 US Patents and 26 Technical Publications to his credit. He was a licensed Professional Engineer of the Province of Ontario and of the State of Wisconsin; a member of the Technical Association of Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI); the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association (CPPA); the Paper Industry Management Association (PIMA); the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation’s Technical Advisory Committee (GATF); the International Association of Scientific Papermakers (IASPM); and Pi Mu Epsilon – Mathematics Honor Society. He also received many Certificates of Appreciation for his numerous consulting services to the paper industry.

Gardner attributes much of his success to the support of his father, Alfred Gardner, as well as many other great paper industry people including Justin Jordan, manager of Abitibi’s mill at Port Arthur and president of CPPA, John Osborne, chief engineer at Bowaters Southern Paper Corp. and president of TAPPI, and Bill Overly, owner of Overly, Inc. (all now deceased).

Throughout his life Tom enjoyed many activities including scuba diving, sailing, alpine skiing, hunting and playing the piano.

Thomas Gardner retired in 2011 and lives in Neenah, Wisconsin. His wife for 60 years, Dorothy, passed away in 2006. They have four sons and two daughters.

Niilo Hakkarainen

Niilo Hakkarainen was born in Isalmi, Finland on December 22, 1927 and received his diploma engineer (M.S.) degree with a major in Paper Technology from the Helsinki Technical University in 1953. 

After graduation, Hakkarainen worked for Oy Papyrus Ab as a sales engineer (1953 – 54); with Oy Keskuslaboratorio Ab (KCL) as a research engineer (1954 – 55). This was followed by 12 years of employment with Kemi-Oy, first as a production manager (1955 – 58 & 1960 – 62) and then as director of pulp and paper (1962 – 66) rising to the position of CEO (1966 – 69). In 1970 he was invited to follow Juuso Walden (Hall of Fame Inductee) as President and CEO of United Paper Mills (UPM).

Hakkarainen was a visionary leader but a controversial person. He invested in the breaking field area of Thermo-Mechanical Pulp (TMP) manufacturing technology for products such as newsprint and both coated and uncoated magazine grades. The TMP process came from UPM’s Engineering Division Jylhävaara, the talc from UPM’s own mine and much of the twin wire paper machine development was done in partnership with Valmet.

Under Hakkarainen’s leadership of nearly 20 years (1970 – 1990), he turned UPM around to become one of the top paper companies of Finland through cost cutting and innovation. During his tenure, UPM experienced phenomenal growth and built eight world class paper machines, three of them in green field locations in the UK and France. Out of the eight, seven machines produced printing grades and the largest produced release base paper line.

Other key developments included pressure sensitive label laminations, air laid papers, composite materials with paper, polymers and aluminum foil and an aseptic liquid packaging system. Of these, the label laminates grew to a world-class business. At the end of Hakkarainen’s era in 1991, UPM was not only Finland’s strongest pulp and paper company, but also one of the world’s largest. 

Hakkarainen was a member and Chairman of the board of Sales Association Converta (1971 – 88); member of the board, Daily Mail and General Trust (1990); and a member of the Finnish Paper Engineer’s Association. 

The honors he received included the Finnish Paper Engineer’s Association (FPEA) Lampen Medal (highest honor FPEA bestows to any member) and the C.J. Jansson Prize. Interestingly, he refused to receive the highest honorary title in business, the Vuorineuvos title (Bergsrad in Swedish), because it was going to cost his company money!

Niilo Hakkarainen died in Helsinki, Finland on July 18, 2011. He is survived by his wife Kristiina who lives in Helsinki. They have three children – Nina, Eva and Anna.

Erkka Yrjö Juhani Strömberg

Juhani Strömberg was born in Pori, Finland on September 11, 1941. He received his M.S. degree in Radio Chemistry from the University of Helsinki, Finland in 1968.

Strömberg worked with the University of Helsinki in the Department of Radio Chemistry (1969 – 82); United Paper Mills Ltd. (UPM), Tampere as General Manager of Label Materials (1982 – 85); UPM-Kymmene Corporation as President of Raflatac Group (1985 – 2002) and later became Senior Vice President, R & D, Raflatac Group (2002 – 03). 

Strömberg conceived of and spearheaded the water-based label stock laminates, the development of which revolutionized the global market. Label stock is important to the paper industry because the final product needs both face and release papers. In 1969 Strömberg was named product development manager in Raf. Haarla, later Raflatac, a division of UPM. He soon realized that water-based label stock laminates would have great opportunities because of qualitative and environmental reasons. But the costs were high due to the off-line manufacturing. Strömberg successfully developed and implemented the on-line manufacturing process, a procedure that had not been accomplished by any of the competitors. 

Strömberg’s team mastered a three-fold innovation: solid water-based adhesives, solvent-free silicones and advanced on-line production. The ability to do this at high speeds took 10 years to develop. During those ten years Strömberg’s team never lost faith. Turnover increased quickly by forty-fold from 1976 – 80 and rose another six times from 1980 – 85. The innovations of Raflatac have been a good example and motivator for further innovations in the converting industries. 

Strömberg led the development of a superior glassine released paper and influenced the development of better-quality face papers. The developments revolutionized the global market; their market share rose from 3% in 1970 to 65% by the end of the 1980’s.

Strömberg also made use of information technology to develop internal internet and real time customer service. Under his leadership, the delivery times for label-stock that had been weeks long were cut to a revolutionary 24/48-hour delivery, especially in the U.S.A.

Strömberg has 5 patents to his credit. He received the President of Finland’s Export Prize of the Year (1986); City of Tampere’s Technical Creativity Award (1992); President of Finland’s High Finnish Honorary Title (1999); Tampere Chamber of Commerce’s Business Leader of the Year (2000); Tampere University of Technology’s Doctor h.c. (2002) and Lampen Medal from the Finnish Paper Engineer’s Association (2012). 

Juhani Strömberg lives with his wife, Paula, in Tampere, Finland. They have two sons – Samuli and Petteri.