Anthony Paul James Smurfit (born 1963) is an English born Irish businessman. He serves as the President and

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 ...

FTSE 100 The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie" , is the United Kingdom's best-known stock market index of the 100 most market capitalisation, highly capitalised ...

packaging company Smurfit Westrock, which is named after his grandfather, John Jefferson Smurfit.

Early life and career

Smurfit was born in 1963 in

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

to businessman

Michael Smurfit Sir Michael Smurfit, KBE (born 7 August 1936), is an English-born Irish businessman. In the "2010 Irish Independent Rich List" he was listed as 25th with a €368 million personal fortune. Early life Smurfit was born in St Helens, En ...

and Norma Triesman. He attended the Irish

St Gerard's School St Gerard's School is a lay Catholic co-educational independent day school in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland. A fee-charging school, it is administered by a Board of Governors as a charitable trust. As of 2019, the student population was about 77 ...

and the American

University of Scranton The University of Scranton is a private Jesuit university in Scranton, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1888 by William O'Hara, the first Bishop of Scranton, as St. Thomas College. In 1938, the college was elevated to university status and took ...

, where he earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in management in 1985. Subsequently, Smurfit spent some time in Japan to study the packaging industry. He joined Jefferson Smurfit – then led by his father – in the 1980s and was appointed

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

in 1989. He served in several positions in the United States and Europe including as head of Smurfit France. He became

chief operations officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the CEO, ...

(COO) of the company's European division in 1999 after having been deputy for a year. Smurfit was promoted to COO of the entire company in November 2002. In September 2015, he was appointed CEO of Smurfit Kappa following the retirement of his predecessor,

Gary McGann Gary McGann (born August 1950) is an Irish accountant, the former chairman of Flutter Entertainment, and former CEO of Smurfit Kappa and Aer Lingus. Education McGann earned a bachelor's degree from University College Dublin and also an MSc in ...

. Besides, Smurfit is on the boards of the Confederation of European Paper Industries and

Ibec Ibec is an Irish business representative lobbying organisation and human resources services provider. Ibec is directed and managed by a board, national council, and executive director team. History Ibec is an orphan acronym dating from a 2 ...

, and he is a Mexican

honorary consul A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries. A consu ...

in Ireland and a member of the European Round Table for Industry. Previously, he had also been a board member of

Aer Rianta DAA plc (styled "daa") (), previously Dublin Airport Authority, is a commercial semi-state airport company in Ireland. The company owns and operates Dublin Airport and Cork Airport. Its other subsidiaries include the travel retail business A ...

(1996–2001) and

C&C Group C&C Group plc (known prior to its flotation as Cantrell & Cochrane Limited) is an Irish manufacturer, marketer and distributor of alcoholic drinks, particularly cider, and soft drinks. It has production facilities across Ireland, Great Britain ...

(2012–2016).

Personal life

Smurfit is married to former model and actress Sharon Devlin and has four children. One of his hobbies is horse breeding, having been a member of the

Irish National Stud The Irish National Stud (official name: ''Comhlacht Graí Náisiúnta na hÉireann Teo.'') is a Thoroughbred horse breeding facility in Tully, Kildare, County Kildare, Ireland. It was formally established by incorporation on 11 April 19 ...

's board.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smurfit, Tony 1963 births 20th-century Irish businesspeople 21st-century Irish businesspeople Chief executives in the manufacturing industry Chief operating officers Honorary consuls Irish chief executives People educated at St Gerard's School, Bray Living people