CEPI (Confederation of European Paper Industries), Brrussels, Belgium, this week announced the appointment of Sylvain Lhôte as its new director general. As of Sept. 5, 2016, Lhôte will take over from the current Acting Director General Jori Ringman. Lhôte is currently VP, Governmental Affairs in Europe for Alcoa, the aluminum and light metals engineering group.

"We are very pleased to welcome Sylvain Lhôte on board and are sure his leadership and expertise will help CEPI reach ever higher levels of excellence. We are thankful to both Marco Mensink for his work during his mandate and Jori Ringman, who ensured the smooth functioning of the organization until the new director general was found", said Peter Oswald, CEPI chairman.

Prior to joining Alcoa, Sylvain directed EU and sustainability affairs for the Borealis Group, in the base chemicals and plastics industry, and led a global CSR program for the company in the EMEA region. He previously chaired the Fleishman-Hillard Public Affairs practice in Europe and headed its environment department, advising major trade associations and industries in the field of sustainability policies and public affairs strategies. Sylvain began his career in parliamentary cabinets at the European Parliament and the French National Assembly.

A French national, Sylvain studied political sciences, international law, and business administration at Strasbourg and Paris-Sorbonne Universities and post-graduated cum laude in European Administration at the College of Europe in Bruges.

CEPI is a non-profit organization regrouping the European pulp and paper industry and championing the industry’s achievements and the benefits of its products. Through its 18-member countries (17 EU members plus Norway), CEPI represents some 505 pulp, paper, and board producing companies across Europe, ranging from small and medium sized companies to multi-nationals, and 920 paper mills. Together they represent 23% of world production.