2017 Herman L. Joachim Distinguished Service Award

Tom Rodencal Named Recipient of TAPPI’s 2017 Herman L. Joachim Distinguished Service Award

Renowned honor recognizes ongoing Association contributions

ATLANTA, March 13, 2017 – TAPPI is pleased to announce that Tom Rodencal has been named winner of the prominent Herman L. Joachim Distinguished Service Award. Mr. Rodencal is President of Tom Rodencal & Associates, an industry consulting firm.  He has been a member of TAPPI for more than 35 years.

“Tom’s dedication and service to TAPPI have made him an invaluable asset,” said Larry N. Montague, TAPPI president and CEO. “His contributions to the Association have resulted in significant improvements to conferences, divisions, and committees that will last for generations to come.”

In 2001, Rodencal proposed a union between individual conferences that led to the conception and formation of PaperCon, the world’s largest technical conference for the paper and packaging industry. His idea became reality in 2008 and in that year he was conference chairman.

Rodencal also serves as an historian, helping organize the 50 and 60 year TAPPI Papermakers Committee anniversary events as well as spearheading the effort to reinstate the TAPPI Information Resource Library, which was officially reestablished in 2016.

In 2006 Rodencal was awarded the Paper and Board Leadership and Service Award and Oscar May Prize. In 2009 he was elected a TAPPI Fellow. He received the Paper and Board Technical Award and Harris O. Ware Prize in 2014. He is past chair of both the Papermakers Committee and the Paper and Board Division, and served as a member of the TAPPI Board of Directors from 2009-2011. He has written several articles for TAPPI and is an author of numerous Technical Information Papers (TIPs). He also was an instructor for many years at the Wet End Operations and Pressing and Drying courses.

The award will be officially presented April 25 at TAPPI’s annual PaperCon conference in Minneapolis.