Jenkins, who started his new role in May, replaced Chris Brereton who has become the firm’s operations director for Europe.

“To start with I’m going to focus on people development and making sure we place people in the right roles, play to their strengths and support them so that they help us meet our business targets,” said Jenkins.

“Another big aspect of the job is around our investment strategy. I need to make sure that we’re listening to our customers as much as we can, and that we are making investments in technology and in our sites in order to meet customer demands.”

Jenkins has held more than 10 different roles within the business, the most recent of which was sector director for retail corrugated. He first joined the company through its graduate programme 20 years ago.

“Trainees are an essential part of our business and are the key to securing its long-term future,” said Jenkins.

“We have training schemes for every level of the business, including graduates, developers and operations people, so there are lots of opportunities for people to find the right job for them in the business.”

DS Smith, one the UK’s biggest corrugated packaging firms, operates in more than 20 countries and employs around 22,000 people. Its product range includes retail-ready packaging, transit cases, consumer units and heavy-duty industrial packaging.