European Tissue Association Chairman Roberto Berardi to Step Down

Fanis Papakostas, 59, has been appointed chairman of ETS, the European Tissue Association. He will take up his new role in July 2017 after a year of service as a vice-chairman. He succeeds Roberto Berardi who will step down as chairman at the end of June after more than 10 consecutive years of outstanding service and who will continue relating to ETS from an advisory role as an honorary chairman.

A specialist in tissue, Papakostas has spent 30 years in professional management and consulting, holding senior roles with Unilever, Beiersdorf and Kimberly-Clark where he has served as general manager Greece, France, and later promoted to VP Europe covering the South and Central European countries. He also has a deep knowledge of detergents and cosmetics. His career was built via the Marketing and Sales paths. Additionally a good supply chain and finance cross functional experience, coupled with the right exposure on administration and legal corporate matters, have broadened his qualifications.

"I am delighted to welcome Fanis as the new Chairman," said current ETS chairman Berardi. "He has an unrivalled knowledge of our industry and business and after one year of working alongside I am confident that he will be realising further opportunities for our sector."

Commenting on his appointment Papakostas said, "ETS undertakes important work in showcasing the benefits of tissue paper and I look forward to continuing to promote these messages. My activities will continue to aim to add value to what ETS delivers to its member companies, to their customers and of course to the tissue paper product users."

Papakostas has studied and worked in five countries in the course of his career including UK, Germany, France, and Greece, and is currently based in Munich, Germany. He holds a MSc. in Operational Research from the University of Southampton, and a BBA in Business Administration from the University of Maryland.

ETS is the European tissue paper industry association. The members of ETS represent the majority of tissue paper producers throughout Europe and around 90 percent of the total European tissue production. ETS was founded in 1971 and is based in Brussels.