Gerald Marterer, Distinguished Alumni

            Gerald Marterer (’67), the Clarion University Alumni Association’s 2007 Distinguished Alumni, traces his success, which includes extensive experience transforming businesses, to knowledge he gained at Clarion.

            “The liberal arts curriculum included languages and humanities, which seemed like extra work then but gave me perspectives I use today,” said Marterer. “Learning one foreign language, French, gave me insights into learning other languages like Chinese when I lived in Asia. The two composition courses I had to pass were difficult, but they taught me how to write, a skill that I use every day.”

            Marterer has mastered it well. He is the president and CEO of Arizona Chemical, a global leader in pine chemistry. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., the company has seven manufacturing plants in the U.S. and five in Europe, and supplies chemicals to the adhesive, inks, coatings and pharmaceutical markets.

            He has held numerous positions with International Paper, Arizona’s former parent company, including president-IP Asia, vice president-quality management, and general manager of the Akrosil and Nicolet divisions. He has a great deal of field experience in helping with corporate transformation.

In a talk given at Clarion’s College of Business in 2005, he spoke of “creating the crisis” to communicate the seriousness of the situation; building a guiding coalition for change; developing and communicating a vision; enrolling, empowering and energizing others; creating and recognizing short-term wins; and institutionalizing new approaches.

            Marterer began his career at Hammermill Paper in Erie, Pa., as an internal auditor. When International Paper bought the company, Marterer was sent to run a paper mill in Wisconsin. The mill was in bad financial shape and underwent a labor strike, but during the aftermath the mill beat every record for production and became one of the safest mills owned by International Paper.

            The move to Wisconsin was the first of 12 moves Marterer made during his career.

            “All of that moving gave me a lot of perspective on how to deal with different types of people and to stay flexible,” he said.

            When International Paper was looking at overseas options, Marterer became involved in building a business in China. He has lived in Hong Kong, New York, Wisconsin, Tennessee and Florida.

            “I’ve been lucky to be in the right place at the right time,” said Marterer. “The reward for helping a company to recover is that you get to do it all over again somewhere else. Four of the five businesses I have been involved with have been turnarounds. I see myself as a coach, not a quarterback. The goal is to get the team into the playoffs and a chance at winning the championship. It is rewarding, challenging and usually fun.”

            A leveraged buyout of Arizona Chemical was recently completed. It will become a private company, providing a new set of challenges, part of them financial.

            “I am looking forward to this,” said Marterer. “It will be fun taking our company into a different business environment and trying to win. We will be more global in the future. Less than half of what we do now is in the U.S. I will be dividing my time between the United States and Europe. Travel goes with the job; it’s all I have known.”

            All of this has happened despite Marterer’s own admission that he did not have a sense of what he wanted to do when he arrived at Clarion.

            “I knew from my experience of working in retail and other areas that I liked business,” he recalled. “There was no business program yet when I was at Clarion, so I majored in economics and minored in accounting. The accounting helped me to get a job and the economics helped to run a business later on.”

            He also served as president of Student Senate in 1966, was a student senator for three years, and was a class officer. He played in the marching band directed by Dr. Stanley Michalski.

            “I still stay in touch with Dr. Michalski,” said Marterer. “He was a good leader, set a good example, worked us hard, and let us have fun. Clarion also provided plenty of opportunities for socialization, and I think I took advantage of all of them, which was part of the process of developing as an individual.”

            But most importantly during his years at Clarion, Marterer met his wife Suzanne Conroy (’67), who received her degree in elementary education. They have two grown sons, Brian and Aaron, and two grandchildren. Currently living in Jacksonville, Fla., they also have a home in Paris, France.

            “This is humbling,” said Marterer about the Distinguished Alumni Award. “You normally don’t think of what you are doing as distinguished. It is doing what you do, adding value to something and enjoying it.”