Smurfit Kappa Group plc announced the appointment of Dr. Mar'a de Lourdes Melgar Palacios (Lourdes Melgar) to the Board as an independent, non-executive director with effect from 1 January 2020. For 16 years, Lourdes served in the Mexican Government, in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the Ministry of Energy. In 2005, she was appointed minister at the Mexican mission to the OECD in Paris. From December 2012 to February 2014, she served as Vice-Minister for Electricity prior to her appointment as Vice-Minister of Hydrocarbons, a position she held until July 2016.