COVINGTON, VIRGINIA – January 13, 2022 – WestRock’s Alleghany Highlands Operations announces position changes that were internally announced in December.
Steve Hall has accepted the position of assistant maintenance superintendent for Area I. In this position, he is responsible for the maintenance, reliability, and availability of the paper machines, as well as coating stock preparation, loading, finishing, auxiliary operations, and any other equipment in Area l.
Hall received his A.A.S degree in Pulp and Paper Technology from Dabney S. Lancaster Community College in 1996. He then received his Virginia State Journeyman Millwright card in 2005, and his Virginia State Maintenance Pipefitter certification in 2011. His career with Westvaco, now WestRock, began in 1996 as a junior technician in the Research department. He was promoted to technician in 1998. In 1999, Hall transferred, as a technician, to Quality Assurance, and accepted the position of printability technician in 2000. In 2001, Hall became a journeyman millwright apprentice in the Maintenance department. He became lead millwright in Tour Maintenance in 2006. He joined Ingevity as tour foreman in 2015 and returned to the mill in 2017. Steve supported the Construction Management Team for the No. 1 Paper Machine Unleash project, and then accepted the position of maintenance planner for No. 2 Paper Machine in 2019.
Greg Adkins has accepted the position of fill-in maintenance supervisor. In this position, Adkins will float across the mill supporting the maintenance areas by supervising the hourly workforce, with a focus on safely completing scheduled as well as break-in work. Adkins will also provide support to the planners as necessary to maintain proper backlog levels of unplanned, planned, and ready-to-be scheduled work.
Adkins worked at Champion Paper in Hamilton, Ohio, for thirteen years and held the position of film drum coater operator. He then joined Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he worked for eleven years and held the position of maintenance planner. Adkins joined WestRock at the Covington mill, in 2010, as the validator on C8.
Ryan Iachini has accepted the position of assistant superintendent in the Recovery department. In this position, he is responsible for leading the effort to install reliability systems, developing operating procedures with the training coordinator, troubleshooting operational and maintenance issues, and overseeing day-to-day operations in Recovery.
Iachini earned his B.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering and Chemistry from Virginia Tech in May 2014. Prior to his employment at WestRock, he was the fuel nozzle repair co-op at GE Energy in Greenville, South Carolina, from August – December 2011 and August – December 2012. Iachini joined WestRock in 2014, as an early career development engineer and spent his first rotation at the Covington mill in the Recovery department. He served additional rotational assignments in Logistics and at Evadale before taking a full-time position at the Covington mill in October 2016, as a process engineer in Recovery. He was promoted to recausticizing engineer in January 2018, and recausticizing, evaporator, and NCG supervisor in September 2018. In 2020, Iachini accepted the position of operations supervisor in Recovery and was promoted to recovery boiler, recaust, and evaporator supervisor in 2021.
Mike Robertson has accepted the position of maintenance planner on No. 2 Paper Machine. In this position, he is responsible for planning daily and outage maintenance for No. 2 Paper Machine.
Robertson graduated from Bath County High School in 2010. He worked at Ferebee-Johnson in outside sales from 2012 – 2017, before joining Altec Industries in the Hydraulic department in 2017. He joined WestRock, in 2019, as tour foreman in Maintenance.
Corey McElwee has accepted the position of order management shift lead. 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 of finished goods and in-process inventories. He will also support machine production and scheduling processes, as well as correcting errors during the production / shipping process.
McElwee is a 1997 graduate of Bath County High School. He earned a A.A.S. degree in Business Management from DSLCC in 1999. McElwee began his career at the Homestead in 1999. He joined MeadWestvaco at the Low Moor converting plant in 2003 as an hourly associate where he worked on the Sheeter / Strapline, as a custom winder operator, extruder operator, and in the Warehouse. He became a systems support operator in 2018.
Kerensa O’Conner has accepted the position of senior technician in Product Development. In this position, she is responsible for assisting in paper machine and converting trials for product improvements and new grade development, supporting the SBS competitive database, and maintaining product development laboratory equipment.
O’Conner obtained her A.A.S degree in IT from Dabney S. Lancaster Community College in 2011. She worked with Parker Powertrain from October 1999 through April 2008, and worked her way through several positions including molder, skiver, assembler, packer, and tow motor operator. O’Conner joined UPS in 2011 as a driver helper before joining AMEC in 2012. She accepted a position with Balchem in 2012, as a shipping / receiving clerk, before joining Ingevity in 2013, as a shipping coordinator. O’Conner moved to Bacova in 2017, as a distribution packer. She worked as a temp employee at ABB in 2019, and in Finance and Product Development at WestRock in 2020, before taking a temp position in Central Accounting for the City of Covington in 2021.
Stephanie Clark has accepted the position of senior HR administrator. In this position, she is responsible for providing administrative support to the Human Resources Team.
Clark graduated from Alleghany High School in 1991. She began her career with Bacova Guild in 1991, as an inventory control clerk and progressed to sales administrative assistant then to printing department clerk. She then joined Bath Community Hospital in 2001, working as a financial aid assistant. In 2011, Clark accepted the position of human resources clerk at Rockbridge Community Services. She began work at the Omni Homestead Resort, in 2012, as an employment manager and in 2017, joined the Alleghany County Commonwealth Attorney’s office as a legal secretary.
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