May 14, 2007. /Lesprom Network/. Sappi Limited announced on May 14, 2007 that Roeloff Jacobus (Ralph) Boëttger (45), currently an executive director of Imperial Holdings Limited, will join Sappi on the 1st of July this year as chief executive officer. Ralph Boëttger is a chartered accountant by training with a wide general management experience. At the age of 34 he was appointed chief executive officer of Safair and the next year appointed to the executive committee of SAFREN Limited. Since 1998 he has been with Imperial Holdings when Imperial acquired Safair and since 2002 he has been an executive director of Imperial Holdings with responsibility for their local and international logistics operations, the aviation division and the heavy commercial vehicle distribution operations. His field of responsibility encompassed businesses operating in Southern Africa, numerous European countries, the Middle East and Asia. He is well versed in managing an operation with diverse cultures. Ralph Boëttger is a South African citizen and lives in Johannesburg. Sappi chairman Eugene van As, who has been acting as chief executive for the past 13 months, will revert to a non-executive role. He will retire from the board of Sappi Limited at the annual general meeting in March 2008. The process of electing a new chairman will start soon. A global leader in the pulp and paper industry, Sappi Limited, headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, conducts its business through two business units, Sappi Fine Paper and Sappi Forest Products.