Mativ Bets on Culture as Its Next High-Performance Material

ALPHARETTA, GA – November 24, 2025 – Mativ Holdings, Inc., a global leader in specialty materials, recently announced the appointment of Deborah Borg to its Board of Directors. On the surface, it’s a standard corporate filing: a seasoned executive joins a public company's board. But for Mativ, a company still navigating the complex aftermath of its formative 2022 merger, this is far more than a routine addition. The selection of Borg, a high-profile Chief People & Culture Officer, is a deliberate and telling move, signaling a strategic bet that the company's next breakthrough material might just be its own organizational culture.

Borg’s appointment comes at a pivotal moment for the Alpharetta-based manufacturer. The company, born from the union of Schweitzer-Mauduit International (SWM) and Neenah, is in the midst of what its leadership openly calls a “transformation.” This journey has been marked by both significant challenges and emerging triumphs, making strong, focused governance more critical than ever.

Navigating a Post-Merger Turning Point

The year 2025 has been a microcosm of Mativ's post-merger story. The first quarter delivered a staggering GAAP loss of $425.5 million, largely driven by a massive $411.9 million goodwill impairment charge—a stark accounting measure reflecting the revised value of assets from the merger. The news underscored the persistent headwinds and integration complexities facing the new entity. Yet, the narrative shifted dramatically in the subsequent quarters.

Under the leadership of Shruti Singhal, who took the helm as President and CEO in March 2025, Mativ has demonstrated remarkable resilience. The company reported that its second and third quarters were the strongest consecutive periods for both adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow since the merger. Q3 saw sales climb 3.0% year-over-year to $513.7 million, with organic growth hitting 5.2%. This turnaround suggests that the initial turbulence of integration is beginning to subside, replaced by a focus on operational efficiency and capturing growth opportunities. It is within this context of stabilization and a pivot toward acceleration that Borg’s arrival becomes so significant. Her mandate is not just to oversee, but to help actively shape the next chapter.

The Strategic Power of a People-First Leader

Deborah Borg is not a typical board appointee drawn from the worlds of finance or operations. She is currently the Executive Vice President and Chief People & Culture Officer at International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF), another giant forged through significant M&A activity. Her career, with senior leadership roles at Bunge, Dow Chemical, and General Motors, has been defined by leading global teams through profound organizational change, M&A integrations, and cultural transformations.

Mativ’s decision to tap Borg reflects a powerful, and increasingly prevalent, shift in corporate governance: the recognition of human capital as a primary driver of value. For years, the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) was confined to the executive suite, but today, their strategic input is coveted in the boardroom. The presence of sitting CHROs on S&P 500 boards has surged from a mere 3% in 2014 to 32% in 2024, a trend accelerated by a global pandemic that made talent management, employee well-being, and workplace flexibility central to business survival and success. Companies now understand that a brilliant strategy is worthless without the right people and culture to execute it.

Borg will serve on Mativ’s Compensation and Nominating & Governance Committees, roles where her expertise is directly applicable. She brings a sophisticated understanding of how to structure compensation to drive performance, how to plan for CEO and executive succession, and how to build a diverse, high-performing board. As Dr. Kimberly E. Ritrievi, Chair of Mativ’s Board, stated, “Deborah is a seasoned leader who has navigated several companies through complex and challenging transformations. Her impact and guidance will help shape Mativ in the coming months.”

A Return to the Roots with an Eye on the Future

What makes Borg’s appointment particularly astute is her deep, pre-existing familiarity with Mativ’s own DNA. From 2019 to 2022, she served as a non-executive director on the board of Schweitzer-Mauduit International (SWM), one of the two companies that merged to create Mativ. This isn't just adding an expert; it's bringing back an expert with invaluable institutional knowledge.

This history provides a unique bridge between Mativ's past and its future. Borg witnessed SWM’s strategy and growth firsthand and now returns to the merged entity with a foundational understanding of one-half of its cultural and operational makeup. Such continuity is rare and exceptionally valuable during a post-merger integration, where melding two distinct corporate cultures is often the most significant and delicate challenge. Her ability to understand the legacy mindsets, systems, and talent pools of the former SWM can help smooth the path toward a single, unified Mativ identity.

In her own words, Borg noted she has “watched the Company’s evolution since the 2022 merger” and looks forward to helping “advance Mativ’s objectives.” This perspective, rooted in past experience and focused on future potential, positions her to be a uniquely effective force on the board.

Engineering Culture for Sustained Growth

For a company whose tagline is “potential in the impossible,” and whose business is engineering innovative materials that “connect, protect and purify our world,” the focus now expands inward. Mativ is applying the same principles of deliberate engineering to its most valuable asset: its people. The appointment of Deborah Borg is the clearest evidence yet that talent strategy and cultural development are no longer viewed as support functions but as core components of the company’s growth engine.

As CEO Shruti Singhal affirmed, Borg “brings a critical perspective to the Board as the Company continues its transformation.” That critical perspective is the understanding that in the competitive global market for specialty materials, long-term success will be determined not just by the quality of a company’s polymers, fibers, and resins, but by the resilience, engagement, and innovative capacity of its global workforce. By placing a proven culture-builder in its highest circle of governance, Mativ is making a strategic declaration that its people are the ultimate specialty material, one that will be carefully engineered to unlock future value for employees, customers, and shareholders alike.