November 5, 2025
Welcome, 2025–2026 AICC Board Chairwoman Terri-Lynn Levesque
When she was 16, Terri-Lynn Levesque was given a choice: Get a summer job babysitting, or work in the box plant where her mother worked. “The idea of working with machines in humid conditions, getting paper cuts, and running around the shop floor didn’t exactly sound glamorous,” Levesque recalls. “But, like most teenagers, the thought of earning money appealed to me. So, I chose Royal Containers.”
And, with her mother’s encouragement, she stayed, returning to Royal each summer during her school break.
“Those summers were transformative. I worked on everything from the Vicki rotary die cutter, cold- and hot-set gluers, the taper, the stitching machine, catching on the tail end of anywhere I was needed and running the coater,” she says. “A day’s work was not done until the little things were complete, like keeping the shop floor clean to my mom’s standards.”
In the process, Levesque learned to be adaptable and teachable. “Most importantly,” she adds, “I learned the value of hard work.”
She also learned the box business. Today Levesque is vice president of administration at Brampton, Ontario-based Royal Containers Ltd., where she has turned that summer job into a 27-year career. In 2026, she will draw on those years of experience for her new responsibilities as AICC’s board chairwoman, the first graduate of AICC’s Emerging Leader (EL) program to step into the role.
Inspired to Serve
The box industry was not on Levesque’s mind as a child growing up in Newfoundland, Canada. Her father, Gary, worked in road construction and paving. Her mother, Lynn, worked in the restaurant industry. Then, at the age of 7, Terri-Lynn moved with her parents and younger sister to Brampton.
The move afforded her mother the opportunity to explore a new career path with Royal Containers. “She could work the midnight shift, coming home just before it was time to get us ready to go to school,” Levesque says. “While we were there, she would sleep and get caught up on errands and whatever else she needed to do. She would go to work at Royal just as we were coming home from school.”
Eventually, Levesque had two younger sisters. With 14 years separating Terri-Lynn and her youngest sibling, she found herself naturally playing both big sister and educator. “When I was playing with my sisters or friends, I was always a teacher reading books to them,” she says.
It was the first sign that she might grow up to be a teacher. She had had some great examples. “I had some inspiring teachers during those formative years in elementary school and some great teacher-mentors in high school,” Levesque remembers.
Still, her desire to teach went beyond having influential role models. “My parents instilled in me the importance of serving others,” she adds. “And to me, a teacher is one of the most selfless jobs you could have. You’re helping students, fostering a positive learning environment, and training future leaders—whether they’re going to be the next prime minister or president, factory workers, or teachers themselves.”
That passion for service already was on display in her work at Royal Containers, where she says she became a “yes” person after graduating from high school, taking on whatever jobs the company required. The experience led Levesque to take a year off from school to really figure out the path forward for her career and her life. It was at that point that Royal Containers President Kim Nelson, recognizing Levesque’s willingness to contribute where needed, came to her with a proposal.
“She told me that if I’d go to school and take classes that could help me build a career with Royal and benefit the company, Royal would pay for my schooling,” Levesque says. “So I thought, ‘Why would I go to university to become a teacher and come out with $80,000 in debt when I’m already at this company, I know the people, and obviously there’s room for growth?’ I mean, my mom had already worked there for years; she only just retired this past December after 35 years. I knew the company would be around a long time.”
Twenty-seven years later, Levesque notes that her time at Royal has given her ample opportunities to teach, mentor, and serve others. “Just because I’m not teaching in a school doesn’t mean that I’m not helping and being of service here as well,” she says.
An Emerging Leader
Levesque’s passion for teaching and mentoring has carried over to her involvement with AICC. She was introduced to the Association in 2015 when she attended her first meeting with Nelson in Fort Worth, Texas. There she met then-AICC President Steve Young and Director of Membership and Marketing Virginia Humphrey, who told her about the EL program. “Because of my interest in professional development and wanting to learn more about the industry, they thought I would be great for it,” Levesque recalls. “I discussed it with Kim, and she enrolled me within a couple of weeks.”
Being an EL delegate opened new doors. “I think the most memorable part of the experience is the network I was able to build and the many friendships I made,” Levesque says. “It all started in those first Emerging Leader classes. Having a diverse network of peers in a similar age bracket to myself definitely helped build my network and helped me to better understand the industry.”
Soon after graduating from the EL program in 2018, Levesque was invited to step into the role of international director with AICC Canada, having joined the AICC Canada board two years earlier. Since then, she has sat on several committees, including education and the convention content committee, which she chaired. She has contributed to courses for AICC’s online-education platform. And she continues to be an advocate for the EL program, for which she recently participated in a spring webinar highlighting C-suite leaders.
Along with building a career and deepening her involvement with AICC, Levesque has built a life in Brampton with her husband, Cory, and daughters Kylie and Sophie. Cory is a forming specialist with Owens-Illinois, a U.S.-based glass manufacturer. Kylie recently graduated from college with a diploma in photography, while Sophie is a junior in high school, “trying to figure out what she wants to do,” Levesque says. “I think her ideal career changes every week, but she has lots of time to explore her options. Right now, she’s either going to go into police forensics or become an English teacher!”
Free time is spent enjoying a beachside trailer in northern Ontario, pursuing photography, spending time with her family and their dog, and traveling for AICC.
Legacy and Leadership
Levesque has chosen Legacy in Action: Inspiring Tomorrow’s Leaders as the guiding theme for her year as AICC chairwoman, focusing on honoring the foundation established by past leaders while developing next-generation leaders equipped to guide a changing industry. It involves exploring ways to combine the new skills and fresh insights that each new generation brings to the table with the best practices and work ethics that have given the industry its longevity. It is this dynamic combination of legacy and innovation that will help to take the industry through whatever changes may come.
Levesque expects that many of the current industry challenges will continue through 2026, including volatility in tariffs and international trade, supply chain constraints, consolidation, and recruitment and retention. The latter two are particularly vital for the industry’s future.
“AI is the hot topic right now,” Levesque says. “It’s going to change everybody’s business. We need to be thinking about how that may affect our industry as a whole. We need to be asking how we get ahead of that. And there’s nobody better to teach us about AI than the younger generation, who use it every day. Along those same lines, there are companies in our industry that don’t even have an up-to-date website or a social media presence. Who better to help with those things than somebody from Gen Y?”
How companies train and mentor these younger workers is a significant aspect of leadership, Levesque believes; she is convinced that a leader’s true legacy is reflected in the achievements of those who follow in their footsteps.
Levesque is equally convinced that AICC is an association characterized by the kinds of leaders—and potential leaders—who are well positioned to guide the industry through the challenges of 2026 and beyond. She is looking forward to participating in that journey as AICC chairwoman: “I’d like to know that 27 years from now, when I am happily retired at the age of 72, the groundwork laid by my generation will be the next foundation for this industry—and that AICC is still thriving, still growing.”
Robert Bittner is a Michigan-based freelance journalist and frequent BoxScore contributor.
