About

Built by Operators of These Businesses.

North American Corrugated is an operating platform built by former CEOs, COOs, CFOs, owners, and operating executives of corrugated and graphics-heavy packaging businesses. We do not approach these situations from a presentation deck. We approach them as operators.

The Observation

Most firms advising these businesses have never operated one.

North American Corrugated was formed around a simple observation:

Most firms advising corrugated and graphics-heavy packaging businesses have never operated one.

We have.

Our principals have operated corrugated converters, sheet feeders, graphics-heavy packaging businesses, display manufacturers, and integrated packaging operations as CEOs, COOs, CFOs, owners, and operating executives.

We understand these businesses from:

  • the plant floor
  • the schedule
  • the customer mix
  • the balance sheet
  • the equipment platform
  • the lender relationship
  • the EBITDA bridge

North American Corrugated exists for situations where the business should be performing better than it is — operationally, financially, or strategically.

We do not approach these situations from a presentation deck.

We approach them as operators.

When We Are Brought In

The situations we operate in.

01

Margin Compression

Pricing, mix, throughput, or cost structure has eroded what the business used to earn.

02

Weakening Leadership

Senior roles are vacant, stretched, or no longer suited to the company's current stage.

03

Uncertain Succession

Ownership transition is approaching without a clear plan inside the family or management.

04

Active Lender

Covenants, reporting demands, or workout posture are reshaping the operating relationship.

05

Stretched Management

The team that built the company is being asked to run a different one.

06

Approaching Transaction

A sale, recapitalization, or acquisition is on the horizon and the business is not yet ready.

07

Operational Complexity

The organization has outgrown its systems, scheduling discipline, or planning rhythm.

How We Work

Diagnose. Operate. Improve. Prepare.

01 — Diagnose

Strategic Diagnostic

A focused operational and financial assessment of the business, management structure, equipment platform, customer concentration, throughput realities, pricing discipline, working capital behavior, and operational risks. Done inside the business, alongside ownership and management. The output is a prioritized list of operational and financial decisions tied directly to EBITDA impact — not a deck.

02 — Operate

Operating Intervention

Where required, NAC steps into operating leadership support roles alongside ownership and management to stabilize performance, improve accountability, and restore operating discipline. Engagements may include CEO support, COO/operations leadership, CFO support, or plant-level operating leadership.

03 — Improve

EBITDA Improvement

Operational sequencing focused on throughput, labor productivity, pricing discipline, scheduling performance, customer mix, scrap reduction, and cash generation. We work the EBITDA bridge one operational lever at a time, with the operator team executing each change.

04 — Prepare

Strategic Readiness

Positioning the company for long-term ownership, recapitalization, generational transition, strategic sale, lender stabilization, or acquisition. We work to a normalized EBITDA, operational credibility, management continuity, operational transparency, and buyer readiness.

Inside the Donato Ecosystem

Capital. Restructuring. Operating Partnership.

North American Corrugated is an operating company of Donato Capital — a private investment platform led by Len Cuoco focused on closely-held middle-market businesses. NAC operates alongside two sister platforms: Mancini Advisors, an operator-led turnaround and restructuring practice that is the source of crisis and restructuring leadership for packaging engagements; and Potenza Crescita, an operating partnership for founder-led early- and growth-stage businesses. Together, the three platforms allow NAC to draw on capital, restructuring discipline, and operating partnership depth that an independent advisory firm cannot match.

If The Business Should Be Performing Better Than It Is, We Should Talk.

North American Corrugated works with corrugated, POP display, folding carton, and graphics-heavy packaging businesses facing operational underperformance, ownership transition, EBITDA pressure, or strategic inflection points.

Schedule a Confidential Discussion
All conversations are confidential
Schedule a Confidential Discussion