Beacon's History


1947 Beacon Bag Company Founded 1957 Former CEO and President, William P. Daly joins Beacon full time 1960-1970 Beacon produces coated rollstock for food packaging Beacon expands product line into healthcare industry with sterilizable flat and square bags 1972 Beacon purchases Faser Industries, a sterilization pouch company and begins production of the first hospital pouches 1985 Header Bag machine is purchased 1982 The first of the 3rd generation, Jackie Daly Johnson, current President, CEO joins Beacon 1988 Kathleen Daly Mascolo, current Vice President, and Director of Sales & Marketing joins Beacon 1994 The Sterilization Packaging Manufacturers Council (SPMC) of the Flexible Packaging Association is formed; William P. Daly is founding Chairman 2000 Beacon becomes a Woman Owned Business 2002 William P. Daly retires and Jackie Daly Johnson is promoted to President and CEO 2003 Beacon Converters was certified by the NJ Commerce & Economic Growth Commission as a Small Business Enterprise 2004 Beacon is certified as a Woman Owned Enterprise Today Beacon Celebrates its 60th Year	About Us Beacon Converters, Inc., originally Beacon Paper Bag Company, Inc. was established in 1947 by our grandfather, William F. Daly of General Baking Company, and Oliver L. Pouliot, and Bill Wehrman of Custom Made Paper Bag Company. The founders saw an opportunity to improve food packaging materials in a newly emerging market. The son of William F. Daly, William P. Daly, joined the company shortly thereafter, working part time as a student in various jobs in the plant and then joined full time in 1957. William was CEO of Beacon until his retirement in 2002. During his leadership, William P. Daly became the founding Chairman of the Sterilization Packaging Manufacturers Council, a subcommittee of the Flexible Packaging Association. The SPMC was formed in 1994 to develop test methods and guidance documents for the flexible sterilization packaging of medical devices used in hospitals and other healthcare facilities. In the early years, Beacon primarily produced flat and square bags for the food industry; outer wrap packaging for ice cream pops, snack foods, Italian bread bags, and liner bags for boxes of pretzels and chips. Some of the original products were packaged for Popsicleä, Mrs. Wagner's Piesä, Lipton Teaä, and Schneider'sä chips and pretzels. In the 1960's, Beacon broadened its manufacturing capabilities with the production of coated paper rollstock for food packaging. Concurrently, the medical packaging segment began to evolve quickly and Beacon brought the rollstock product line into the healthcare industry by printing on controlled porosity papers with sterilizable inks. Beacon also introduced sterilizable flat and square bags, primarily used for bulk gauze. In 1972 Beacon purchased Faser Industries, a start-up corporation in the sterilization pouch manufacturing field. Beacon produced the first hospital pouches including its own proprietary Faser brand, as well as Surgicot, Eaglepac (marketed by American Sterilizer Co.) and several other private label brands. The demand for sterilization packaging for manufacturers of disposable medical devices grew significantly and in 1985 Beacon diversified its product line by adding a header bag machine to the line. In 1987, Beacon purchased the manufacturing assets of GravureFlex, and increased its sterilization pouch capacity by almost 80%. In the late 1990's custom plastic die cut insert cards formed from medical grade plastic were introduced to be paired with the peel pouch. Using this card, one to multiple devices could be held securely in place within the peel pouch. This gave medical device manufactures a cost-effective alternative to rigid tray packaging. The Next Generation Joins Beacon Current President/CEO Jackie Daly Johnson, joined Beacon in 1982 after graduating from Georgetown University. Over the years Jackie incrementally took on the responsibility of overseeing the areas of: Customer Service, Administration, Quality, Manufacturing and Operations. Today she is integral member of the SPMC Technical Committee and was most recently named co-chair for AAMI ST/WG 07, for Packaging Working Group and is the Advisor to Standards Development Council for the FPA. Kathleen Daly Mascolo, current Vice President, and Director of Sales and Marketing, joined the company in 1988 upon her graduation from Boston College, when she began working in Customer Service. Today Kathleen manages Beacon's marketing and sales both nationally and internationally, working closely with an active sales force. Kathleen is also an active member of the SPMC and is currently the Chairman of the SPMC Marketing Group. After 43 years in the business founding owner and President, Oliver Pouliot retired in 1990. Shortly thereafter, Beacon became fully owned by the Daly family. In 2000 Beacon became a woman owned and operated company, when the majority of capital stock became owned by women. William P. Daly retired as President and CEO of Beacon in the spring of 2002 and Jackie Daly Johnson was promoted to President & CEO. In October of 2003, Beacon was certified by the NJ Commerce & Economic Growth Commission as a Small Business Enterprise, and by January of 2004, the same office certified Beacon as a Woman-Owned Business Enterprise. In October of 2004, Terri Daly Shank joined her sisters at Beacon as a Project Manager, focusing greater attention on IT & Marketing. Today Beacon's third generation of leadership follows the same vision of its founders; "To positively impact and guide the future of medical packaging and to continually improve our packaging technologies, materials and quality systems." After 60 years, the family is still at the helm of Beacon.	Popsicle® The Popsicle® bag was one of Beacon Paper Bag Company, Inc.'s first products.