Mary Laschinger (born circa 1959) is the former

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Veritiv Veritiv Operating Company (formerly Veritiv Corporation, a.k.a. "Veritiv") is a business-to-business provider of packaging, publishing, and hygiene products. Headquartered in Sandy Springs, Georgia, part of the Atlanta metropolitan area, it has 12 ...

. While she was the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

, it was the largest woman-run company in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

Early life and education

Laschinger was born around 1959 and grew up on her family's

dairy farm Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for the long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for the eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a h ...

in Arkansaw, Wisconsin. She was third from the youngest, with four brothers and three sisters. Her father took advantage of government subsidies and the family did not have many of the hardships of other small farms. She did laundry and scrubbed the floors as a child on the farm. After graduating high school, she worked several odd jobs and spent several years attending a local tech school. She was 21 when she began attending university, and in 1985, she graduated with a degree in

business administration Business administration is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. Overview The administration of a business includes the performance o ...

from the

University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

. She completed her Executive

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

and her postgraduate studies at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

’s,

Kellogg School of Management The Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management (branded as Northwestern Kellogg) is the graduate business school of Northwestern University, a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois. History Early ...

in executive management.

Career

In 1985, Laschinger went to work as a production planner for

Kimberly-Clark Kimberly-Clark Corporation is an American multinational consumer goods and personal care corporation that produces mostly paper-based consumer products. The company manufactures sanitary paper products and surgical & medical instruments. Kimb ...

and then for James River (now

Georgia-Pacific Georgia-Pacific LLC is an American pulp and paper company based in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, and is one of the world's largest manufacturers and distributors of Tissue paper, tissue, Pulp (paper), pulp, paper, toilet and paper towe ...

). She joined

International Paper The International Paper Company is an American pulp and paper company, the largest such company in the world. It has approximately 39,000 employees, and is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee. History The company was incorporated January 31 ...

in 1992, where she held various roles. She was a senior vice president of the company from 2007, until June 2014. From January 2010 until June 2014, she was the company's president of its xpedx division. On July 1, 2014, Veritiv was formed upon the merger of

International Paper Company The International Paper Company is an American pulp and paper company, the largest such company in the world. It has approximately 39,000 employees, and is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee. History The company was incorporated January 31 ...

's xpedx division with the parent company of Unisource Worldwide, at which time Laschinger became chairman and CEO of the company. By June 2016, Laschinger was one of 21 women CEOs of

Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune (magazine), Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States Joint-stock company#Closely held corporations and publicly traded corporations, corporations by ...

companies. In 2019, with compensation of $7 million, she was the highest paid female CEO in the

Atlanta metropolitan area Metro Atlanta, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Roswell metropolitan statistical area, is the most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Georgia and the sixt ...

. In September 2020, Laschinger retired.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Laschinger, Mary 1959 births Living people People from Waterville, Wisconsin University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire alumni University of Connecticut alumni