Centerpoint here in Indianapolis!
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Hi Everyone!
I am Heather writing to you from âat the momentâ sunny Vancouver BC!
I am currently a Forest Products buyer for Dickâs Lumber & Building Supplies, which is a division of Lowes Canada. Not only is SPF amusing me in this market, I also purchase Fir Lumber, OSB and plywood. There is always something in our industry to keep us entertained!!
I started in this industry in 1976 with Canfor in an accounting roll. I was in my second year CGA when my boss called me in and told me that my exuberant enthusiasm was a deterrent to co-workers! Clearly I had the wrong co-workers! lol. As luck would have it around this time Canfor and Weldwood merged and my position was not longer needed. I accepted a new position as the âGirl Fridayâ (am I allowed to say that now and does this roll even exist anymore?) for the Lumber Traders. I was basically everything but sales for the guys, credit, payables, transportation co-ordinator . . .then I started trading and LOVED IT!.
In 2002 I joined RONA as Forest Products Purchaser for Western Canada and recently transitioned to the Dickâs division with the ever changing Corporate world. Dickâs has nine divisions, most recently 3 in Alberta; 2 lumber yards and 1 truss plant. There is never a dull moment in my days I can tell you!
I am excited to be a part of Pakira and enjoy reading all your comments and posted topics. Itâs good to share opinions and experiences. We are always learning!
Thank you
Heather
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Happy Friday! I am another Mike from New Braunfels, TX, which is about 30 miles NE of San Antonio. My wife and I relocated here from Pittsburgh last May, and we are pretty happy to be missing the cold and snow from up North!
Iâm fairly new in this world having started with DQ Technologies last March, and Iâm enjoying the industry after years of selling engineering software into the manufacturing sector. My role and company are a little different from a lot of yâallâs (yep, I picked this up!) as we focus on helping wholesale distributors get your wood to dealers and end clients, sort of.
DQT develops order delivery tracking solutions to provide visibility into the delivery status and to increase operational efficiency through improved delivery scheduling and routing. Delivery status visibility is paramount in the era of increased customer expectations as our clients are able to keep their customers informed of where is their stuff and when itâs going to arrive!
If you know somebody who is struggling with their delivery operations, Iâd appreciate an introduction or referral. I can be reached at 412-498-8883, mike.kotloski@dqtech.com, or on LinkedIn
Special thanks to @Andrew_Gibson and the Pakira team for their efforts here! Letâs reward their hard work with contributions and interactions!!
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Hi, I am Justin Smith, I have been in the lumber industry since 2006. I trade SPF, SYP, HF, Euro, DF, plywood and rebar.
Looking forward to connecting and sharing information about the industry with you all.
Cheers,
JS
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Glad to be here and be part of this.
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Hello everyone, so this is a little different âŚ
I am Nadia Shalaby, and have been envisioning, inventing, architecting, and delivering cutting edge innovation my entire adult life. My latest startup, Arctic Sand, was an MIT spinoff in semiconductors (another area with a broken supply chain these days) where we re-invented internal DC to DC power converters in mobile devices (cloud), and networking and data storage devices (data centers). Our technology is currently in 100% of Dellâs, Microsoftâs, and other OEMâs devices. Arctic Sand was acquired by Murata Electronics (big Japanese conglomerate) in 2017.
Having been actively involved in Bostonâs vibrant innovation and startup ecosystem over the last 10+ years, I teamed up with @Andrew_Gibson to co-found Pakira. Which brings me to all of you. It is humbling to be in the midst of such deep experts in the wood industry, learn the history and customs, current developments in the marketplace, and witness the challenges you are all experiencing daily. The richness and diversity of this industry is mind boggling (just take a look at the channels on the Pakira Forum!), and I am learning every day, which is also super fun! Most of all, I am impressed with the personal and professional caliber of the industry insiders I had met through our work here at Pakira, and hope to meet many more!
From my end, I am working hard to come up to speed and earn your trust. We are inclusive of the entire wholesale wood supply chain, and are most grateful for everyoneâs support, engagement, ideas, and suggestions. Please keep them coming and tell your colleagues and associates. You wonât be disappointed 
.
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Thank you @Heather_Karleen for sharing your early life story and being so honest. I was simply embarrassed to read your âGirl Fridayâ account, given your drive, potential, and stark accomplishments today! Congratulations on all your success and we are honored to have you onboard!
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Glad to have you on the platform!
Which topics do you like to inform people about?
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Itâs exciting for me as well. Watching technology and innovation happening right before our eyes. Thanks for your shared passion .
Mike
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Could not do it without industry leaders like yourself @Michael_Haas, and most of those Pakira members who joined the platform. You may have heard a classic term in entrepreneurship â âlead innovatorsâ â those are the users that hop on early, can envision the progression of the innovation, and lead the way for technologists to craft the service to suit their customer needs. So Pakira is blessed with such lead innovators, several of whom have already introduced themselves, and we are grateful for all your leadership and support!
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Hi Nadia,
I did not realize how âGirl Fridayâ would actually sound today. That was back in the early 80âs and honestly, that is just the way it was back then. I am truly dating myself here but when I started working in offices, women were not allowed to wear slacks and when they finally were allowed, they could not be fitted and our tops could not be tucked in and they had to come down to at least mid thigh! Oh my! It was an interesting era to be sure. I never took it personally or felt that I couldnât, I just listened, learned and dove in!! Thank you for your kind comments!
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Hi @Heather_Karleen i wish i could use the English expression âit gets better yetâ but from your descriptions of the 80s era and providing more color on the working conditions for women like you (qualified, driven, talented), i could only say âit gets worseâ from your account. I am learning every day, and these âprotocols for working womenâ back in the day are news to me! Your matter-of-fact attitude, and proving your value by doing, is a role model for all young women today. Your perseverance is what got us all there. Looking forward to meeting you in person some day soon @Heather_Karleen, when the covid era tapers off and weâre back in conferences and personal interaction. Lunch is on me (sorry gentlemen)!
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Hi all! Iâm Bella Carriker and Iâm an architect, currently doing research in sustainable building practices at MIT. Iâm especially excited about Mass Timber, and have been working on using Cross Laminated Timber systems in innovative applications for housing, cultural centers and offices. Before coming to MIT, I worked for a couple years in New York City architecture offices WORKac and Toshiko Mori Architect, both specifically interested in addressing environmental concerns at the architectural and urban level. From the architectâs perspective, there is a huge untapped market for sustainably-sourced mass timber, especially as more firms become interested in reducing their carbon impact!
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What do you do as a Mass Timber real estate developer?
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Hi everyone. Nice to meet you all on this forum! My name is Darren Thomas and I run a company called DoubleHelix. We specialise in due diligence solutions for the timber sector (i.e. Lacey Act and EU Timber Regulation compliance).
Mostly we conduct upstream supply chain risk assessments on behalf of US and EU buyers, with local staff in most producer countries across Asia, Africa, Latin America, as well as Russia. Depending on your company size and resources, we can help set up and manage your due diligence systems, or you can outsource discrete parts of your due diligence process to us (such as specific supplier and product assessments, verification of specific claims or consignments, or anything in between).
Weâve been doing this since the Lacey Act was extended to wood products in 2008, so weâve got a lot of knowledge and experience throughout the team. Looking forward to learning about your businesses and compliance challenges. Feel free to post any Lacey or EUTR-related questions and Iâd be happy to provide opinion and guidance in this forum.
All the best,
Darren Thomas
+44 7888 252202
darren@doublehelixtracking.com
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Awesome Nic⌠Thank you for your service, as we love our VETS!
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Hello from the Pacific Northwest in the wonderful suburbs of Seattle, WA located on the left, I mean WEST COAST in the good oleâ Pacific Northwest!
Obviously, my name is Jim Schumacher. 
and I have been involved on one way or another in the building material supply business since 1988. Starting as a Yard Clean Up kid way back in 1988. I have been involved in Sales, Sales Management and Operations, with my heart imbedded in the sales side.
In the mid-1990âs, as a salesperson, I got the wild and crazy idea of grabbing onto technology (fax machines and early emails) and started sending out lumber market update to my clients to keep them abreast of the fluctuating commodity market. This is now grown to proportions I would not even have fathomed more than 26 years ago.
You can find my weekly report which is titled: Shoeâs Lumber Report at Shoeâs Lumber Report | News and Trends on the Lumber Market (shoeslumberreport.com) where I offer up some comic relief and personal insight into the place I like to call: âThe Wonderful World of Woodâ.
Jim Schumacher
Shoeâs Lumber Report
jim@shoeslumberreport.com
(425) 219-6118
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Fun story @Jim_Schumacher and ditto on â*now grown to proportionsâ! Your Shoeâs Lumber Reportâs comic relief is hilarious (I always look forward to it weekly) and the analysis is more than top notch. We are fortunate to have you onboard!
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Welcome.
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Good day folks. My journey in the US and world forest products began with degrees in forestry, forest engineering, and physics from various universities after a brief start in pre-med where I decided I didnât like the sight of blood so changed my course of academic pursuits. After a stint with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency went to work for one of the worldâs largest wholesale trade companies in the world at the time, i.e., North Pacific Group, Inc. Coming from the science field, they didnât think I had it within me for sales and trade but did get the job and after one year was the top trader in the company out of 400 of us traders. Nor Pac went bankrupt in 2010 mostly due to their bringing in very bad management and their use and abuse of Oregonâs non-compete employment contracts.
My focus in trade was primarily in domestic and international hardwood, founded four hardwood mills in Missouri, along with dimensional lumber and plywood as well as OSB but found a more profitable venture in international trade in hardwood plywood from areas as Russia, Brazil, Europe, SE Asia and China and was one of the largest importers of forest products in the US. I was catapulted, by my background in the science and regulatory field, into the issues of domestic and international trade such as the formaldehyde issue in California that spread throughout the US and was the industryâs lead negotiator for the CARB regulations nationwide saving the California forest products industry in excess of $300 million having successfully negotiated a grandfathering of existing stock into law as well as negotiating the CARB I and II designations for wood products. As a former scientist this also led me into the California diesel regulations under CARB that saved the stateâs truckers over $10 billion working with Dr. James Enstrom, an epidemiologist at UCLA.
I retired from trade after working as a trader for decades and went into management and currently founded NexEra Materials Group, LLC, a company forwarding non-wood sourced building products that keeps in line with the growing concern of the climate issue and the worldâs deforestation issues even though I am a recognized uncredentialed skeptical scientist on climate and CO2 as the main driver of anthropogenic global warming. Deforestation is, however, an issue to be reckoned with.
For the founders of Pakira, my colleagues came from, and some are still there at MIT including Dr. Richard Lindzen, emeritus professor MIT and Dr. Roger W. Cohen, my mentor in physics, who graduated from MIT along with hundreds of other skeptical scientists from the top US and world universities and from the private sector. Other colleagues currently are the likes of Dr. Will Happer, Princeton, the former Chief White House Scientist in the Trump administration where I am credited in getting him that position.
NexEra is in the process of Phase I of direct imports into the US and Phase II, currently in planning, of building multiple US plants on magnesium oxide panels for building construction replacing exterior plywood, OSB, cement board and interior gypsum, underlayment and sub-floor applications all in one panel.
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