Wes Smith began his career at Procter & Gamble, holding various positions for 20 years, guiding the construction and start-up of a new mill, and progressing to division manager of three mills and the Midwest engineering division. He then joined International Paper (IP) as Director of Manufacturing Technical Services, and was later promoted to President of IP Europe.
In 1992, Mr. Smith became Executive Vice President for the entire printing papers business where he was responsible for a corporate staff in six different areas, 18 million acres of woodlands, and a $6 billion portion of IP.