AT Plastics Inc. has appointed a new president and chief executive officer. Gary Connaughty will fill the posts effective June 19, AT announced May 15.
Connaughty was president of Winpak Films Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of flexible plastic packaging producer Winpak Ltd. of Winnipeg, Manitoba. He held that position since 1997.
Andrew Smith, AT's chairman and interim president and CEO, said Connaughty "has a successful track record of building strong organizations and meeting operational challenges." One of Connaughty's first initiatives will be to appoint a new chief financial officer, a position currently held by Geff Perera.
AT of Brampton, Ontario, hired an executive-search firm in March to recruit a new president and CEO. At that time it announced several appointments from within the company.
Sam Hasan became executive vice president of films and packaging; Russ Johnston was named executive vice president of manufacturing; and V. Peter Johnson became executive vice president of human resources and administration. Promoted from business managers were Mark Chouinard, vice president of performance compounds, and Alvin Fox, vice president of specialty polymers.
AT's former president and CEO Geoff Clarke resigned from the company March 31 after the firm turned in poor financial results for 1999. The company lost C$2.5 million (US$1.7 million) despite a 23 percent sales hike to C$282.8 million (US$190.9 million) in 1999.
For the first quarter of this year, the producer of films and specialty ethylene copolymers had a loss of C$2.7 million (US$1.8 million) and sales of C$76.6 million (US$51.7 million).
The loss included a special charge of C$1.1 million (US$743,000) related to Clarke's employment contract.