February 7-9, 2008 Omni Hotel @ CNN Center Atlanta, Georgia, USA |
| Conference
Speakers
Dick Baldwin has spent a lifetime in the plywood and the forest industries. Baldwin followed his dad into the Cascade Plywood mill in 1957 as a tape machine (veneer splice) off-bearer. He has written five books on the industry. Through the years he laid core, rustled stock, supervised production personnel and worked as an industrial engineer, general superintendent and operations manager. He was named vice president for Champion International southern manufacturing operations. He became president and CEO of several forest products companies during the remainder of his career.
Phil Beaty is an accomplished sales executive with 25 years of experience in applications engineering, sales and marketing of industrial energy systems. From 1988 to 2001, he was sales engineer for Salton Fabrication, responsible for application design and sales of wood-fired energy systems and lumber dry kilns to the forest products industry in western Canada and Australia, including sawmills, plywood and veneer mills, and OSB and MDF plants. Prior to this, he was sales manager with Hayes Danas Industrial Products Div. and project engineer with Weyerhaeuser Canada Ltd., Solid Wood Div. Beaty is a Professional Engineer with a B.A.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of British Columbia. Prior to joining Nexterra, he was director of Sales and Marketing of Etho Power Corp.
In 2005 Dr. Sascha Bernhardt was promoted to Vice President of Hymmen North America Ltd., in order to increase and intensify customer relations and develop a new strategic outfit on the North America soil. Prior to that Bernhardt joined the Hymmen Group as assistant of the President and CEO and worked in the field of strategic development, identification of new markets, configuration of new products and implementation of strategies, and became project manager for surface inspection systems. Bernhardt received a doctor degree in industrial engineering.
Joseph (Jody) Bevilaqua is Executive Vice President of Hexion Specialty Chemicals, a position he has held since August 2002, and President of the Phenolic and Forest Product Resins Div. Bevilaqua joined Columbus, Ohio-based Borden Chemical in early 2002 as vice president, Corporate Strategy and Development. Later that year he assumed leadership for the Performance Resins portfolio of businesses. Previously, Bevilaqua served in business leadership roles with companies such as GE Plastics, Dart and Kraft, Woodbridge Foam Corp. and Alcan Packaging. He has held various industry council positions including president of the Polyurethane Foam Assn. Currently he serves on the Formaldehyde Council Board of Directors. He has 29 years experience in the plastics and chemicals industry, including a broad mix of business management, operation, sales and marketing experience. Bevilaqua is a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he earned degrees in economics and business administration.
Stephen Blackwelder is a senior electrical engineer with Hunt Guillot and Associates, LLC and serves as Business Development Manager with a specialty in Forest Products and Energy. Blackwelder was employed in various capacities with Willamette Industries over a 25-year career prior to joining HGA as electrical department manager in 1999. A graduate of Louisiana Tech University with a degree in Electrical Engineering, he serves as past chairman of the Electrical Engineering Technology Industrial advisory board for the university. He currently serves as a board member of the Engineered Wood Technology Assn.
John Bradfield has served as Director of CPA Environmental Affairs since 1999, and was the director of the CPA certification program from 1990-2001. He worked for Union Camp Particleboard from 1981-1985. He received a B.S., 1979; M.S. 1982 in Wood Science & Technology, North Carolina State University.
Graduated from University Laval with a master degree in wood sciences, Jean Briere has been working in the wood based panel industry for more than 20 years. Since 2001 he has been the Technical Director for laminate flooring manufacturing at Shaw Industries. He previously held positions in manufacturing and technical management at Uniboard Canada Inc. Shaw Industries Group, Inc., part of the Berkshire Hataway family, is a full-service flooring company with more than $5 billion in annual sales and approximately 30,000 employees, headquartered in Dalton, Ga.
Eric Brinson has worked for U.S. Lumber Group, Inc. as a Human Resources Manager since May 2005. Fluent in Spanish, he worked as an Investigator for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for six years prior to joining U.S. Lumber. He received his M.B.A. in Management and Finance from Georgia State University, and his B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.ÊHe also holds the SPHR certification and is active in the Society for Human Resource Management.
Dr. Urs Buehlmann is an associate professor at Virginia TechÕs Dept. of Wood Science and Forest Products and a member of the Sloan Foundation Forest Industries Center. His work focuses on secondary wood products manufacturing systems and industry competitiveness. He has a special interest in issues related to globalization and its impact on the forest products industries. Buehlmann received his Ph.D. in the area of wood processing from the Dept. of Wood Science and Forest Products and a M.B.A. in Finance and Management from Virginia Tech. He previously obtained an industrial engineering degree from the Swiss Institute of Wood Technology as well as a cabinet making degree from the vocational school Thun, Switzerland. Prior to joining Virginia Tech, he was general manager at Enkeboll Designs in California.
Jim Buffington is a graduae of Georgia Tech with a bachelorÕs in Industrial Engineering and a minor in Industrial Distribution.ÊHe has been involved in the composite panel industry for more than 25 years in various capacities from engineering, production, sales and management.ÊHe has sat on the board of the Laminating Materials Assn., various committees within the Composite Panels Assn., and is a board member of a scholarship program within the Industrial Distribution Industry. He presently works for Roseburg Forest Products and is responsible for sales and marketing of Eastern composite plants, formerly Georgia-Pacific.
Matt Bumgardner has worked for the Northern Research Station of the USDA Forest Service since 1999. Prior to joining the Forest Service, he spent a year with Champion International in eastern Texas as a systems analyst. He holds a graduate degree in forest products marketing from Virginia Tech and a B.S. in forest resource management from Ohio State. His research interests include improving use of low-grade materials, marketing and product development of furniture and other secondary products.
Dr. Grigorii Bunimovich is a key engineering specialist in Dr. Yurii MatrosÕ team involved in VOC oxidation catalysts and reactors and other catalytic technologies. Grigorii is a graduate of the Technical University of Tomsk (M.S. in Chemical Engineering). He obtained his Ph.D. in chemical engineering in Dr. MatrosÕ department in Boreskov Institute of Catalysis (Novosibirsk, Russia). Since 1993 he has worked at Matros Technologies Inc. where he serves as Catalyst Applications Director.
Xiaozhi (Jeff) Cao is a Ph.D. Candidate in Forest Products Marketing at the Center of International Trade in Forest Products (CINTRAFOR), College of Forest Resources, University of Washington in Seattle. Cao came to the U.S. in September 2002 from Suzhou, a garden city 60 miles away from Shanghai, after completing his first M.S. degree in Wood Science (major in Furniture Design) at Nanjing Forestry University. Two years later he received his second M.S. degree in Wood Science (major in Forest Products Marketing) from Oregon State University, where he conducted research on innovation activities in the Chinese furniture industry. He joined CINTRAFOR in September 2004 and continued to pursue his research interest in furniture and wood products trade between the U.S. and China.
Mark Churchland is a Research and Development Director and an Operations Manager with 34 years experience in inventing and developing new technologies, prototyping new processes, and building and operating full scale commercial facilities to exploit these technologies. Since 1998 he has worked at the iLevel Vancouver Technology Center in BC, responsible for leading teams of scientists, engineers, technicians, consultants and suppliers covering a broad range of programs in new technology development, new process development and commercialization in existing operations. Successes include: the commercialization of a patented veneer microwave redry system; commercialization of a patented Parallam microwave pre-heater; commercialization of technology for TimberStrand manufacture; commercialization of fourth generation microwave heating systems for the Parallam presses. Previously, he served in various capacities for MacMillan Bloedel, including manager, process development; technology manager, responsible for directing teams in support of the two Parallam plants; plant manager in Vancouver for the Parallam prototype plant. He began his career in 1974 at MacMillan Bloedel. He received the Ph.D. (Plasma Physics) at the University of British Columbia in 1973. He is the recipient of science and engineering awards and the Canada Award for Excellence in Innovation Gold Medal for the Parallam project. Churchland holds 17 patents on various inventions.
Mike Clutter teaches graduate courses in forest finance and undergraduate and M.B.A. corporate finance courses in the Terry College of Business. He has been at the Center for Forest Business for five years. Before his return to academia, he spent more than 20 years in the forest products industry working with Union Camp, Georgia-Pacific, and The Timber Company where he was the director of Decision Support and Information Resources. His primary research interests include the use of financial analysis techniques in the timber and timberland industry, changes in timberland ownership and the factors that impact that change, and the use of forest information technology in asset valuation. He received a Bachelor of Forest Resources from Mississippi State University in 1981, and a M.F.R. and Ph.D. from the University of Georgia in biometrics.
Chunping Dai is a senior scientist and group leader in wood composites with FPInnovations Ð Forintek Div. He holds a B.S. and a M.S. in Engineering, and a Ph.D. in wood science. He has more than 15 years of R&D experience in plywood/LVL and OSB products. He has led the development of more than 10 computer software programs for various operations, including log conditioning, veneer lathe setup, veneer drying, OSB mat formation and pressing. He is also the inventor of the veneer lathe incisor and green veneer moisture measurement system.
Bartolomeu da Silva Neto has woked in the Brazilian plywood industry since 1989 in production, export sales and product development, and since 2000 he has managed the technical issues related to production and product development for Guararapes and Sudati, the two largest plywood producers in Brazil, representing more than 70% of the softwood plywood capacity.
Jim Davis holds a B.S. in Industrial Management from Auburn University and an M.B.A. from Vanderbilt University. He was an Army lieutenant. He has been a senior executive with a number of Fortune 500 companies. He has written a best selling book. He has been referred to in a feature magazine article as Òthe Steven Spielberg of wood products sales and marketing.Ó He is currently the president of Davis & Associates, a management consulting firm in Atlanta.
Ian de la Roche joined the forest sector in 1992
when he was appointed president of Forintek Canada Corp. He assumed
the responsibilities of FERIC in 2004 and, more recently, of
Paprican. In September 2006, he was appointed President and CEO
of FPInnovations. This new institute, comprising FERIC, Forintek,
and Paprican as divisions, includes oversight responsibility
for the Canadian Forest Service Fibre Centre. FPInnovations is
the worldÕs largest private
forestry and forest products research institute. Dr. de la Roche
brings to the new institute more than 30 years of experience
in research, in strategic planning, and in the creation of partnerships
between State and industry. As part of his former functions,
he played a prominent role in the development of programs promoting
the commercialization of new technologies and major mixed research
and development projects bringing together industry, government
and university partners. During 1990-91, he held the position
of Assistant Deputy Minister of Consultation and Communications,
Agriculture Canada. He headed up the Communications Branch and
was a senior advisor to the Federal Minister of Agriculture.
A graduate of Pratt Institute School of Industrial Design, Densmore has been designing and color styling for the building products industry since his entry with Abitibi Wall Panel Products in 1975Ñfrom off-set wet-printing through the acid etching, pre-digital era of rotogravure on board or alpha-cellulose paper for the laminate industry with Mead-Morart and Mobil Gravure to a 16-year involvement in the high pressure decorative laminate industry with Consoweld, Pioneer Plastics, Formica and Panolam. Since 2002 he has been designing for the thermally fused melamine (TFM) industry, on staff with Coveright until joining Toppan in 2006 where today his team is focused primarily on the TFM market. His work in laminate has won a Roscoe Award and been recognized by the Institute for Business Design.
Fran Eck has served as President of Wood Resources Specialty Panels, the managing organization for Olympic Panel Products LLC and Southeast Panel and Lumber Supply LLC, since its formation in August 2006. He joined Wood Resources LLC in November 2004 as President and General Manager of Olympic Panel Products LLC. Eck has more than 30 years in the forest products industry, including senior leadership positions with Louisiana-PacificÕs industrial panels and lumber businesses, Temple-InlandÕs fiber products business, Santa Fe Pacific Realty, Decision Dynamics and Kirby Forest Industries. He has a B.S. in Forest Management from Iowa State University and an M.B.A. from the University of Oregon.
Standex Engraving of Sandston, Va. is one of the four divisions of the publicly held Standex International Corp. Foster joined StandexÕs Roehlen Div. in 1995 as a product manager for Fiber and Building Products. He was named vice president of sales in 2000, VP of marketing in 2004 and Vice President of Business Development in 2007. Foster holds a BachelorÕs of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Kentucky and an M.B.A. from Syracuse University. Previous to Standex he was a partner in the firm of Metallic Operations Inc. and a sales engineer for Johnson Controls.
Lorenzo Galletti, born in Bologna, Italy, received a bachelorÕs degree in economy at the Bologna University as well as an M.B.A. He joined Giben in 1996 as technical assistant of the engineering department. Today he is projects director of the Giben group with particular focus on China, North America and South America.
Chris Gaston is National Director, Markets & Economics at FPInnovations in Vancouver, British Columbia. He has degrees in Forestry Economics (Ph.D.) and Agricultural Economics & Business (B.Sc, M.Sc.) from the University of British Columbia and the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Gaston has worked in both academics (teaching and research) and industry (management, consulting, research), with more than 25 years experience in agribusiness and forestry. His research and consulting have focused on price risk management strategies, market research, econometrics, and trade modeling. Recent research efforts have included market studies for wood products in Canada, the United States, Japan, China and Europe. He is also past chairperson of the ÒTeam of Specialists for Forest Products Markets and MarketingÓ for the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe in Geneva.
Dr. Rakesh Govind is Professor of Chemical & Materials Engineering at the University of Cincinnati and President of PRD Tech, Inc., a small business company that designs, builds and supplies biofilters and bioscrubbers to municipalities and industries for treating emissions of odors and volatile organics. He has worked extensively in the area of biofiltration, bioremediation of contaminated soils and sediments, membrane systems and membrane bioreactors. He was awarded the Earth Day Award by Cincinnati Gas and Electric Company, Alfred Bodine Award from the SME, and holds numerous patents. He is a key member of the Tri-Mer Corp. team for turnkey VOC abatement solutions.
Leonard Guss is President of Leonard Guss Associates, Inc. Forest Industry Marketing Research. He earned a B.A. in zoology & chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania; an M.B.A. from Drexel University and his doctorate in marketing from Ohio State. His work experience includes R&D and petrochemicals production management with E. F. Houghton Co., followed by Battelle Institute where he headed a section dealing with economic and marketing research on forest products and building materials. He joined Weyerhaeuser as associate director of Research and Development, and then was appointed director, Corporate Economic and Marketing Research. He left to establish LGA. He is a charter member of the National Assn. of Business Economists; has been a National Director of the American Marketing Assn.; has served on the National Industrial Conference Board-West Coast Council, and on the advisory boards of several forest industry trade associations. His book Packaging is Marketing has been translated into several languages. He is especially well recognized for his marketing studies and publications on lumber and engineered wood products. His most recent publications include: LVL In North America-The Decade Ahead and Structural Engineered Wood Products In North America.
Dave Harmon received a Bachelor of
Science in chemistry from Southern Oregon College. He started
in the wood products industry in 1975 with Medford Corp. and
served as a technologist, chemist and company technical director.
He developed focus for new product research, development and
commercialization. He has received two U.S. and multiple foreign
patents for products that are currently in global commercialization.
Lou Hess was chief executive of SmartPly Europe, a former joint venture company of Louisiana-Pacific and Coillte, the semi-state Irish forestry board. Hess led the company to OSB market leadership in the UK and Irish markets during a period of more than 10 years before deciding to resign his position to return to the United States last fall. Previously his career included general and operations management roles with Avery Dennison in Europe and the U.S. Hess holds an M.B.A. in Finance from DePaul University in Chicago, has done post-graduate studies at INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France, and has a Bachelor of Science degree in Operations Management and Polymer Science from the University of Illinois.
John Holbert is principal and chief engineer of Corvallis Tool Co. (CTC), a company he started while a student at Oregon State University. Upon graduating with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, Holbert worked for International Paper at Gardiner, Ore. in both the paper and sawmill divisions. After leaving IP, he returned to CTC and has been serving an international customer base, in both the sawmill and EWP industries, for more than 25 years.
Jian Huang obtained his B.S. in Polymer Material in 2002 from Dalian University of Technology in China.ÊFollowing graduation, he was admitted as a graduate student in the State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Dalian University of Technology, where he achieved his first MasterÕs degree in Applied Chemistry in 2005. From 2005 to 2007, he moved to Oregon State University and obtained his second MasterÕs degree in Wood Science. He is currently working with Dr. Kaichang Li at Oregon State University to develop formaldehyde-free wood adhesives from renewable natural resources.
Since 2002, Jimmy Hunt has served as Chairman of the Board of Industrial Timber, a leading outsource manufacturer of ready-to-assemble wood frames used in upholstered furniture. Previously, he was southern group manager of Builder Marts of America, and prior to that, from 1980-1995, was vice president of sales for Hunt Forest Products.
Bob Izlar has been director of the Center for Forest Business since 1998. Following two years in the Army, mostly in Korea, he had 24 years of operational forestry experience. His expertise is in forest finance, forest operations, forest business management and forest policy. He has traveled extensively on forestry assignments in Canada, Mexico, Central America, Central Asia, Europe and the South Pacific. He received his B.S.F.R. and M.F.R. from the University of Georgia and a M.B.A. from Georgia Southern University. He is a Fellow of the Society of American Foresters, and is a retired Colonel in the United States Army Reserve.
Carl Jansen has been the Owner & Principal Recruiter for Search North America since 1978. He was previously Group Operations planning manager for Evans Products Co. and Weyerhaeuser Co. He received his M.B.A. from UC Berkeley and his B.S. Engineering from UCLA. Jansen served in the USAF, Minuteman Flight Test Program.
Douglas Jensen has been employed by Norton Co./Saint-Gobain Abrasives for 26 years, with five years spent in NortonÕs coated abrasives R&D group working on product designs for variousÊgrinding/ sanding applications. For the past 21 years he has worked as a Senior Product Engineer which entails extensive travel to customers for product testing and troubleshooting on grinding and sanding applications. During theÊlast 12 years his focus has been specifically in the engineered panel industry with an emphasis on auditing abrasive belt and sanding equipment operations (including extensive troubleshooting on these operations), designing and testing new abrasive belt products, and conducting customer training seminars at panel manufacturing facilities.
Andrew Johnson is a graduate of Brunel University in England with a degree in Furniture Production and Timber Technology. His career has spanned 30 years in the primary and secondary wood processing industries. He has worked for several major machinery manufacturers in Europe and America and has visited or worked with numerous wood based panel mills around the world specifying and selling a broad range of equipment. Johnson joined TSI in 2003 and is now Vice President. TSI manufactures finishing lines, single pass dryer systems and heat energy systems.
Staffan Karlsson has been working for Sandvik since 1979 and with Sandvik Process Systems since 1988. He has served in various positions in engineering, production and service. He was production manager in Totowa, NJ for six years. Since 2002 he has been working out of Sweden.
Darrell Keeling has been a member of the wood products industry for 20 years with a variety of experiences in particleboard, MDF, plywood and lumber. These experiences have given him the ability to see the integrated flow of materials from the production floor to finished product and how best to utilize various sources of fiber in the manufacture of composite panels. Through this experience he has been intimately involved with the engineering and design of state-of-the-art production facilities to meet the needs of the most demanding of panel and surface applications. Keeling is currently Chairman of the Composite Panels Assn. Executive Committee and a member of the CPA Board of Directors.
For the past 11 years Dave Kirkpatrick has worked with Siemens Energy and Automation as part of the Production Machines Group based in Atlanta, with his main focus on machine buildersÕ needs for automation and motion based solutions. During this time, the Production Machines Group has worked with more than 200 OEMs to innovate and optimize their machines. In the eight years prior, Kirkpatrick worked for Siemens Canada Ltd. with variable speed drives in a range of forestry products applications, including paper, lumber and plywood. He graduated from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Toronto in Electrical Engineering in 1989.
Andre Klemarewski joined Raute in 1987 and presently is LVL Technology Manager for Raute in North America. He studied wood technology in Warsaw, Poland and later at the University of British Columbia. His career has always entailed wood composites and he worked at University of British Columbia, Forintek and C-Max. He is also the President of a consulting company, Applied Composites Technologies.
David Jesseau joined Perforex in 1998 and is responsible for the Sales & Marketing function. Prior to his current responsibilities, he created and deployed PerforexÕs skill development program, a product tailored to managers within the forest products industry. He started with Perforex as a consultant where he worked with North American forest product manufacturers to improve operational performance.
Bob Knothe has more than 20 years of experience in the decorative surfacing industry, with product knowledge in thermally fused melamine, high pressure laminates, top coated papers and film.
In 2002, following a three-year training program with the parent company, Robert BŸrkle GmbH in Freudenstadt, Germany, Sven Kramer received a bachelorÕs degree in Industrial Engineering and Management from the University of Cooperative Education in Stuttgart, Germany. From 2002 until his transfer at the beginning of 2007 to BŸrkle North America, Inc., Charlotte, NC, Kramer worked as Project Manager, Finishing and Printing Technologies, at BŸrkleÕs Woods and Plastics division in Freudenstadt, Germany.
Steve Lawser has served as Executive Director of the Wood Component Manufacturers Assn. since 1983. WCMA represents more than 150 U.S. and Canadian manufacturers of wood component products for the furniture, kitchen & bath cabinet, molding, millwork, flooring and related decorative wood product industries. Lawser and the WCMA are actively involved in market development and promotional programs designed to expand the markets for value-added North American wood products. The association regularly conducts market and outsourcing studies to identify market trends and track component buyers interests in purchasing component parts.
Dr. Karsten Lempfer has worked with Siempelkamp since 1989 in the field of inorganically-bonded boards (mostly gypsum fiberboards) and wood-fiber insulation boards. Previously, for 10 years he was a scientist at the Wilhelm-Klauditz-Institute in Braunschweig, Germany. He studied Wood Science at the University of Hamburg, where he received a Doctor's degree.
Mac Lupold received a B.S. Forest Management from NC State in 1959. He spent 15 years in forestry at Milliken Forestry Co. and Holly Hill Lumber Co, and 29 years in wood products manufacturing in MDF, plywood, furniture components, treated products, sawmills, product development, sales and marketing with Holly Hill, Federal Paperboard and International Paper, where he retired. Lupold managed fiber supply and wood cost for IP sawmills from Virginia to Texas. He served as president of the National Particleboard Assn., chairman of the South Carolina Forestry Assn., and is a Distinguished Alumni, College Natural Resources, NC State.
Brian Martin is the GM of Westmill Machine Automation, the R&D division of The Westmill Group of Companies. A graduate of BCIT, he is an innovative leader within the machine automation and process optimization fields and has worked and lectured at leading edge companies in many countries around the world. MartinÕs extensive hands-on experience in industrial maintenance supervision, as well as industrial machine vision and photography-based technologies, has resulted in him being named on several patents. Since joining Westmill in 2005 he has been concentrating his talents on the development and marketing of several leading-edge automation products specifically designed for the plywood industryÑproducts such as WestmillÕs new LightSORT Green Veneer Moisture Measurement system.
Following his graduation from Auburn University School of Engineering in 1976, Cole Martin was employed in the sale of capital machinery and for the past 20 years in the sale of wood based panel machinery and specifically the sale of continuous presses. He became Sales Manager for Dieffenbacher Inc. in 2003.
Shawn Macgowan Shawn Macgowan has worked in the wood products industry for more than 20 years. His experience ranges from OSB greenfield plants to implementing emerging technologies to the plywood industry, and his positions have ranged from equipment installer to product designer, project manager, and technology leader. He is currently the Technology Manager of Veneer Processing at Raute Canada Ltd., where he develops products and process to support customers with the challenges they face.
Dr. Yurii Matros is a graduate of the Odessa Technical University, Ukraine. For many years he served as a Professor and Head of Department at the Boreskov Institute of Catalysis, Novosibirsk, Russia, where he received a degree of Full Doctor of Science. In 1993, after immigration to the U.S., Dr. Matros founded Matros Technologies, Inc. consulting and engineering company. He is a recognized authority in the field of chemical reaction engineering. Particularly, he is known as an inventor of reversed-flow catalytic reactors, which he developed and realized for oxidation of SO2 in sulfuric acid production, oxidation of VOCs, reduction of NOx, and other processes. As President of Matros Technologies, Inc. he has headed development of efficient catalysts for VOC control, original regenerative catalytic oxidizers, and technology for retrofitting thermal oxidizers to catalytic units.
Keith Mays received a B.S. in Applied Physics from Linfield College. After working in the wood products industry early in his career, he spent 12 years financing equipment for high-tech developmental-stage companies (companies backed by venture capital or angel investors). Two years ago he returned to the wood products industry and joined EWS.
Steven Mays founded Electronic Wood Systems North America in 1992. Previously he was general manager of ClarkeÕs Sheet Metal Co. for 17 years. He graduated from Oregon Technical Institute in 1964 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology.
Jon McAmis, Director of Human Resources and Training, Roseburg Forest Products, has served in human resources positions since his graduation from Western Baptist College in 1982. He worked for Roseburg Forest Products first as payroll manager and then as personnel/safety manager until 1990, when he became employee relations manager for Alcan Aluminum Corp. After working as a human resources consultant for five years, he returned to RFP in 1998. His vast HR experience has allowed him to provide expertise in areas of hiring, leadership development, labor relations, and communications training both in traditional and non-traditional work environments.
As National Technical Director for Faus, McMackins is responsible for directing all technical aspects of the laminate flooring programs. This includes development and implementation of technical training programs, product testing, and installation standards and procedures. He develops installation training programs to support professional installation services, as well as other initiatives to improve the product performance. McMackins is a member of NALFAÕs Technical Committee and is the Chairman of that committee for the 2008 term.
As Vice President of Markets & Economic Research and Chief Economist, Michaelis manages a staff of professional economists and competitive analysis experts. The group is responsible for providing key decision makers with objective insights on changing market conditions critical to operating and strategic decisions. The group succeeds by finding new and creative ways to help the executive team think about the future, including use of the scenario thinking process. Michaelis routinely meets with financial analysts and customers to discuss economic conditions as they relate to Weyerhaeuser. In the 34 years with the company, Michaelis has served in several other positions or on special assignments. He was the planning manager and then business manager for the Composite Panels Div. He initiated the effort to enter OSB in 1980. He led a team that restructured the Composite Panels business in 1989. He is routinely involved in major capital projects or acquisition efforts, plus participates in annual Senior Management Team strategic reviews of each business. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Utah in 1966 and a M.A. in Economics and Ph.D. from Washington State University during 1969-1972.
Niall Mulkeen serves as Vice President of Human Resources for J.M. Huber Corp. where he has worked for the past nine years. Prior to his current role, Niall was vice president Human Resources and ethics officer for Huber Engineered Woods, LLC. Niall has more than 25 years of human resources and labor relations experience gained from working with global manufacturing companies, both union and non-union. He is a graduate of Rutgers University and served in the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Marine Corps Reserve.
David Mullen is a graduate of The University of Western Ontario in Canada with a degree in Chemical Engineering. His career has spanned 20 years with Hercules Inc. in the Paper Technology and Ventures group in both Canada and the U.S. Mullen has worked in several positions in chemical applications, sales team management and corporate accounts management. He joined Ventures in 2005 to commercialize and further develop Hercules formaldehyde free adhesive technology for the composite panels wood industry.
Martin Murphy is Vice President, Sales & Marketing of RauteÕs North American operations and a member of Raute CanadaÕs senior management team. He has more than 20 years of experience in the plywood and LVL business, which includes extensive experience in plant commissioning and automation implementation. Murphy attended the British Columbia Institute of Technology.
Eric Nelson has been with Kimwood since 1979, when he joined the Electrical Dept. In 1998 he became the head of the Electrical Systems Div., overseeing design and implementation for all new and rebuilt machinery, including electrical system upgrades for machinery currently in service. In addition to machine design and supervising the electrical department, he also coordinates field service and sander schools.
With a self-described education in the school of hard knocks, Newsum counts 24 years in low pressure melamine, including taking to full production two different LP melamine presses, supervising the startup and full production of an 8 ft. wide Vits treating plant and 10 years in value added and R&D work. She is a Committee Member of the TAPPI Ð Decorative Industrial Laminates Group.
Bob Nurre After graduating from Iowa State University in Industrial Administration in 1976, Bob Nurre began his career with Georgia-Pacific. After a period of working in the distribution division, he moved to the manufacturing division ending up as national sales manager Ð Hardwood Plywood at the companyÕs headquarters. Since 1996, he has been heavily involved with the Hardwood Plywood and Veneer Assn. as a member of the marketing committee and later as a member of the board of directors. In July 2006 Nurre joined Midway United Ltd. and is responsible for marketing and sales.
Since 1992 Luca Onesti has been responsible for the Protronics camera defect detection system and since its inception has followed the development of five generations of the system, each with increasing speedÑthe most recent capable of a maximum detection speed near 200 mt/min on textured surfaces (laminate flooring tiles). Onesti developed new UV lighting techniques to be applied on different products involving the CCD sensor and the optics, allowing defect detection critical for product quality. Another recent project is the development of digital inkjet technology to directly print d-cor on HDF flooring plank. Previously Onesti worked with CMP SPA, another Frati Group affiliate. He began his career with Procomac SPA, a leader in beverage industry machines as project manger.
David Parker has been the President and CEO of StrongWood Technologies Inc. since 1994. He has worked in the wood products industry since 1975, beginning his career with MacMillan Bloedel Ltd. as director of the strategic planning department and later director of investment analysis, and general manager of the Parallam Div. He served as a consultant prior to the formation of StrongWood Techologies. He began his working career in 1959 as an operations research analyst with Douglas Aircraft. His schooling includes Occidental College, M.B.A. at UCLA Graduate School of Business, and Sloan Schoof Management at MIT.
Rodney Pennington is a Registered Professional Engineer with more than 33 years of diverse experience in all phases of research, engineering, design, management, sales and marketing of VOC/HAP, particulate, NOX control and energy conservation systems. He has more than 20 patents, most in the regenerative technology field, and has served as an Expert Witness in regenerative technology. He holds a bachelorÕs degree in Engineering Science from Penn State University.
Ron Perry serves as Chaplain Team Leader for the Roy O. Martin Employee Care Program. The Martin operation, based in Alexandria, La., is a major producer of plywood and OSB. Chaplain is a member of Marketplace Chaplains, USA, a member of American Association of Christian Counselors, and member of Chaplains Fellowship. He received his B.A. from Mid America University.
Robert Pitts Robert Pitts has been employed with Willamette Valley Co. for the past eight-plus years. The Engineered Wood Products business encompasses sales and technical service responsibility for WVCOÕs specialty wood coatings, paints, primers, and sealers throughout North America. It also includes sales responsibility for application equipment related to the application of WVCO products as well as all robotic applications within the wood products industry. Prior to joining the WVCO Team, Pitts spent nine years with Georgia-Pacific Resins, specializing in PF, UF, MUF and Resorcinol based adhesives going into the plywood and LVL markets in the Western U.S. He graduated from UTSA School of Health Care and Sciences and was a Registered Nurse and EMT-P in the states of Texas and California.
Tony Pugel is Senior Scientist for Lousiana-Pacific Engineered Wood Products, including laminated veneer lumber, i-joists and SolidStart LSL Strand Lumber. He has 13 years of experience in structural composite lumber in production, research and new product and process development. He has more than 25 years experience in the forest products industry. He received his Ph.D. in Wood Mechanics from Colorado State University.
Mike Rehwinkel has worked 30 years in the forest products industry, including most of this decade with Georgia-Pacific, including executive positions in packaging and box operations. He became President-Wood Products in 2006. He is currently Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trustees of APAÑThe Engineered Wood Assn. After graduating magna cum laude in Accounting from William Carey College in 1977, he joined International Paper as a cost analyst and worked for IP for nearly two decades at various locations in financial, controller, and management positions. He then served in management and financial capacities for Mid-American Packaging and Pactiv Subsidiary.
Chris Risbrudt has been with the U.S. Forest Service since starting his career at the Forest Products Lab as a research scientist in 1978. In 1981 he moved to Washington D.C. as a member of the Forest ServiceÕs Cooperative Forestry staff. He became project leader in 1984 at the agencyÕs North Central Research Station in St. Paul, Minn. He transferred back to Washington in 1985 to become director of policy analysis. Risbrudt was named a deputy regional forester in 1988 based in Montana. He was named director of planning in 1995 based in Washington D.C. Risbrudt took over as director of the Forest Products lab in 2001.
Following 30 years of industrial experience with International Paper, Dow Chemical, Dierks Forest Industries, Kirby Forest Industries and others, John Robinson founded Drying Technology, Inc. in 1987 based on two patents granted for inventing a new concept in moisture sensing and control. Since then, his company has specialized in developing and supplying the latest in moisture/dryer control systems for such industries as panel, lumber, foods, pet-food, corn wet milling and chemicals. Robinson graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a B.S. degree in chemical engineering; he continued his education in engineering and statistics at the University of Cincinnati, and Lamar University. Robinson has received national awards covering his invention of a unique, Òinside-the-dryerÓ moisture sensor.
Kelly Robinson serves as Plywood Product Line Manager for Plum Creek Timber Co., which is the largest private landowner in the nation with more than 8 million acres in major timber producing regions. The company also owns and operates 10 wood product manufacturing facilities in the Northwest, including two plywood plants producing a combined 280MMSF of industrial and commercial grade plywood. Over the past two years, both plants have upgraded their manual plugging operations to an automated robotic system.
Nolan Roy In October 2006 Nolan Roy joined Midway United as Vice President, Plywood and Veneer Operations. He was previously GM for Yakima Resources LLC. Nolan is a graduate from Oregon State University in Wood Science Technology. After graduating he started with Roseburg Forest Products where he worked through every process of plywood manufacturing and was a general manager for two of their operations.
Roger Rutan is Vice President, Marketing and Business Development for Timber Products Company. As a leading industry expert in green building, he oversees the companyÕs environmental initiatives, ranging from forestlands to mills and customer education. Rutan is also involved with the companyÕs governmental affairs program, which is currently focused on free trade and various environmental issues relating to international trade. In the past, Rutan served as the chairman of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative Marketing Committee. A frequent speaker on green building and wood certification programs, he currently serves on a subcommittee for the LEED initiative that is charged with advising the programÕs leadership on wood related issues. He holds an M.B.A. from the University of Oregon.
Fito Salman came to ATC Panels in November 2004, continuing a successful career as a financial executive. He worked as vice president of finance at Dole Chile, the biggest Chilean fruit exporter and a subsidiary of Dole Food. Salman left Dole in 1990 to start an entrepreneurial career in startup companies. In 1993 he founded Stock S.A., an outsourcing stockholders records and transfer agent company in Chile. During 1998 to 2000, Salman moved to Denver, where he was actively involved with technology startup companies. He joined SouthernPlanet.com, a Latin American startup Internet infrastructure services company based in Seattle, where he held the position of chief financial and operating officer. In 1999, he was one of four investors in FirstNet Learning, a startup company in the corporate e-learning market. He joined the company in 2001 as CFO and left in 2002 to join JustConnect Corp., a service provider in the information technology industry, where he served as CEO until selling the company to Microsource, Inc. in 2004. Salman earned a graduate degree in business administration from the Catholic University of Chile, and participated in the Executive Program of the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia.
Rob Schmidt received his Bachelor of Science in Forestry from the University of Toronto in 1993, a Ph.D. in Wood Science and Forest Products from Virginia Tech in 1998 and an M.B.A. from QueenÕs University in 2007. Schmidt has held various product development and manufacturing roles within Arclin and its predecessors. He was the recipient of the Dynea PresidentÕs Technology Award as well as the Virginia Tech Outstanding Young Alumnus Award in 2006. Schmidt has a number of patents pending. He is currently Senior Vice President, Research and Technology for Arclin (formerly Dynea North America). He has held this role since 2004 and is responsible for all technology development efforts across ArclinÕs Resins and Surfaces business segments.
Peter Schneider has been the president of Steinemann USA since 2001, when Steinemann Technology purchased assets of SchneiderÕs machinery importing company, Progressive Machinery, which had been representing Steinemann. SchneiderÕs interest in woodworking machinery, and particularly European technology, stems from his late father, Hans, who moved to the U.S. from Switzerland and represented various European wood machinery manufacturers. In 1991, Peter started his own company, Progressive Machinery. He also worked with Schelling Panel Saw, which was the Steinemann agent. Steinemann was eventually handled by Progressive Machinery. In the late Õ90s Schneider was also a limited partner with Siempelkamp Handling America, before Siempelkamp bought back his stock. Then in 2001 Steinemann purchased assets of Progressive Machinery, and from this development the Switzerland-headquartered Steinemann started Steinemann USA in Charlotte with Schneider as president.
Rodney Schwartz is Business Director for Oxidizer Products for MEGTEC Systems, Inc., a leading manufacturer of air pollution control and industrial drying equipment for various industrial markets, including the wood panel board industry. Schwartz has more than 14 years of experience in engineering and engineering management, and over eight years of experience in sales and marketing of air pollution control equipment, capture technology, and heat recovery systems for the engineered wood and other related industries. In his current position, he is responsible for a business segment associated with the sales of oxidizers and related energy systems into a wide variety of industrial markets. He received a B.S. in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.
As a professor in the Dept. of Forest Products at Mississippi State University, Starkville, Miss., Dr. R. Daniel Seale focuses on forest products marketing, quantitative methods and product innovations. His research is highly respected and frequently published. He received the B.S. and M.S. in agricultural economics in 1977 and 1979, respectively, from Mississippi State. He earned a Ph.D., Applied Economics, at Clemson University in 1983.
Rian Sigvaldsen has served as Maintenance, Process Control & Technology Recruiter for Search North America since 2005. He has been the owner of Pro Q Solutions, an information technology consulting firm, for eight years. As an entrepreneur he has provided vision and direction for numerous individuals and companies alike.
Mike Simmons originally worked at Kimwood during the late Õ70s before leaving to pursue other interests in the industry. After spending many years providing service and products to the wood products industry, he returned in November 2002 as an inside parts sales person in support of the Sander and Cylinder product lines. In 2007 he was elevated to KimwoodÕs Sander Sales Manager in charge of all major sander sales and parts sales for new and reconditioned sander equipment. Simmons does extensive traveling as KimwoodÕs primary sales representative and to support KimwoodÕs many customers in the industry.
Paul Sims has held engineering, manufacturing and sales positions in various industries involving ceramics for 38 years, most recently as Southeast Regional Sales Manager for Koch Knight LLC. He earned undergraduate degrees in Mechanical Engineering Technology and Finance, as well as an M.B.A. degree at the University of Louisville. He is also retired after 30 years in the Navy Reserve.
Dr. Desmond Smith has received Ph.D. degrees from the University of Missouri and University of New Hampshire.ÊHe has worked at Acrowood Corp. for more than 20 years in technical development and support, sales, sales management, and general management. He is currently Vice President, General Manager.
Mike Steele joined Perforex in 2001 as a consultant and, as a result of his track record, became a Partner in 2006.ÊSince joining Perforex he has worked to improve performance and profitabilitywith many high-volume wood product operations. These include softwood lumber, hardwood lumber, plywood, poles, and timber procurement.
Clyde Steffens has 40 years of experience in nondestructive testing applications engineering; research and development of nondestructive testing sensors, electronics and systems; immersion and air coupled ultrasonics based systems, laser based systems, and fnfrared based systems. He is the developer or co-developer of numerous nondestructive testing systems used in industrial, military, aerospace, nuclear and medical applications. He receive a bachelorÕs degree in electrical engineering from the University of Colorado.
Michael Stroh began his career in 1982 and through 2001 worked as project engineer and plant manager in the wood based panel industry and prefab house production. He joined Dieffenbacher in 2001 as project manger in the panel division, became head of the engineering department inn 2005 and since 2007 has served as senior project manager energy systems, while also working as Product Manager LVL and Plywood lines. He graduated in 1982 at the engineering college Rosenheim.
Jim Teaford is a Georgia Tech graduate, a professional engineer and is the President of The Teaford Co., Inc. He has been working on biomass energy systems for 30 years. He has experience in biomass combustion, steam generation, co-generation, thermal oil heaters, direct fired systems and is a specialist in biomass drying and combustion systems.
Anderson Thomas is the Chief Executive Officer of Loblolly Industries, LLC and is the Executive Vice President of Shuqualak Lumber Co., Inc., LoblollyÕs parent company. Loblolly Industries was formed in 2004 to serve as the holding company for ShuqualakÕs Scrimtec project. Thomas has worked for Shuqualak since 1989 and is currently responsible for the companyÕs financial and accounting operations. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia with a Bachelor of Arts in English. Thomas has continued a long Shuqualak tradition of leadership within the forest products industry through participation in a number of organizations, including serving as president of the Mississippi Lumber Manufacturer Assn. He is the third generation of his family to serve as MLMA president.
Edward Trueman has more than 28 years of knowledge and experience in the global polymer manufacturing industry. He is responsible for shifting JERÕs focus from product development to the commercialization of its products and the global expansion of its manufacturing operations. Prior to his appointment as President and CEO, Trueman served as JERÕs VP of Sales & Marketing. Previously he was director, Global Automotive Business Group, for AlphaGary Corp., an original equipment manufacturer of thermoplastic compounds and engineering alloys for the auto, medical, and wire and cable industries. He was also vice president, Automotive Sales and Marketing, for Multibase USA; principal of Elastomeric Technologies LLC., a polymer consulting corporation that provided services exclusively to Exxon; and OEM sales manager for Research Polymers International. During his tenure at Research Polymers, Trueman pioneered the sale of the auto industryÕs first TPO injection-moulded bumper to General Motors in 1984. Trueman holds a Bachelor of Science, Economics and Management degree from Eastern Michigan University.
Jack Wallingford is General Manager of Norbord Minnesota, a leading manufacturer of OSB. He has been with Norbord since July 2000 and has more than 23 years of experience in the forest products industry. Before working for Norbord, Wallingford worked for six years as the operations manager at the Weyerhaeuser particleboard plant in Marshfield, Wis. Prior to this, he worked at WeyerhaeuserÕs Grayling, Mich. OSB plant as operations team leader and for Page and Hill in Big Falls, Minn. He received a Bachelor of Science in Forest Products with a specialization in Production Management from the University of Minnesota.
Allen Wagoner is currently involved at Flamex Inc. in sales, marketing and administration as it relates to the Spark Detection System product line. He was promoted to Vice President in 1998. He first became involved with the Flamex Spark Detection and Extinguishing System in 1987 when named Flamex product manager at EAC Engineering USA. He received the M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro 1983.
Brad Wang joined the Forintek Team in 1998 as a composite research scientist. He received his Master of Science degree in 1998 and Ph.D. in 2007 from UBC. As a team member and project leader, he has been involved in many national core projects, contract projects and CFS and FII-sponsored projects at FPInnovations-Forintek Div. His main research interest is process simulation and improvement of wood composite manufacturing with a focus on veneer property evaluation, veneer grading, plywood/LVL hot-pressing and resulting performance. He is also a key member of the ForintekÕs software development team.
Tom Williamson is Vice President of Quality Assurance and Technical Services for APA-The Engineered Wood Assn., and oversees a staff of more than 60 scientists, engineers, auditors and technicians involved in all aspects of research, product evaluation and certification for glued composite wood products including wood structural panels (plywood and OSB), glued laminated timber (glulam), prefabricated wood I-joists and structural composite lumber (SCL).ÊWilliamson is very active in standards development activities.ÊHe serves as secretary for the NIST standing committees for PS1 and PS2 for wood structural panels and has long been active in ASTM standards work currently serving as Chairman of the ASTM D7 Glulam Section Committee. With respect to international standards, Williamson is Chairman of Working Group 2 of ISO/TC 165, Timber Structures, which has responsibility for developing international standards on glued engineered wood products including structural glued laminated timber, laminated veneer lumber and I-joists.ÊHe is also Chairman of the U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG) for ISO Technical Committee 89 on Panels including fiberboard, OSB and plywood.ÊWilliamson holds both BSCE and MSCE degrees from Purdue University.
Steve Winistorfer joined TECO in 1998 as technical director and is now its Chairman, CEO and President. Winistorfer has 25 years of experience in the engineered wood products industry in a variety of engineering, marketing and management roles. Before coming to TECO, he conducted research at the USDA Forest Products Laboratory and Alpine Engineered Products, did application engineering for Trus Joist Corp. and technical marketing of lumber and plywood at Champion International. He has B.S. and M.S. degrees in Agricultural Engineering with an emphasis in timber structures and an M.S. in Business Operations Management all from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Winistorfer has been an active member of the Forest Products Society (FPS) and currently serves as a Regional Board Member on the FPS Executive Board. He is a member of the U.S. delegation for World Trade Organization tri-lateral trade negotiations with Japan and Canada in the area of wood products.
In May 1996 Stefan Wissing joined Siempelkamp at headquarters in Krefeld, Germany and held positions as sales engineer and sales director. Since February 2004 he has been President of Siempelkamp LP based in Marietta, Ga.
|
Dick Baldwin
Phil Beaty
Dr. Sascha Bernhardt
Jody Bevilaqua
Steve Blackwelder
John Bradfield
Jean Briere
Eric Brinson
Dr. Urs Buehlmann
Jim Buffington
Matt Bumgardner
Dr. Grigorii Bunimovich
Xiaozhi (Jeff) Cao
Mark Churchland
Michael Clutter
Chunping Dai
Bartolomeu da Silva Neto
Jim Davis
Ian de la Roche
Frank Densmore
Fran Eck
F. Bradley Foster
Lorenzo Galleti
Chris Gaston
Dr. Rakesh Govind
Leonard Guss
Dave Harmon
Lou Hess
John Holbert
Jian Huang
Jimmy Hunt
Bob Izlar
Carl Jansen
Douglas Jensen
Andrew Johnson
Staffan Karlsson
Darrell Keeling
Dave Kirkpatrick
Andre Klemarewski
David Jesseau
Bob Knothe
Sven Kramer
Steve Lawser
Dr. Karsten Lempfer
Mac Lupold
Brian Martin
Cole Martin
Dr. Yurii Sh. Matros
Keith Mays
Steven Mays
Jon McAmis
Stan McMackins
Lynn Michaelis
Niall Mulkeen
Dave Mullen
Martin Murphy
Eric Nelson 
Vickie Newsum
Luca Onesti
David Parker
Rodney Pennington
Ron Perry
Tony Pugel
Mike Rehwinkel
Chris Risbrudt
John Robinson
Kelly Robinson
Roger Rutan
Fito Salman
Rob Schmidt
Peter Schneider
Rodney Schwartz
Dan Seale
Rian Sigvaldsen
Mike Simmons,
Paul Sims
Desmond Smith
Michael Steele
Clyde Steffens
Michael Stroh
James Teaford
Anderson Thomas
Edward Trueman
Jack Wallingford
Allen Wagoner
Brad Wang
Tom Williamson
Steve Winistorfer
Stefan Wissing
 |
 |
Sponsors |
 |
 |
 |
[click here] To Join Our Sponsors! |