Executive Q&A: Joseph Raccuia, CEO of Finch Paper

Q: Tell us about your company, the segment of the market it serves, and who you consider to be your core users.

A: Finch Paper is a fully integrated mill that manufactures high-quality, uncoated printing papers. We’re known among printers, designers, and our industry peers for the quality of our papers, our personal service, and our “feet-in-the-forest” approach to environmental stewardship.

Our lines of uncoated papers serve the book publishing, direct mail, transpromo, and graphic arts segments, and are designed for printers who own both traditional offset presses as well as digital presses. Finch no longer is content on being a traditional paper manufacturer, and we are transforming our company into a custom solutions provider that can tailor products and services specific to our customers’ needs.

Our flagship grades include Finch Fine and Finch Opaque and are favored among printers for their high brightness and smooth surface. Meanwhile, we’ve emerged on the leading edge of the digital space with Finch Fine iD, engineered for HP Indigo presses, and Finch Inkjet Pi and Finch dyeJet, optimized for either pigment or dye-based inkjet systems, respectively.

Q: What is your background and how did you get involved with your company?

A: I’m a Brooklyn kid, and I’ve grown to love this area and the people in the greater Glens Falls, NY community.

I joined Finch on Feb. 1, 2009, after serving for three years (1998-2001) as president and CEO of Encore Paper Co. in South Glens Falls—directly across the Hudson River from the Finch Paper mill. Upon SCA Tissue’s purchase of Encore Paper in 2001, I became CEO of SCA’s North American operations and served as CEO for six years. In a past life, I held sales and management positions with Colgate Palmolive and Wisconsin Tissue.

At SCA we grew the business from $650 million to over $1 billion; I also oversaw the development of a fully integrated, greenfield tissue manufacturing facility in Alabama. I am especially proud of my work with the United Steel Workers (USW) union that resulted in a formal partnership to engage in an open and honest relationship with one another--one that looks out for the best interests of business and employees.

Q: What do you consider to be your greatest achievement in this market?

A: One of our greatest achievements at Finch thus far would have to be transforming the culture here to be a more collaborative, custom solutions provider. We are in the process of training our staff in high-performance work systems that will enable us to be more flexible and responsive to our customers’ needs—knowing that, at the end of the day, the customer sits at the top of our priority list.

I’m proud to say that since 2009, our EBIDTA has been steadily rising. Finch has emerged in a declining market as a company that is not only viable and thriving, but also seeking out opportunities to grow through sensible partnerships and acquisitions.

I am also very proud of our commitment to sustainable forestry. All of our fiber is third-party certified to the standards of either FSC and/or SFI. We have a very successful partnership with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) that began in 2007, when we sold them our northern landholdings: more than 160,000 acres. Finch foresters were then hired back by the TNC to manage Adirondack lands, continuing our long legacy of sustainable forestry and helping to keep forestland as open space.

Q: If you could change anything, either about your career, your company, or the market as a whole, what would it be and why?

A: As far as my career is concerned, I have been blessed. Regarding the industry or market, I’d love to see increased demand, higher prices, and lower raw material and energy costs…but wouldn’t we all? Actually, my Finch colleagues and I would all like to see an increase in public understanding and appreciation for paper as the tremendously useful, environmentally sound, renewable, and recyclable resource that it is. I would couple that with an increased appreciation for the forest products industry in general, and how our industry does more to safeguard the future of America’s forests than any other group, public or private, could ever hope to achieve.