MINNEAPOLIS, March 06, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Imagine, a trusted partner to the world’s most successful brands, is excited to announce that John Stakel has been appointed President of Imagine. John will report to Chief Executive Officer, Don McKenzie, and will be based at Imagine's headquarters in Minneapolis, MN.
With more than 30 years of global finance and operating leadership experience, John brings a proven track record of driving growth and operational excellence. His extensive background includes 17 years at Smurfit WestRock, a $30B global leader in paper and packaging, where he played a key role in transforming the company from approximately $2B in revenue to $18B and growing EBITDA from $300M to $3B through 32 acquisitions.
“John has operated at scale and delivered results throughout his career,” said Don McKenzie. “He is a strong cultural fit—humble, rigorous, collaborative, and results-oriented. His experience driving enterprise-wide transformation, managing large-scale integrations, and leading complex organizations makes him the ideal leader to help Imagine execute on our growth plan. We are excited to welcome him to our team.”
In his most recent role at Smurfit WestRock, John served as Senior Vice President of Integration where he led the pre- and post-close integration efforts for the Smurfit Kappa merger, identifying over $400M in synergies and contributing to programs exceeding $800M in committed value creation. Throughout his tenure, he also led enterprise-wide transformation initiatives, M&A integrations, logistics optimization and large-scale ERP projects.
As President, John will oversee the day-to-day performance of Imagine, with a focus on scaling growth and continuing operational excellence across the organization.
Imagine is a company known for its strong customer relationships and tremendous growth potential,” says John. “I’m excited to join the team and work together to help drive Imagine’s next chapter of growth.”
About Imagine
A trusted partner to the world’s most successful brands, Imagine designs, produces, and delivers beautifully crafted print and digital solutions that inspire action and get results. From concept to consumer, our end-to-end solutions include agency-level creative, pre-media, commercial print, store signage, specialty packaging, permanent fixtures, retail environments, out-of-home, fulfillment, and kitting. Imagine combines the customer technology of Dotti—a versatile platform powered to handle even the most complex in-store marketing programs—with Imagine Studio's award-winning design expertise, powered by top-tier print and digital production capabilities. Learn more at theimaginegroup.com or moagency.com.
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