LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Colbert Packaging Corporation, a leading manufacturer of custom folding cartons, rigid setup boxes and paperboard specialty products, today announced that it has welcomed two industry veterans, John Lackner and Kevin Kenjarski, to its leadership team. Lackner joined Colbert Packaging as vice president of corporate operations last month, and earlier this week, Kenjarski stepped into a newly created vice president of sales and marketing role. 

“We have invested heavily in our infrastructure to support our growth in recent years – from our new facility in Wisconsin to several major equipment purchases, including new press installations in all three facilities in the past 24 months alone. The decision to add executive bench strength was also rooted in the need to support our growth, particularly as we continue looking toward 2020 and beyond,” said Jim Hamilton, president and CEO of Colbert Packaging. “John and Kevin both possess diverse experiences and deep industry knowledge, and we’re pleased to welcome them to our team.” 

John Lackner came to Colbert Packaging from Graphic Packaging, formerly Walter G. Anderson, where he served as director of operations, overseeing two manufacturing facilities in the Midwest. Prior to that, he spent 23 years moving up the ranks at MeadWestvaco (now WestRock) and its AGI Media packaging business, which traded hands several times before eventually being acquired by Multi Packaging Solutions. Lackner gained valuable hands-on experience on the production floor early in his career while serving as a pressman and finishing department manager, and since then, he has proven to be a capable operations leader.

Today, as vice president of corporate operations, Lackner has overall responsibility for production operations at Colbert’s three facilities, including manufacturing, facilities maintenance, inventory management, and shipping and receiving. Ultimately, he is tasked with ensuring that the company meets all plant safety, quality, productivity and customer satisfaction objectives. 

Kevin Kenjarski brings a dual background in plastics and paperboard packaging to the Colbert leadership team. His credentials on the paperboard side include serving as vice president of sales and marketing for Clondalkin’s specialist packaging division, which produced packaging solutions for the pharmaceutical, healthcare and personal care markets, and is now part of Essentra. He also spent a decade at MeadWestvaco in various sales and sales management capacities. Kenjarski is a customer-centric individual committed to fostering long-standing partnerships with customers.

As vice president of sales and marketing for Colbert Packaging, Kenjarski is leading a team of seasoned sales professionals. His focus is the company’s strategic sales growth through maintaining, evaluating and earning opportunities at current customers, while pursuing new account development across all product lines. He will also oversee all marketing strategies.

Lackner and Kenjarski join a well-established executive team that also includes Nancy Colbert MacDougall, chairman of the board and daughter of Charles Colbert, the company’s founder; Jim Hamilton, president and CEO; Kraig Lang, CFO; and Bill Snyder, vice president of administration.