TAPPI’s Women in Industry Division Names Sappi North America’s Vice President of Research, Development and Sustainability and North Carolina State University’s Assistant Dean for Advancement in the College of Natural Resources Recipients of the 2023 Woman

(ATLANTA) April 21, 2023 – TAPPI is pleased to announce that Beth Cormier, Vice President of Research, Development and Sustainability for Sappi North America, and Jennifer Piercy, Assistant Dean for Advancement in the College of Natural Resources and President of the Natural Resources Foundation at North Carolina State University (NCSU), have been named winners of the Women In Industry Division’s 2023 Woman of the Year Award.

A member of Sappi North America’s leadership team, Cormier is focused on driving sustainability strategy and initiatives that help Sappi contribute more fully toward a circular economy. In addition to her North American role, she also directs continuous improvement initiatives through the Lean Six Sigma discipline and is globally involved with management of new technology platforms for innovative new paper and packaging products, as well as investigating opportunities to utilize cellulose in new markets. 

Cormier is a member of TAPPI and serves on the Women in Industry Executive Committee and the International Research Management Committee. She also currently serves on the Board of the Bio-renewable Development Consortium and is Board Chair for the University of Maine Pulp and Paper Foundation. Industry advocacy is a priority for Cormier and she is a member of the USDA Paper and Packaging Board focused on educating consumers on the industry’s positive sustainability story to drive more use of fiber-based packaging.

Prior to being named Assistant Dean, Piercy served ten years as NCSU’s Director of Student Recruiting for the Paper Science and Engineering program and the Executive Director of the Pulp & Paper Advisory Board.

Piercy holds bachelor’s degrees from NCSU in Pulp & Paper Technology and Chemical Engineering. In the paper industry, she previously worked for Willamette Industries, Wilcopy and then Procter and Gamble as a process engineer, machine manager and department manager. In higher education, Piercy worked at the graduate business schools of both the University of Virginia and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before coming “home” to NCSU in 2012.

She is a member of TAPPI and dedicates her time to the Women in Industry Division, student chapters and the TAPPI/PIMA Student Summit. She is also the Career and Personal Development advisor to the Chi Omega Fraternity chapter at NCSU.

The Women in Industry Division’s Woman of the Year award recognizes women who have demonstrated excellence in leading, motivating, and developing others within the pulp, paper, tissue, packaging and supporting industries.

The awards will be presented at TAPPICon, April 22-26, 2023 in Atlanta, GA, USA.

About TAPPI’s Women in Industry Division:

The Women in Industry Division (WIN) works to see a competitive, diverse, and dynamic industry that offers long-term, fulfilling careers where women and men work synergistically. The WIN committees strive to provide easy access to a highly valued portfolio of learning tools and networking opportunities to support personal growth and career development, and an industry with raised awareness and heightened appreciation for how the differences between women and men can lead to a more integrated, engaged, and successful workforce.

About TAPPI:

TAPPI is the leading association for the worldwide pulp, paper, packaging, tissue and converting industries and publisher of Paper360°, Tissue360° and TAPPI Journal. Through information exchange, events, trusted content and networking opportunities, TAPPI helps members elevate their performance by providing solutions that lead to better, faster and more cost-effective ways of doing business. It has provided management training and networking to the industry’s leaders for more than 107 years. For more information, visit TAPPI’s website.