Great Northern Combines Business Units, Names Jeff Michels President

Realigns U.S. business units to better serve customers

Great Northern, Appleton, Wisconsin, has promoted Jeff Michels to President of Packaging and Instore, as the company strategically realigns four of its business units into two groups. Previously each a separate business unit, Packaging and Instore will now be grouped together, as will Laminations and Rollguard. Michels moves into this newly created role after 14 years as the Packaging Business Unit Manager and a total of 21 years with Great Northern. 

“With 21 years at Great Northern, Jeff was a natural choice to lead the streamlined organizational structure of Packaging and Instore,” explained John Davis, Great Northern CEO. “He’s shown great leadership skills in his previous roles, and we’re excited to see how he can even better serve our employees and customers in this position.”  

Michels will have direct responsibility for corrugated plants in Racine, Twin Cities and Chippewa Falls, in addition to his current leadership of the Appleton plant. He started his career at Great Northern in 1998 as Director of Product Development. Over the years he advanced to hold the titles of Vice President of Operations and Senior Vice President/Packaging Business Unit Manager. 

Prior to Great Northern, he worked at Consolidated Papers as an Account Manager & Marketing Manager and at Menasha Corporation - Hartford as a Management Trainee & Account Manager. Michels holds a marketing degree from the University of Wisconsin and an MBA from the University of Montana.