MeadWestvaco Corp., Richmond, Va., USA, has elected James E. Nevels a director of the company. Nevels has extensive investment, financial, and management experience, as well as knowledge of consumer packaged goods markets. 

 

Nevels is chairman of The Swarthmore Group, an investment advisory firm based in Philadelphia, Pa., that he founded in 1991. He has 30 years of experience in the securities and investment industry, serving from 1984 to 1991 as VP at Prudential Bache Securities and Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co., and since then as founder and chairman of The Swarthmore Group. He also is currently chairman of the board of directors of The Hershey Co., the $7.1 billion chocolate and confectionery brand owner, and chairman of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. 

 

Nevels is the recipient of several business and civic awards, including the Thurgood Marshall College Fund Award of Excellence and the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia Atlas Award. 

As a member of the MWV board of directors, Nevels’ duties will include his participation on the Audit and Compensation and Organization Development committees. He is an honors graduate of Bucknell University and earned an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law.