Excellence Starts with Great People

Celebrating the Impact of Rich Wise on Ashtonne Packaging’s Culture of Success

In the packaging industry, there is a lot of attention placed on equipment, materials, automation, logistics, freight, warehousing, and production capabilities. Those things matter. But manufacturers who are looking for true partners realize that “what packaging companies do” isn’t what makes them the best.

The best companies are built on trust.
The best companies are built on relationships.
The best companies are built on a culture of excellence.

The one thing each of those points has in common: The best companies are built with the best people. People like our own retiring Director of Sales, Rich Wise.

Rich has been part of what is excellent here. Strong communication. Problem solving. Accountability. Experience. Teamwork. Those are the things that help projects stay on track and help businesses continue growing, especially when things get tough.

At Ashtonne Packaging, we believe our people are our single greatest asset. Our culture has always been built around relationships, teamwork, and a shared commitment to helping each other, and our customers succeed.

Rich was a big part of that. We’re going to miss him, but we also know we’re better off because he was here.

A Team Working Toward a Common Goal

Long-term success comes from people who genuinely care about the company, the customers they serve, and the people they work beside every day.

That culture has helped Ashtonne continue growing while maintaining the responsiveness, flexibility, and relationships that customers value in a trusted partner.

When the culture is right, client relationships are right. When deadlines tighten, production schedules shift, or supply chain challenges emerge, manufacturers need packaging partners they can trust to communicate clearly, respond quickly, and help solve problems.

Need an example of this? Here you go. Meet Rich Wise!

Celebrating the Impact of Rich Wise

Rich Wise is the kind of person every company hopes to have on its team.

He joined Ashtonne Packaging in 2013 as a sales representative, but his role quickly became much bigger than a title. Rich had a way of understanding what customers were really trying to accomplish. He could look beyond the immediate order and help clients think through the packaging strategy, fulfillment needs, timing, growth challenges, and practical details that could make or break success.

That made him especially valuable to some of Ashtonne’s fastest-growing client partners. When companies were scaling, changing, adding complexity, or trying to get a better handle on fulfillment, Rich brought steady leadership and real-world perspective to the table. He helped customers execute well, and he helped our team grow stronger in the process.

In 2018, Rich was promoted to Director of Sales, a natural reflection of the trust he had built with customers, vendors, and teammates. He played an important role in the growth of Ashtonne’s Fulfillment division, but just as importantly, he helped develop the people around him. He coached, mentored, listened, encouraged, challenged, and made others better.

“Rich Wise was integral in helping to build the client-focused, ‘Say YES’ culture here,” says Ashtonne Packaging President Dan Schlitt. “He is and was a consummate professional, and his leadership made the company better every day.”

That is the kind of leadership that stays with a company. Rich built relationships the right way: with honesty, consistency, follow-through, and genuine care for the success of others. His impact can be seen in the clients he helped, the vendor partnerships he strengthened, and the team members who benefited from working alongside him.

Carrying the Culture Forward

The best packaging partnerships are built with people you can trust when things get difficult. People who answer the phone. People who understand urgency. People who care about your business like it matters because to them, it actually does. That is what Rich Wise represented throughout his career at Ashtonne Packaging, and it is the kind of culture we work hard to build every day across our entire team.

Manufacturers today have choices. Plenty of them, especially if they’re just looking for a vendor. What is much harder to find is a packaging partner filled with experienced people who communicate well, solve problems, build relationships, and genuinely want to help your company succeed long term.

We are thankful for everything Rich contributed to Ashtonne Packaging over the years, and we are proud that the values he represented continue to shape the way we serve our customers moving forward. If your company has a “Rich Wise” on the team, then you know what we’re talking about. And you know what kind of a company we are, too.