Nov. 10, 2008 - Sonoco has named Sean Cairns as general manager of the company’s European Consumer Packaging business.

In this position, Cairns will head the Company’s rigid paper packaging business in Europe, including operations in Manchester, United Kingdom, and Lieven, France. He will be based in Manchester and joins Sonoco’s Management Committee.

Cairns comes to Sonoco from Crown Holdings’ Specialty Packaging where he was previously business and development director for Northwest and Central Europe. During his 14-year career with Crown, Cairns held several leadership positions of increasing responsibility including business unit and operations management throughout Europe.

Cairns is a time served marine engineer and has a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Wales College, Cardiff, Wales, U.K., and an executive MBA from Manchester Business School, U.K., and is a Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers.

SOURCE: Sonoco