05/13/2026
Recently, Sappi North America VP of Manufacturing Kirk Ross delivered the keynote address at the University of Maine Pulp & Paper Foundation's Paper Days. He began by acknowledging a painful recent loss.
Earlier this year, two young engineers died following a safety incident at a Maine paper mill -- a tragedy that shook the entire industry. Kasie Malcolm was a junior studying chemical engineering at UMaine; many of his classmates were sitting in that very room. Allen Hornberger was a 26-year-old process engineer early in a promising career. Both were gone far too soon. Ross honored them, and the classmates carrying that grief forward.
Then he offered hope. "Kasie's story remains part of your story," Ross said, "and the work you will do in the world will carry his memory forward. Let us reside in that hope and take comfort in that knowledge."
From there, he made his case. He pointed to four names: Einstein, Tesla, Emily Roebling, and Steve Wozniak, each of whom changed their field before the age of 27. His point was simple: the engineers who change industries are often the ones who haven't yet been told what's impossible.
"They were engineers who saw a problem," Ross told the audience, "and simply couldn't leave it alone."
He pushed back on the notion that pulp and paper is yesterday's industry. Anyone who thinks that, he said, simply hasn't walked a modern mill floor recently. Then he turned directly to the students:
"You are at the beginning of the part of your life where your ideas matter. Where your energy matters. Where your curiosity matters."
His closing was direct: "You do not need a title to make a difference. You just need the curiosity to see what others don't -- and the courage to fix it. You are next."
It was an honor for Kirk to address the next generation of engineers at Paper Days, and Sappi looks forward to watching these graduates make their mark on this industry.
