After its previous CEO resigned in April only four months into the job, Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc., or RYAM, announced a new chief executive June 22.
The Jacksonville-based maker of cellulose specialties products said Daniel Krawczyk, who had been president of Huber Engineered Materials, was appointed president and chief executive.
RYAM has recorded losses from continuing operations for seven straight years and has faced recent pressure to sell the company.
The company in April said it was exploring strategic alternatives as previous CEO Scott Sutton resigned after joining the company in January.
Before he resigned and the strategic review began, private equity firm American Industrial Partners disclosed it made an offer to buy RYAM and was rejected by the board.
On June 17, Mill Pond Capital LLC Managing Member Daniel Farb sent a letter to the board urging it to sell the company.
Farb said Mill Pond owns 3% of RYAM’s shares.
In a news release announcing Krawczyk’s appointment, RYAM Board Chair Julie Dill said the new CEO has the experience to help determine the company’s strategic path.
“Dan is a highly accomplished executive with a strong track record of strategic transformation, operational execution and value creation,” Dill said.
“His experience leading complex industrial businesses and executing significant portfolio-shaping transactions makes him uniquely qualified to lead RYAM during this important period,” she said.
Krawczyk has been president of Huber Engineered Materials, a division of J.M. Huber Corp., since 2017.
He oversaw three business units at the company: Huber Advanced Materials, Huber Specialty Minerals and Huber AgroSolutions.
In his new position with RYAM, “we will continue to focus on delivering positive free cash flow, extending our leadership in Cellulose Specialties, and driving EBITDA improvement across every business – all while delivering leading products to our customers and running our operations safely and efficiently,” Krawczyk said in the news release.