A Tribute:
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A stronger Green Bay:
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Greg Santaga '84, Business Administration
President and CEO, Green Bay Converting and Hattiesburg Paper Corporation
Family: Wife Ann; daughters Angelina (19) and Kristina (17) and son Anthony (15)


Greg Santaga: Converting an opportunity
Greg Santaga had a Phoenix Hall of Fame career as a striker for the men’s soccer team. Years later — after working for Fort Howard Co., Bellows International, Scott Paper, Kimberly-Clark and Tufco Technologies — he made a decision to strike out on his own.
      Greg purchased equipment from Tufco Technologies and founded Green Bay Converting in 1999, and added a Hattiesburg, Miss., operation in 2005. Green Bay Converting produces tissues, towels, napkins and wipes and Hattiesburg produces napkins for the food service industry. He is also involved in his brother Scott’s business (facing page).
      “We started in June of 1999 with 20 people and eight pieces of old converting equipment,” Greg says. “We now employ more than 700 people and have about 85 pieces of equipment.”
      Important to the local economy, Green Bay Converting was able to employ hundreds of people with technical skills who lost their jobs as major paper companies consolidated or left the Fox River Valley area over the past decade. Greg says he is also proud of the company’s diverse workforce — about 35 percent of his employees account for 15 nationalities and nine different languages.
      Greg spent 14 years out of the area and could have started his company elsewhere, but chose Green Bay.
      “Ann and I got to the point in our lives where we wanted to have control over where we were going to be over the next ten to fifteen years,” Santaga said. “We decided where we wanted to live first, choosing Green Bay mainly because of our families. And from a business standpoint, we realized this community had so much to offer as well. There was a real niche in the market, and a talented pool of people. It was a win-win.”
‘Awesome’ teachers:
“We really knew they cared about our education. Most memorable were Bob Obenberger and John Farah among the business faculty. I remember for one project and a large part of our grade, we had to study an intangible business or product. Kevin Campbell and I worked together on a project about the funeral home industry. We had a lot of fun and we got an A. I still have the paper.”
Brotherly love:
“The neatest thing was playing with my brother Scott. Just like in soccer, he always does the hard work and I get all the credit. It’s the same way in business. I am more the raw opportunist and Scott is smarter and a more calculating grinder. He is methodical and cares about the details. I am the kind of guy who manages to be in the right place at the right time. I guess that’s why I’m in sales and he’s in engineering.”

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