Leadership Team

David M. Gandossi

President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director of Mercer

David M. Gandossi has served as President, Chief Executive Officer, and as a Director of Mercer since July 2015. He served as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Secretary from 2003 to 2015. Mr. Gandossi’s previous roles include Chief Financial Officer and other senior executive positions with Formation Forest Products and Pacifica Papers Inc.

Mr. Gandossi is currently a Director of the Council of Forest Industries (COFI), the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC), Formation Forest Products, and Alberta Forest Products Association (AFPA). His previous positions include Chair of the FPInnovations National Research Advisory Committee, Chair of the BC Pulp and Paper Task Force, and Chair of the BC Bio-economy Transformation Committee — each being collaborative efforts between government and industry stakeholders. Mr. Gandossi participated in the Pulp and Paper Advisory Committee to the BC Competition Council and was a member of BC’s Working Roundtable on Forestry. 

He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of British Columbia and is a Fellow of the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia. Mr. Gandossi also serves as a Member of the Environmental, Health, and Safety Committee.

David K. Ure

Senior Vice President Finance, Chief Financial Officer, and Secretary

David K. Ure has served as Senior Vice President Finance, Chief Financial Officer, and Secretary since July 2015.

Prior to these roles, Mr. Ure had served as Senior Vice President Finance from 2013 to 2015 and Vice President and Controller from 2006 to 2010. Mr. Ure’s previous roles included Vice President, Finance of Sierra Wireless Inc. and Controller at various companies including Catalyst Paper Corp., Pacifica Papers Inc., and Trojan Lithograph Corp., as well as Chief Financial Officer and Secretary of Finlay Forest Industries Inc.

Mr. Ure has more than fifteen years of experience in the forest products industry. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance from the University of British Columbia and is a member of the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia. He currently serves on the boards of FPInnovations, Kids Brain Health Network, Semiahmoo House Society, and Peninsula Estates Housing Society.

Adolf Koppensteiner

Chief Operating Officer

Adolf Koppensteiner has served as our Chief Operating Officer since 2017, prior to which he was Managing Director, Operations and Technical of the Stendal mill since October 2013. He served as Mill Manager at the Rosenthal mill since joining Mercer in 2007. Previously, Mr. Koppensteiner served as Managing Director of Kvaerner Central Europe, where he was responsible for Sales and Service for fifteen years. His entire career has been in the pulp and paper industry, where he has held a variety of positions and gained significant experience in engineering, construction projects, and pulp mill start-ups, as well as in the development and optimization of operating processes.

Christoph Grewe-Franze

Chief Information Officer

Christoph Grewe-Franze serves as Chief Information Officer for Mercer’s global operations and comes with considerable expertise in technology infrastructure, applications, and operations. Mr. Grewe-Franze is the former Chief Information Officer of Schütte, a large German machining equipment manufacturer. He has held similar roles in a diverse list that includes Able Management GmbH, Weleda AG, and the Tengelmann Group. Mr. Grewe-Franze has also held numerous consulting roles for such companies as Centogene AG, Deutsches Milchkontor, Konica Minolta, Ruhrkohle AG, and Dennree.

Mr. Grewe-Franze has a degree in Economic Sciences from Bergische Universität, Wuppertal, Germany.

Wolfram Ridder

Vice President, Business Development 

Wolfram Ridder has served as Vice President, Business Development since 2005. Prior to this, he served as Managing Director at our Stendal mill from 2001 to 2005. Mr. Ridder also served as Vice President Pulp Operations, Assistant to Chief Executive Officer from 1999 to 2005 and Assistant Managing Director of the Rosenthal mill from 1995 to 1998. Prior to joining Mercer, Mr. Ridder worked as a scientist for pulping technology development at the German Federal Research Center for Wood Science and Technology in Hamburg from 1988 to 1995.

Mr. Ridder holds a Master of Business Administration degree and a Master of Wood Science and Forest Product Technology degree from Hamburg University.

Brian Merwin

Vice President, Corporate Development

Brian Merwin is Vice President, Corporate Development and has served in this and similar roles since 2009. Prior to this and since joining Mercer in 2005 he served as Director, Strategic and Business Initiatives and Business Analyst.

Mr. Merwin holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Richard Ivey School of Business and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of British Columbia. He has over 15 years of industry experience, including M&A, corporate development, strategy, capital projects, innovation, and business integration. He currently serves as a Director of Cariboo Pulp & Paper Company and as Chairman of Performance BioFilaments Inc.

Bill R. Adams

Vice President, Sustainability & Innovation

Bill Adams serves as Vice President, Sustainability & Innovation for Mercer’s global operations. Mr. Adams has worked in a wide range of leadership roles in both Canada and the United States over the past 33 years, with his roles focused on engineering, manufacturing, and corporate development. These roles took place with Weyerhaeuser and Domtar before joining Canfor in 2014 where Bill served as the Sr. Director, Sustainability, Strategy & Innovation based in Vancouver. Prior to this role, Mr. Adams served as the Manager of Engineering & Strategy Planning at Domtar’s Kamloops mill in British Columbia. 

Bill Adams is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering, a Master’s Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of British Columbia, and an MBA in International Management from APIU. He has been a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia since 1987.

Richard Short

Vice President, Controller

Richard Short has served as Vice President, Controller since February 2014. Prior to this, he served as Controller from November 2010 to February 2014 and Director, Corporate Finance since joining Mercer in July 2007. His previous roles include Controller, Financial Reporting from 2006 to 2007 and Director, Corporate Finance from 2004 to 2006 with Catalyst Paper Corporation, and Assistant Controller at the Alderwoods Group Inc.

Mr. Short holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of British Columbia and is a member of the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia.

Genevieve Stannus

Treasurer

Genevieve Stannus has served as Treasurer since July 2005. Prior to this, she served as Senior Financial Analyst since joining Mercer in August 2003. Prior to her role at Mercer, Ms. Stannus held Senior Treasury Analyst positions with Catalyst Paper Corporation and Pacifica Papers Inc.

Ms. Stannus is a member of the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia, Canada.

Eric X. Heine

Vice President, Sales, Marketing and Logistics for Asia and North America

Eric X. Heine has served as Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Logistics for Asia and North America since June 2005. Mr. Heine was previously Vice President, Pulp and International Paper Sales and Marketing for Domtar Inc. from 1999 to 2005.

Mr. Heine has extensive experience in the international pulp and paper industry, including developing strategic sales channels and market partners to build corporate brands. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry (Wood Science) from the University of Toronto.

Uwe Bentlage

Vice President, Pulp Sales and Marketing for Europe; Managing Director, Mercer Pulp Products

Uwe Bentlage has served as Vice President, Pulp Sales & Marketing as well as Managing Director of Mercer Pulp Sales GmbH, Berlin since 2017. Before joining Mercer in 2004, he served as Director of Sales, Central Europe at Ekman, a leading Swedish trading house for pulp and paper. Mr. Bentlage started his career in 1994 in the forest industry as a sales manager at EGGER helping to expand the business to Eastern Europe and Russia as well as managing the PMI of acquired businesses.

Uwe Bentlage holds a degree in Business Administration from Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences.

Nils Hegerding

Vice President Pulp Sales and Marketing for Europe

Nils Hegerding has served as Vice President, Pulp Sales and Marketing since 2017. He has been working for Mercer since 2006 as a Sales Director. Prior to joining Mercer, he worked for GUSCO Handel, a pulp and paper agent in Hamburg.

Mr. Hegerding has close to 20 years’ experience in the sales of pulp, paper, pigments and fine chemicals in various markets in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

K. William (Bill) MacPherson

Managing Director, Mercer Celgar

Bill MacPherson currently serves as Managing Director at Mercer’s Celgar mill in Castlegar, British Columbia.  Mr. MacPherson previously served as Mill Manager at Domtar’s integrated pulp and paper mill in Kingsport, Tennessee.

Prior to becoming Mill Manager at Kingsport, Bill served as the Director of Domtar’s Central Engineering Group and prior to that, he was the Engineering Manager at the Kingsport Mill. Bill started his career as a project engineer for Western Pulp in Port Alice, B.C. He also held positions for Georgia-Pacific, Fort James, and James River, all at Naheola, Alabama, in engineering, maintenance, and operational positions.

Mr. MacPherson has a Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of British Columbia. He has been a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia since 1990.

Wolfgang Beck

Managing Director, Mercer Holz

Wolfgang Beck has served as Managing Director of Mercer Holz since 2016, prior to which he served in different leading functions in Mercer’s German wood business since 2005. In the past, Mr. Beck worked for a German state forest organization and was also at the beginning of his career working in the German financial sector. He has also been Managing Director of wood2M since 2016, a Joint Venture Company of Mercer and another Pulp and Paper Manufacturer.

Mr. Beck holds a degree in forestry from the University of Applied Sciences in Schwarzburg.

Shawn K. Elliott

Mill Manager, Mercer Peace River

Shawn Elliott has served as the Mill Manager of Mercer Peace River Pulp since 2018. 

Prior to becoming Mill Manager, Mr. Elliott served as the Maintenance and Engineering Manager from 2006 to 2018 at DMI Peace River Pulp. Mr. Elliott’s previous roles included management of a paper mill, environment, customer services, and engineering at a Sack Kraft and Linerboard mill in British Columbia, and Instrument and Controls specialist at a newsprint mill in Ontario.   

Mr. Elliott holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Queen’s University. He has more than 34 years of experience in the pulp and paper industry.

Leonhard Nossol

Managing Director, Mercer Rosenthal and Group Controller for Europe

Leonhard Nossol has been the Group Controller for Europe since August 2005. He has also been the Co-Managing Director of Rosenthal since 2020. Between 2005 and 2020 he was the sole Managing Director of Rosenthal, and from 1997 to 2005 he already was Co-Managing Director of Rosenthal. Before joining Mercer, Mr. Nossol was Director, Finance and Administration for a German household appliance producer from 1992 to 1997. Prior to this, he was Operations Controller at Grundig AG (consumer electronics) in Nürnberg, Germany.

Mr. Nossol has been a member of the German Industry Federation’s (BDI) Tax Committee since 2003. He was elected President of the German Wood Users Association (AGR) in 2013 and still holds this post. He has also been a board member in the German Papermaker’s association from 2013 onwards. Mr. Nossol holds a Political Science degree from Freie Universität Berlin, Germany and a degree in Business Management from the University of Applied Sciences in Berlin, Germany.

Dr. Christian Sörgel

Managing Director, Mercer Rosenthal

Dr. Christian Sörgel has been the Co-Managing Director of Rosenthal since 2020. He joined Rosenthal in 2007 and held various positions in different areas of the mill in the following years. In 2013 he was appointed mill manager responsible for production and maintenance including investments.

Mr. Sörgel holds a PhD of Wood Science and Forest Product Technology degree from Hamburg University.

André Listemann

Managing Director, Mercer Stendal

André Listemann has served as Managing Director, Finance and Administration of the Stendal mill since November 2012. Prior to this, he served as Director, Finance and IT of Stendal since joining Mercer in 2012. In the past, Mr. Listemann was Regional Controller, Europe for Avery Dennison Corporation, a global labelling and packaging company, where he served for more than eleven years in several finance positions. Mr. Listemann started his career at Coopers & Lybrand as an external auditor and also spent three years in a management position at a local bank.

Mr. Listemann holds a degree in Business Administration from the University of Jena.

Dr. Carsten Merforth

Managing Director, Mercer Timber Products

Dr. Carsten Merforth has served as Managing Director of the Friesau sawmill since its acquisition in April 2017. Previously, Dr. Merforth was the Managing Director of several high-capacity sawmills for Rettenmeier Holding AG and Pfeifer Holz GmbH. Dr. Merforth has more than 20 years of experience in the industrial sawmilling business and has extensive experience in operating saw and planing mills in Germany and Eastern Europe.

Dr. Merforth holds a Master of Forestry degree from Georg August University and a Doctorate of Forestry Economics degree from Albert Ludwigs University.