Curran Named President, CEO of Smurfit-Stone; Stone Retires

Effective April 1, Ray M. Curran will serve as president and CEO of Smurfit-Stone Container Corp., the company announced Thursday. Curran will replace Roger W. Stone, 63, who is retiring from his position as president and CEO and as a director of the company, effective March 31. Stone spent 43 years with the company.

Appointed as president and CEO by the board of directors, Curran has been executive vice president and deputy chief executive of the company and was formerly finance director of Jefferson Smurfit Group plc, Smurfit-Stone's largest shareholder. The company, a leading manufacturer of paperboard and paper-based packaging and the largest producer of containerboard and kraft paper, also said that the board of directors has formed a committee to search for a COO.

Smurfit-Stone also announced that Matthew S. Kaplan, 41, Smurfit-Stone's vice president and general manager of the company's corrugated container division, will resign from the company and its board of directors effective March 31.