Sonoco Products Company , a global leader in high-value sustainable packaging, today announced that Chief Operating Officer (“COO”) Rodger Fuller plans to retire after a 40-year career in Company leadership effective February 28, 2026.
Since becoming Chief Operating Officer (COO) in 2020, Fuller has been responsible for the Company’s global consumer and industrial operations as well as its diversified businesses and Information Technology. More recently Fuller stepped in as Interim CEO of Sonoco’s Metal Packaging EMEA business through the end of 2025. Sonoco does not intend to appoint a successor to the COO position, and the president of each business unit of the Company will report directly to Howard Coker, President and CEO.
“Rodger is an exceptional business operator and widely respected leader in the paper and packaging industry. He has always been willing to take on new challenges and drive for improved operational and financial performance for our company,” said Coker. “I want to express our deepest gratitude to Rodger for his extraordinary leadership and unwavering commitment to Sonoco over the past four decades and we wish him well in his next chapter.”
Fuller joined Sonoco in 1985 as a customer service representative and rose through a series of leadership roles during his career. Before becoming COO, Fuller was Executive Vice President of Sonoco’s Global Operations; Senior Vice President of Global Consumer Packaging, Display and Packaging and Protective Solutions; Senior Vice President of Paper and Engineered Careers and other senior leadership roles in both North America and Europe.
“It’s been my honor to work along-side so many talented people at Sonoco and participate in the extraordinary progress we have achieved during my tenure in transforming the company into a global leader in consumer and industrial metal and paper packaging,” Fuller said.
Throughout his career, Fuller has been active in numerous industry and community organizations, including serving on the board of the Sonoco Foundation, The Paper and Packaging Board, the American Forest & Paper Association, the Hartsville United Way Board, the South Carolina Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics Foundation and was active with the American Heart Association. He is a graduate of Berry College in Rome, Georgia with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and MBA from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Photo/Sonoco
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