Charles W. Coker

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Charles "Charlie" Westfield Coker (born May 10, 1933) is the former president and CEO of Sonoco Products Company of Hartsville, South Carolina, U.S.A.. He also serves as a director of Bank of America, Springs Industries, and Carolina Power & Light Company. He is chairman of the board of Hollings Cancer Center at the Medical University of South Carolina. He was a director of Sara Lee Corporation for several years, but retired from that position in October 2006.

Charlie Coker was born May 10, 1933, in Hartsville, SC, the son of Charles W. and Elizabeth Howard Coker. He graduated from Woodberry Forest School in Orange, Virginia, and received a bachelor of arts degree in history from Princeton University. In 1957, he was awarded an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He has also received honorary degrees from Clemson University, Coker College, University of South Carolina and Medical University of South Carolina.

Coker is the great-grandson of Business Hall of Fame honoree Major James Lide Coker, who founded Sonoco Products Company after the Coker plantation was destroyed in March 1865. Originally founded as a paper mill, Sonoco is now a Fortune 500 company and one of the world's major producers of different types of commercial and consumer product packaging. When Charlie Coker succeeded his father as president in 1970, Sonoco had annual sales of $125 million, there were 6,000 employees, and its operations totaled 61. By 1998, when he moved from chief executive officer and chairman to chairman, Sonoco had annual sales of $2.56 billion and its 16,500 employees were stationed at more than 275 locations in 85 countries on five continents.

Coker is married to South Carolina civic leader Joan F. Sasser, and they have six children and 21 grandchildren.

[edit] References

• Sara Lee Corporation - Board of Directors Retrieved on 13 April 2006