He will retire at the end of 2005 and has held the position of executive vice president and chief operating officer of Chesapeake since 2001. Gilchrist will also step down from his position of chief executive of the Field Group, a division of Chesapeake.

Gilchrist follows MY Holdings chief executive John Monks into retirement, who steps down this month after 14 years at MY.

"With Gilchrist's retirement at the end of the year, we will be losing an executive with 25 years of packaging industry experience who has made tremendous contributions to Chesapeake," said Chesapeake chairman and chief executive, Thomas Johnson.

Gilchrist will be replaced by Neil Rylance who will work alongside Gilchrist as executive vice president from 3 January. After a period of transition Rylance will take over the role from 1 July and will be responsible for Chesapeake's European packaging operations.

Story by Philip Chadwick