Finch Paper has new CEO

PHOTOGRAPHER: Stephen Williams

Finch Paper LLC, the paper manufacturer located in downtown Glens Falls for more than a century, has a new president and CEO.

Debabrata Mukherjee is replacing Joseph F. Raccuia, who is retiring, effective immediately, company officials announced Friday. Raccuia said the transition has been under discussion for about the past three months.

Mukherjee has been vice president and general manager of specialty papers for P.H. Glatfelter, a worldwide paper manufacturer. He has been based in York, Pa., overseeing six locations with 2,300 employees.

Raccuia, a former CEO of SCA Tissue-North America, came out of retirement to take the helm of Finch in 2009 at a time when the company was struggling with a drop in demand for its uncoated paper products and labor problems. He said he has worked on transforming the company by developing new products and increasing efficiencies.

“Together with an outstanding senior leadership team and the help of our employees and unions, I am proud to say Finch Paper is well on its way to achieving this transformation,” Raccuia said in a statement.

He said Mukherjee’s expertise as a developer of specialty papers and expert in manufacturing innovation make him well-suited to lead Finch Paper.

“We are fortunate to have attracted Deba Mukherjee, a transformational business leader and architect of innovative specialty paper products whose multi-disciplinary strengths are ideally suited to take Finch Paper to the next level of sustainable success,” said Andrew M. Bursky, chairman of Atlas Holdings LLC, which co-owns Finch with Blue Wolf Capital Management.

Mukherjee, a native of India, has ties to the Capital Region. He holds a master’s and doctorate in chemical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechic Institute in Troy. He has been with P.H. Glatfelter for the past 15 years.

“I am honored and excited by the opportunity lead Finch Paper,” Mukherjee said.

He holds three patents related to inkjet printing technologies, an area in which Finch has been developing new products.

Mukherjee said an independent mill such as Finch Paper can compete against multinational companies by being more flexible.

“With talented people you can out-complete global multinationals,” he said in a conference call Friday.

Finch Paper manufactures more than 255,000 tons per year of uncoated printing papers for corporate marketing materials, direct mail, book publishing, transactional document and business office use. It has 650 employees and also operates a forest management division.