COVINGTON, VIRGINIA – June 6, 2023 – WestRock’s Alleghany Highlands Operations announces position changes that were internally announced from February through May 2023.
Ricardo Santos accepted the position of superintendent in Recovery. In this position, he is responsible for the overall safety and operations of the Recovery department as well as ensuring environmental standards are maintained.
Santos earned his B.S. degree in Forest Engineering and his M.S. degree in Pulping and Paper Process from Universidade Federal de Vicosa in Brazil. He earned his Ph.D. in Wood Chemistry, Kraft Pulping, and Biofuels from North Carolina State University in 2012. Santos co-oped at the Covington mill in the fall of 2011 and accepted a full-time position as an applied technology specialist in the Fiberline department in March 2012. In July 2015, Santos moved to the position of senior powerhouse engineer, and in April 2017, was promoted to powerhouse supervisor. He was promoted to assistant superintendent – Power and Recovery in 2018 and to assistant fiber line superintendent – Woodyard in 2021.
Cory Boothe accepted the position of E&I engineer in the E&I department. In this position, he supports safety, reliability, and cost-improvement initiatives across the mill and is responsible for reliability-centered maintenance activities and projects.
Boothe earned his high school diploma from James Monroe High School in Lindside, WV, in 2018 and his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Bluefield State College in 2022. He interned with American Mine Research in Rocky Gap, Virginia, in 2021. He joined the mill in 2022 as a process engineer.
Hans McCarthy accepted the position of senior recovery boiler engineer. In this position, McCarthy focuses on long and short-term process projects, boiler outage planning, recovery boiler audits, and improving production, quality, and safety for the recovery boilers. He is also responsible for initiating cost savings projects, providing assistance with daily operational and maintenance issues, monitoring KPIs in the recovery boiler area, and overseeing the co-op / ECD engineer program in Recovery.
McCarthy earned his B.S. in Paper Engineering from SUNY-ESF in 2019. He worked as a process engineer co-op at WestRock, Solvay, NY, from June 2017 through January 2018. He also worked at Neenah Technical Materials as a filtration engineer in 2018. In 2019, McCarthy joined WestRock’s Covington mill as a process engineer in the Fiberline and then moved to Recovery as an engineer – Recaust / Lime Kiln in 2020. He was promoted to senior recaust / lime kiln engineer in 2022.
Adam Bradberry accepted the position of order management shift lead in the Production Planning department. In this position, he is responsible for coordinating and monitoring all outbound freight activity for the mill and local warehouses in addition to managing mill warehouse inventories. He supports machine production, scheduling processes, and corrects errors during the production/shipping process.
Bradberry graduated from Alleghany County High School in 1992. He received his A.A.S. degree in Culinary Arts & Hotel Management from Sullivan University in 1995. Bradberry held the position of executive chef at Washington & Lee University from 1997 to 2013. Bradberry started his career at MWV in 2013 as an hourly production associate on C1 paper machine and moved through the sequence to the fourth assistant. In 2018, he transferred to South Side Loading as a fourth assistant.
Chuck Hepler accepted the position of foreman-Tour Maintenance. In this position, Hepler coordinates tour maintenance activities and ensures adherence to safe work practices and guidelines.
Hepler earned his A.A.S. degree from Dabney S. Lancaster Community College in May 1994. He joined Westvaco in 1994 as a technician in Research. He began working in the Paper Process Group in 1996 and then accepted a position as process engineer in the Stock and Additives department in June 2002. Hepler moved to the position of frontline supervisor on C1 paper machine in June 2007. He was promoted to operations supervisor on C1 paper machine in October 2012. Hepler joined Andritz in August 2020, as an applications sales engineer.
Heidi Kincaid accepted the position of engineering manager in the Engineering department. In this position, Kincaid is responsible for Engineering department activities including the safety, quality, and production of the department and its projects along with the administration of the capital budget.
Kincaid earned a B.S. degree in Pulp & Paper Technology and a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from NC State University. She interned on C8 paper machine at the Covington mill during the summers of 1988 and 1989. In December 1989, she returned to the Covington mill as a paper process co-op and was hired full-time as a technical assistant in the Technical department in May 1990. Kincaid began working as an engineer on C5 paper machine in November 1990 before transferring to C2 paper machine in January 1995. In May 1999, Kincaid was promoted to senior engineer on C2 paper machine and became assistant superintendent on the machine in July 2011. She accepted the position of senior reliability engineer in August 2013 and became senior project engineer in January 2017.
