Young Professionals

The TAPPI Young Professional (YP) Division is where undergraduate and graduate students, recent graduates, and early career professionals come together to develop their leadership and technical skills, and to build relationships with peers and experienced industry professionals from across the pulp, paper, packaging, tissue, and related industries.

We are the gateway to all that TAPPI has to offer as an industry association and a launchpad for young professionals across the industry.

The YP Division also creates exclusive programming and networking designed specifically for the under-35 audience, both virtually and at TAPPI conferences. The division recognizes and promotes young professionals for their creativity and innovation and encourages members to become more personally involved.

Division Chair: Lena Decker, Packaging Corporation of America
Director of Communications: Isabelle Ownby, Intertape Polymer Group (IPG)
Director of Membership: McKenna Baker, University of Maine Pulp and Paper Foundation
Director of Events: Ayo Olarinoye, Greif
Division Immediate Past Chair: Brennan Augst, Voith

Get Involved

The TAPPI YP Division is led by a team of volunteers, each bringing their own skill set, ideas, and passion to the division to help shape its future. Getting involved in the YP Division is an excellent way to network with peers, expand your leadership experience and strengthen your professional development.

Your TAPPI Membership gives you connections and resources through more than a dozen industry-specific divisions, all of which provide a variety of focused services and opportunities including publications, events, online discussions, technical interest groups, councils, and committees. You can be a member of the YP Division and also get involved your industry-specific group while you are a young professional so that you start building your network right away.