Mark T Watkins

Mr. Watkins, 54, is senior vice president of MeadWestvaco Corporation with responsibility for corporate engineering, stewardship, sustainability, safety, health and environmental. Previously he served as vice president of technology for the Mead Corporation. Mr. Watkins joined Mead in 1997 as vice president of Michigan operations for the Publishing Paper Division, where he had oversight of the Escanaba, Michigan paper mill and related woodland and sawmill operations. In 1999, he was promoted to vice president of human resources and organizational development for the newly combined Paper Division. Beyond his duties to ensure a successful reorganization of the division, he served as the lead management sponsor for the division’s ERP implementation project. Mr. Watkins was appointed vice president of technology for Mead in 2000. As a member of the corporate executive management committee, his responsibilities included the functions of central research, central engineering and the corporate safety, health and environmental group. Mr. Watkins began his career in the paper industry in 1977 when he joined Union Camp at its Franklin, Virginia mill as a process engineer. In 1989, Mr. Watkins was named operations manager of the Eastover mill and managed the start-up of a $750 million expansion of the mill, including a new chemical recovery line, fiber line, market pulp dryer and paper machine. Mr. Watkins was promoted to resident manager of the Eastover mill in 1991 and served as the senior management representative for Union Camp in South Carolina. He served as a member of the division’s multifunction management team, participating in strategic and business planning, as well as leadership in the division’s total quality implementation and order management system redesign.