Sonoco has appointed Francesco Giannolo vice president and general manager of its Consumer Packaging business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
Giannolo will report directly to Ernest Haynes, president of Sonoco’s Global Consumer Packaging segment. His appointment follows the company’s recent move to bring its global consumer packaging operations under a single integrated leadership structure.
Haynes said Giannolo’s experience would support Sonoco’s focus on innovation, productivity and customer service in the EMEA region as the company aligns its global Consumer Packaging businesses.
Giannolo joined Sonoco in 2019 and most recently served as vice president of commercial for the company’s Consumer Packaging business in EMEA and Asia-Pacific. In 2022, he was appointed vice president and general manager of Sonoco’s Rigid Paper Containers business in EMEA. He has also held other sales leadership positions within the company.
A native of Naples, Italy, Giannolo has 23 years of experience in the packaging industry. He began his career with Crown Packaging in 2004, where he later became plant manager. He later joined Amcor as plant general manager for its medical division before serving as senior director of commercial excellence for EMEA.
Giannolo holds a Master of Science in Environmental and Land Planning Engineering from Federico II University of Naples.
The appointment comes as Sonoco consolidates its consumer packaging businesses under Haynes’ leadership. The segment generates approximately $5.2 billion in annual sales and employs 11,250 people across 98 operations in 25 countries.
Founded in 1899, Sonoco is a global provider of metal and paper-based consumer and industrial packaging. The company generated net sales of $7.5 billion from continuing operations in 2025 and employs approximately 22,000 people across 263 operations in 37 countries.
