Executive Management

Howard Coker, 59 is President and CEO of Sonoco. In this role, Coker has global leadership, sales and operating responsibility for all of the Company’s diversified consumer, industrial and protective packaging businesses. He previously served as Senior Vice President, Global Paper/Industrial Converted Products.

Coker previously served as Senior Vice President, Rigid Paper Containers and Paper/ Engineered Carriers International, where he had responsibility for the Company’s global composite can operations in North America, South America, Europe and Asia, as well as paper, tube and core operations in Europe, Latin America and Australasia.

Prior to that, Coker served as Vice President, Rigid Paper and Closures, North America. In this role, he had responsibility for Sonoco’s 21 rigid paper container and seven metal and peelable membrane closure operations in the United States, Canada and Mexico. He was also elected a Corporate Officer in February 2009.

He also served as Group Vice President and held several leadership positions running global consumer-related and industrial businesses.

Coker joined Sonoco in 1985 and has held a number of sales, manufacturing and management positions at the Company in businesses serving consumer and industrial markets.

He is a 1985 graduate of Wofford College with a B.A. in Business Administration, and he received an MBA from Wake Forest University in 1990. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Wofford College, the American Forest & Paper Association and on the Board of Trustees for the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation (MAPI).

He is married, has three children and lives in Hartsville, SC.

Dillard, 47, is Sonoco’s Chief Financial Officer. Previously, he served as Chief Strategy Officer and was responsible for the Company’s Corporate Development and Strategy function.

He joined Sonoco in 2018 after serving as President of Personal Care Europe and Vice President of Strategy and Innovation at Domtar Personal Care, a division of Domtar Corporation. Prior to that, he served as President of Stanley Hydraulics and Vice President of Business Development at Stanley Black and Decker. He has extensive experience in capital markets and mergers and acquisitions from his time with UBS Investment Bank, where he served as Executive Director of the Global Industrials Group.

Dillard holds a BA in Economics along with a MBA from the University of North Carolina.

John M. Florence, Jr., 43, is Sonoco’s Vice President, Human Resources, General Counsel and Secretary. Previously, he served as Sonoco’s Corporate Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary from 2016-2018. He joined Sonoco in 2015 as the Company’s Corporate Attorney. In addition to managing legal work for the company, Florence manages Sonoco’s Corporate Secretary and governance function.

Prior to Sonoco, Florence worked as an attorney at Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A. in Columbia, S.C., where he handled legal work for Sonoco and other clients. He holds an MBA from the University of South Carolina, a JD from Samford University and a BA in English from Presbyterian College.

Florence and his wife, Jeanette, live in Columbia with their three children. He is a member of the American Bar Association, South Carolina Bar Association, Richland County Bar Association and the Association of Corporate Counsel. Florence also serves on the Board of Trustees, Governors School for Science and Mathematics; Board of Directors, Coker University; is a Member of the USC Moore School of Business Partnership Foundation; and a 2018 Graduate of Liberty Fellows.

Rodger Fuller, 60 is Chief Operating Officer. Previously, he served as Executive Vice President of Sonoco, overseeing all Industrial and Consumer operations globally which served customers across 36 countries as well as the Company’s Supply Management and Logistics organization. He previously served as Senior Vice President, Global Consumer Packaging, Display & Packaging and Protective Solutions. In this role, he had responsibility for all of Sonoco’s Consumer-related businesses, including Global Rigid Paper and Closures; Global Plastics; Global Flexible Packaging; Display & Packaging; and Protective Solutions.

Fuller also served as Senior Vice President, Paper/Engineered Carriers U.S./Canada and Display & Packaging. In this role, he had responsibility for the Company’s Paper and Engineered Carriers businesses, including 12 uncoated recycled paper mills, 24 recovered paper recycling facilities, 40 tube and core converting facilities and 16 wire and cable reels centers, serving customers throughout the U.S. and Canada. He also led the Company’s Display and Packaging business, which operates 25 manufacturing and packaging facilities in the United States, Mexico, Poland and Brazil.

Previously, Fuller was Group Vice President at Sonoco. He has held leadership positions in both Consumer and Industrial businesses during his 34-year career with Sonoco.

Fuller graduated from Berry College in Rome, Georgia, with a B.S. in business administration, and he received an MBA from Emory University. He is active in industry and community service organizations, including serving on the board of the Paper and Packaging Board, American Forest and Paper Association and the Hartsville United Way.

He and his wife, Helen, have two grown children and reside in Hartsville.

Rick Johnson, 54, has served as Chief Information Officer of Sonoco since 2019. In this role, Johnson leads all of Sonoco’s business technology functions globally. Johnson previously served as Chief Information Officer at HNI Corporation from 2011-2019. Prior to that, he served as Vice President, Global IT for Johnson Controls. Johnson was elected to The Marvin Companies Board of Directors in August 2020, a fourth-generation family-owned and -operated business, providing products for builders, architects and homeowners. 

Johnson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Clarkson University.

Lisa Weeks is Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Affairs.

Weeks joins Sonoco from Benchmark Electronics, Inc. (NYSE: BHE) where she served as Senior Vice President, Head of Investor Relations and Chief Strategy Officer after serving in a number of roles in operations and corporate development. Previously, she held positions with Line-X and Teledyne Brown Engineering.

She graduated from Auburn University with a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering and earned a Master of Business Administration from Vanderbilt University.