Executive Bios

Rob van der Merwe

Chairman, President and CEO

Mr. van der Merwe has served as Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of Checkpoint Systems, Inc. since January 2009. Previously, he was President and Chief Executive Officer since December 2007 and a member of the Company’s Board of Directors since October 2007.

Mr. van der Merwe has extensive experience in the global retail and consumer marketplaces. Prior to joining Checkpoint, he was Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Paxar Corporation, a provider of merchandising systems to retail and apparel customers, before Paxar was sold to Avery Dennison Corporation in 2007. He held executive positions at Kimberly-Clark Corporation from 1980 to 1987 and from 1994 to 2005, including serving as Group President of Kimberly-Clark's multi-billion dollar global consumer tissue business and Group President of Europe, Middle East and Africa. Mr. van der Merwe also held managerial positions at Xerox Corporation and Colgate-Palmolive Company.

Mr. van der Merwe is a graduate of the University of Miami in Florida. In addition he has completed executive development programs at the University of Cape Town in South Africa and Stanford-National University of Singapore.

He also serves on the Board of Directors of the American Red Cross - South Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter.

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Farrokh Abadi

President, Shrink Management Solutions

Mr. Abadi was appointed President, Shrink Management Solutions at Checkpoint Systems, Inc. in September 2010. Previously, he served as Senior Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer since October 2008, while also retaining responsibility for the Company’s procurement and systems supply chain. Prior to that, Mr. Abadi served as Senior Vice President, Worldwide Operations, since April 2006. He joined Checkpoint Systems in 2004 as Vice President and General Manager, Worldwide Research and Development.

During his career, Mr. Abadi worked in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America. Prior to joining Checkpoint, he was Senior Vice President of Global Cross-Industry Practices at Atos Origin, an international consulting and systems-integration company and earlier, during his 18 years with Schlumberger, he held senior management positions in the telecom, smart cards, oil field and electricity markets.

Mr. Abadi holds a Master and Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology.

He is a member of the Board of Directors of Philadelphia Academies Inc., a non profit youth-development organization.

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Rafael Alegre

Vice President and General Manager, Europe

Mr. Alegre has been with Checkpoint Systems, Inc. for 10 years in various management positions in finance, human resources and production. He also spent five years leading the Apparel Labeling Solutions business, initially for Europe and later worldwide, and was responsible for introducing a variety of supply chain solutions to Checkpoint's apparel customers.

Prior to joining Checkpoint, Mr. Alegre held management positions in the packaging and consumer industries, including working at Amcor Flexibles and Arbora Holding, a subsidiary of Proctor & Gamble.

Mr. Alegre holds a Master's degree in Business Administration from ESADE Business School in Barcelona.

 

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Ray Andrews

Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Andrews was appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Checkpoint Systems, Inc. in December 2007. Previously, he was Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer since August 2005.

Mr. Andrews has extensive experience as a leader of global finance and accounting operations for large, multi-national companies. Before joining Checkpoint Systems, he served as Controller of INVISTA S.a’r.l., a subsidiary of Koch Industries. Prior to the acquisition by Koch Industries, Mr. Andrews was Director of Accounting Operations of INVISTA Inc. From 1998 to 2002, Mr. Andrews was Controller of DuPont Pharmaceuticals Company and then Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Company, a subsidiary of Bristol-Myers Squibb, when that company acquired DuPont Pharmaceuticals in 2001. Earlier, Mr. Andrews held positions of increasing responsibility at DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Company and the DuPont Company. 

Mr. Andrews holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the University of Delaware and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the state of Texas. 

He is a member of the Board of Trustees, Treasurer, Finance Committee Chairman and former President of Delaware Hospice, Inc.

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Sharon Brindley

President, The Americas

Ms. Brindley brings to Checkpoint Systems, Inc. over 25 years of sales leadership experience with global technology companies. She has worked for industry leading companies such as IBM and Lexmark, and most recently served as Vice President North America at Zebra Technologies.

Ms. Brindley holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from San Jose State University and an Executive MBA from Washington University.

 

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Paul Chu

President, Asia Pacific

Mr. Chu joined Checkpoint Systems, Inc. in November 2009 as President, Asia Pacific.

Mr. Chu has extensive experience in business management and finance in the labeling services and technology sectors. Previously, he was Vice President and General Manager of Avery Dennison Corporation's Retail Information Services' South China operations. From 1990 to 2007, Mr. Chu held various executive positions at Paxar Corporation, a provider of merchandising systems to retail and apparel customers. At Paxar, he was responsible for establishing and growing the company's Asia Pacific operations, ultimately becoming regional President. Under his leadership, the company's footprint expanded from a single base in Hong Kong into every major apparel manufacturing center in Asia.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Chu was Regional Financial Controller, Far East, for McDonnell Douglas Information Systems.

Mr. Chu holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Texas at El Paso.

 

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Salvatore Dona

Vice President and Chief Information Officer

Mr. Dona was appointed Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Checkpoint Systems, Inc. in October 2008. Previously, he served as Global Vice President, Information Technology, since 2003. Mr. Dona joined the Company in 2001 as Director of Application Delivery for North America. He led the development of Check-Net®, the Company’s web-based customer order-management platform, as well as enterprise-wide systems’ initiatives.

Mr. Dona has more than 25 years experience in information technology working for companies such as Automatic Data Processing, Citibank NA and International Flavors and Fragrances.

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Per H. Levin

President, Merchandise Visibility and Apparel Labeling Solutions

Mr. Levin was appointed President, Merchandise Visibility and Apparel Labeling Solutions at Checkpoint Systems, Inc. in September 2011. Mr. Levin has held numerous positions at Checkpoint Systems. Previously, he served as President, Merchandise Visibility Solutions since September 2010; President, Shrink Management Solutions since March 2006; President of Europe from June 2004; Executive Vice President, General Manager of Europe from May 2003 to June 2004; Vice President, General Manager of Europe from February 2001 to May 2003; and Regional Director Southern Europe from 1997 to 2001. He joined the Company in January 1995 as Managing Director of Spain.

Prior to joining Checkpoint Systems, Mr. Levin held management positions in Sweden with Volkswagen/Audi/Porsche, in Latin America with Sweda Information Systems, and in Spain with Riva Electronics.

Mr. Levin holds a Bachelor of Science degree in International Economics from the University of Stockholm, Sweden.

 

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John R. Van Zile

Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary

Mr. Van Zile has been Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, since joining Checkpoint Systems, Inc. in June 2003.

Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Van Zile served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Exide Corporation from September 2000 until October 2002 and Vice President and General Counsel from November 1996 until September 2000. Previously, Mr. Van Zile held positions of increasing legal responsibility at GM-Hughes Electronics Corporation and Coltec Industries.

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James Wrigley

Group President, Global Customer Management

Mr. Wrigley joined Checkpoint Systems in March 2010 as Group President, Global Customer Management.

Mr. Wrigley has extensive experience in the global retail and apparel industries. Prior to joining Checkpoint, he held a senior executive position with Avery Dennison Corporation’s Retail Information Services business following Avery’s acquisition of Paxar Corporation in 2007. Previously at Paxar, Mr. Wrigley was Group President, Global Apparel Solutions, and from 1996 to 2006, President of Paxar’s Europe, Middle East and Africa business. As President, Mr. Wrigley grew regional sales from $50 million to $300 million through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions. Earlier, he held management positions of increasing international responsibility with the Pepe Group plc and Coats Viyella plc, based in England, Spain, Chile, Brazil and Portugal.

Mr. Wrigley holds a Master of Arts (Hons) degree in Modern Languages from the University of Cambridge.

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