John T. Dillon (September 7, 1938 – February 28, 2023) was an American businessman who was the chairman and chief executive officer of

International Paper The International Paper Company is an American pulp and paper company, the largest such company in the world. It has approximately 56,000 employees, and is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee. History The company was incorporated January 31 ...

from 1996 to 2003.

Early life

Dillon was born in 1938 in Schroon Lake, New York. He earned an AAS in pre-professional forestry from

Paul Smith's College Paul Smith's College is a private college in Paul Smiths, New York. Paul Smith's College offers associate and bachelor's degrees. Its 14,000-acre campus is one of the largest college campuses in the world. Approximately 1,000 students attend ...

in 1958, a BA from the

University of Hartford The University of Hartford (UHart) is a private university in West Hartford, Connecticut. Its main campus extends into neighboring Hartford and Bloomfield. The university attracts students from 48 states and 43 countries. The university and it ...

in 1966 and an MBA from

Columbia Business School Columbia Business School (CBS) is the business school of Columbia University, a Private university, private research university in New York City. Established in 1916, Columbia Business School is one of six Ivy League business schools and is one ...

in 1971. He joined International Paper in 1965 as a sales trainee. He became President and COO in 1995 and Chairman and CEO in 1996. He held these positions until he retired in 2003. Prior to his appointment as chairman and CEO, Dillon served as president and chief operation officer of International Paper. Dillon also served as a director on other corporate boards, including

Caterpillar Inc. Caterpillar Inc. (stock symbol CAT) is an American ''Fortune'' 500 corporation and the world's largest construction-equipment manufacturer. In 2018, Caterpillar was ranked number 65 on the ''Fortune'' 500 list and number 238 on the Global ''Fo ...

beginning in 1997,

DuPont DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...

beginning in 2004, Kellogg Co. and Vertis. He was the vice chairman of Evercore Capital Partners. Dillon was also a member of

The Business Council The Business Council is an organization of business leaders headquartered in Washington, D.C.The Business Roundtable The Business Roundtable (BRT) is a nonprofit lobbyist association based in Washington, D.C. whose members are chief executive officers of major United States companies. Unlike the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, whose members are entire businesses, BRT ...

and

American Forest and Paper Association The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) is the national trade association of the paper and wood products industry. AF&PA was formed on January 1, 1993, by the merger of the National Forest Product Association and the American Paper Ins ...

, a member of the President's Advisory Council on Trade Policy and Negotiations and served as chairman of the

National Council on Economic Education The Council for Economic Education (the new name, since 2009 January, of the National Council on Economic Education) is an organization in the United States that focuses on the economic and financial education of students from kindergarten throug ...

Personal life and death

Dillon lived in

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich (, ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast (Conne ...

. He died on February 28, 2023, at the age of 84.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dillon, John T. 1938 births 2023 deaths Caterpillar Inc. people Columbia Business School alumni Kellogg's people DuPont people University of Hartford alumni International Paper 20th-century American businesspeople People from Essex County, New York