Jack Riopelle is part owner of Wisconsin Film & Bag Inc. and has been its president since October 1993. The Shawano, Wis.-based company custom manufactures polyethylene bags and sheeting for industrial and institutional food packaging applications.
Since Riopelle arrived at WF&B, the company has quadrupled its sales revenue, plant capacity has increased threefold and employment has more than doubled. Riopelle until recently also was president of Southern Film & Bag LLC, which shared common ownership with the Wisconsin firm. But in December he shut down the small, Summit, Miss.-based company, which never fully recovered after being damaged by the August 2005 hurricanes.
In addition to his corporate responsibilities, Riopelle also is chairman of the Film & Bag Federation, a business unit of the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc.
Prior to joining Wisconsin Film & Bag, Riopelle was the president of Bowater Communication Papers, a $300 million manufacturer of computer paper, the largest computer paper company in North America.