US-based collaborative organisation the Reusable Packaging Association (RPA) has revealed the line-up of its new executive committee and board members following an expansion this year.

Bob Klimko, director of general industrial marketing for ORBIS Corporation, will serve as chairman of the board, with Jon Kalin taking up the role of vice-chairman. David Rieser will serve as secretary/treasurer, Fred Heptinstall moves to immediate past chairman and, along with RPA president and CEO Jerry Welcome, they will serve as ex officio members of the executive committee and board.

Newly appointed board members include John Frey, Gary Garkowski, MikeHachtman, Craig Kelly, Rob Zachrich, Drew Merrill, Robert Engle and JimVangelos.

'This board includes an incredible depth of industry knowledge, coupledwith the strongest business and executive leadership experience that Ihave ever seen in the RPA,' Bob Mr Klimko. 'This is an important yearfor membership growth for the association so we need a strongleadership team to help us drive that growth, and deliver even morevalue to the membership.'

Some of the group's key projects for 2009 include publishing the results of the RPA RFID study that began in 2007, creating a new End User Advisory group to bring the customer perspective to RPA programmes and services, and expanding membership by 25 companies.

'We have set an aggressive agenda for 2009, and we hope to involve a lot of members in our efforts,' added RPA president Jerry Welcome. 'We want this to be a members-driven organisation that is focused on delivering the programmes and services that our members need to drive value back to their companies.'

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