HAMILTON, Ohio, August 20, 2008—SMART Papers today announced it has appointed Barry Shapiro as Senior Account Manager of the Metro New York region.
 
Shapiro will work with customers throughout New York City, North and Central New Jersey, Long Island, Westchester County and Fairfield County, Connecticut.  He is based in Newtown, PA, and reports to Don Butts, Vice President Sales-Merchant Business, for SMART Papers.  
 
Shapiro, a 15-year paper industry veteran who most recently was a top sales executive at Mohawk Fine Papers, will help SMART Papers expand sales of the company’s environmentally preferable premium cast-coated and writing, text and cover brands.  Shapiro will work with paper merchant management, sales and specification teams.
 
SMART Papers, North America’s largest independent manufacturer and marketer of premium coated and uncoated printing papers, is currently building a new energy facility that will make all of the company’s products fully carbon neutral and fossil fuel free by late 2009.  SMART Papers has the largest selection of Forest Stewardship Council-certified printing paper brands.
 
“Barry has strong relationships with key merchant customers,” said Butts.  “His solid relationships will strengthen our alliances between merchants, printers and designers throughout the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut areas.”
 
“SMART Papers is poised for strong growth because of the quality of their offering and their increasingly unmatched environmental positioning,” said Shapiro.  “There’s growing demand from merchants and their customers for premium, environmentally responsible printing papers.”
 
Shapiro comes to SMART Papers after more than eight years with Mohawk. He began in 2001 as District Sales Manager of Metro New York and held a variety of increasingly senior positions there, most recently as Senior Regional Manager of the New York Metro and Mid-Atlantic Regions.
 
Prior to joining Mohawk, Shapiro was a District Sales Manager at Williamhouse’s Union, NJ headquarters.  He began his career in the paper business as an Account Manager for Old Colony Envelope Co., now owned by National Envelope.
 
Shapiro holds degrees from Trenton State College and Temple University in Philadelphia.  He is also a professional jazz trombonist, once working with the legendary Dizzy Gillespie. Shapiro is a member of the National Paper Trade Association (NPTA) and the Paper Club of New York.