Pouch industry CEO gulps award

SARASOTA — Business Leader Magazine named local executive R. Charles Murray one of the top executives of the year in the food and beverage packaging industry.

The magazine, at a recent awards dinner, recognized Murray specifically for his work at Sarasota-based PPi Technologies Group, an industry leader in pouch packaging. The magazine, according to a release, cited the firm's “business practices that sell both pouch packaging machinery and consumables as a total system solution for its pouch packaging customers, rather than selling just StandUp pouch machinery.”

The magazine named Murray, the founder and CEO, a Business Leader of the Year. Honorees were nominated by industry, and more than 30 different fields were represented. “It is a great honor to be recognized by fellow business leaders in South Florida,” Murray says in the statement. “We are passionate about pouch packaging and think it is the packaging of the future.”

PPi Technologies manufactures and distributes pouch packaging machine technology for food, beverage, pet foods, health care and chemical industry clients. Founded in 1996, the firm, with 50 employees, has more than $20 million in annual revenues. Read more about the company here.