In the KQEN Business Spotlight:
Roseburg Forest Products recently announced the appointments of Tony Hamill as Chief Operations Officer and Vivek Karuppuswamy as Senior Vice President Human Resources and Labor.
A company release said joining later this month, Hamill and Karuppuswamy bring a combined 50 years of operations and HR expertise to Roseburg’s leadership team as the company moves forward with its ambitious capital projects program and new product lines.
Roseburg President and CEO Stuart Gray said, “Tony and Vivek are proven leaders who complement an already amazing team focused on advancing operational, manufacturing and sales priorities that will drive Roseburg’s next phase of growth”. Gray said, “We’re fortunate and pleased to have them as part of our organization during this exciting time”.
The release said as COO, Hamill will coordinate strategy and execution among Roseburg’s manufacturing, sales and marketing, sales, inventory and operations planning, and engineering teams while enhancing skillsets across the organization that are key to supporting increasingly advanced manufacturing technologies.
A registered professional engineer for more than 30 years, Hamill joins Roseburg from Louisiana Pacific where he served as Vice-President-Siding Operations, leading business operations across two Siding divisions totaling 12 production facilities and 1,800 employees.
Hamill said, “I’m very proud to be joining Roseburg, a customer-focused leader with a storied history and an outstanding future”.
Karuppuswamy comes to Roseburg from Northwest Hardwoods, a hardwood lumber manufacturing and distribution company, where he led human resources since 2020. He previously held HR leadership positions for 11 years at Terex Corporation, a global lifting and material handling solutions company.
Karuppuswamy said, “From what I have seen and heard, Roseburg’s team members are the foundation of the company’s success, and I am eager to collaborate with them to build on Roseburg’s strong culture”.
The release said with the opening earlier this year of a new lumber mill in North Carolina, Roanoke Valley Lumber, and the creation of two new, state-of-the-art manufacturing plants among other existing facility improvements in Oregon, Roseburg is midway through a nearly $1 billion expansion that officials say will enhance the company’s product lineup and coast-to-coast availability.