Panel World magazine and its affiliates will be exhibiting at the upcoming international wood products fair, Ligna, to be held May 15-19 in Hannover, Germany. In addition to Panel World, the Hatton-Brown organization, which dates back to 1948 in Montgomery, Ala., today publishes five business magazines geared to the wood products industry. These include:

• Panel World (covering the North America and international structural and non-structural wood panel industries

• Timber Processing (covering the North America and international softwood and hardwood sawmill industries)

• Wood Bioenergy (covering the North America and international wood-to-energy industries including industrial wood pellets, biomass electricity and biofuels)

• Timber Harvesting (covering the North America and international in-woods harvesting industry)

• Southern Loggin’ Times (covering the Southern U.S. logging industry)

Panel World serves as the media host of the biennial Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo (PELICE), with the ninth edition scheduled March 14-15, 2024 at the Omni Hotel in downtown Atlanta, Ga.

Timber Processing, Panel World and Wood Bioenergy serve as the media hosts of the biennial Timber Processing & Energy Expo, with the sixth edition scheduled September 25-27, 2024 at the Portland Exposition Center in Portland, Ore.

Wood Bioenergy serves as the media host of the Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo, with the eighth edition scheduled March 12-13, 2024 at the Omni Hotel in downtown Atlanta, Ga.

All three of these events are produced by Hatton-Brown and its affiliates.

At Ligna, Hatton-Brown will be represented by Editor-in-Chief Rich Donnell and International Sales Specialist Murray Brett.

Structurlam Mass Timber Corp. has filed for bankruptcy protection and agreed to sell the company’s new Conway, Ark. CLT plant and its Canadian assets for $60 million, pending court approval.

Structurlam entered the asset-purchase agreement with Mercer International Inc., a global forest products company which operates a mass timber facility in Spokane, Wash. However, Mercer’s purchase is subject to a better offer in a court-monitored process.

The Conway facility opened in 2021 in a project that was pitched as a long-term $90 million investment to establish Structurlam’s first U.S. plant. The investment was tied to a deal to produce 1.7 million cubic feet of mass timber for Walmart’s new corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. But in January Structurlam suspended operations in Conway after Walmart canceled work with the manufacturer. The move led to about 144 employees being laid off.

“I am delighted and grateful for Mercer’s vote of confidence in Structurlam and in its leadership in the mass timber industry,” Structurlam Chief Executive Officer Matthew Karmel said in a statement. “It is especially rewarding given the difficult period the company has had since suspending its operations in Arkansas mid-January, and it will help in normalizing the plant operations going forward.”

• Roseburg has named Lorraine Russ as Director of Structural and Specialty Panels, a newly created role in which she will lead the company’s commercial efforts for softwood and hardwood plywood.
  

Russ comes to Roseburg with a solid depth of leadership experience in strategic sales planning, product innovation and commercialization, and marketing after more than a decade in the building products industry.

“We are excited to add someone with Lorraine’s mix of sales, marketing, and product innovation acumen to our team,” Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing Doug Asano says. “As Roseburg continues to expand and diversify both geographically and in our product offerings, building a robust and dynamic Commercial Leadership Team will allow us to continue to adapt, innovate and grow.”

Russ joins Roseburg from Carlisle Construction Materials, where she served as general manager of Diversified Products. She previously worked as director of sales for Versico Roofing Systems, and held a variety of positions at Louisiana-Pacific Corp. including director of sales and marketing.

Russ earned her MBA from Belmont University’s Jack C. Massey College of Business and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland, where she led the Terps as Captain of the women’s tennis team.

• Rainer Zumholte is the new Managing Director for Sales and Marketing at Sonae Arauco Deutschland GmbH. He joins Rui Manuel Gonçalves Correia (CEO), Dr. Steffen Körner (General Manager and Industrial Operations Director for NEE), and António Fernando Marques dos Santos Gomes de Castro (CFO) in the company’s administration.

Zumholte is recognized for his expertise and extensive experience in the wood-based panels sector. He was responsible for sales in Western Europes core markets as managing director at Pfleiderer Deutschland GmbH, Neumarkt, where he has worked for 37 years. Most recently he was appointed to the Executive Board of Westag AG, Rheda-Wiedenbrück as Head of the Surfaces/Elements division and subsequently appointed CCO of Sales and Marketing.

At Sonae Arauco, Zumholte will be leading the sales area for North East Europe (NEE), with a special focus on the market’s strategy definition and implementation.