Longtime executive and manager in the wood products industry, for years with LP, Brian Luoma announced he is retiring at the end of 2023 from his position as president and CEO of The Westervelt Co.

Luoma joined Alabama-based Westervelt as president and CEO in 2017, and has been instrumental in the company’s expansion of its lumber and timberlands divisions.

Prior to coming to Westervelt, Luoma worked in various capacities for Louisiana-Pacific for nearly three decades. He led LP’s EWP division for nearly 10 years and also headed its siding division.

Current Westervelt COO Cade Warner will succeed Luoma. Warner joined Westervelt in 2017 and has held roles in strategy and planning, sustainability and continuous improvement.

Luoma comments, “I am so blessed to have had a long and fulfilling career in the best industry in the world. Nancy and I will cherish all of the friendships we have made all over the industry. Friendships that will last a lifetime. We appreciate our time at LP and all of the great people there. Our time at Westervelt literally changed our lives. The people at Westervelt are in a league of their own. I am very proud of the next generation of leadership that will take the company to a new level. This is the right time for me and for Westervelt.”

From Fort Bragg, Calif., Luoma’s first job for LP, while attending college, was as an assistant log scaler in the log yard at the LP stud mill in Fort Bragg. He worked for LP each summer during college, and LP moved him into the woods as a forestry technician, laying out roads and timber harvesting plans.

Luoma graduated in Forestry from Humboldt State University in 1986. He became timberlands manager for LP in northern California, then was wood procurement manager for the Western Region. He later led LP’s Northern Operations OSB group out of Hayward, Wis., before moving to LP headquarters in Nashville as head of forestry and wood procurement and ultimately being promoted to head up engineered wood products and then siding operations.

Luoma plans to move back to Tennessee, where his children and grandchildren reside and where he has recently purchased a house in Murfreesboro.

“My wife told me I could go wherever I want but that she’s going to Tennessee. I decided I better go to Tennessee!” Luoma says tongue-in-cheek.

Huber Engineered Woods LLC (HEW), a subsidiary of J.M. Huber Corp., plans to build a new oriented strandboard (OSB) facility in Shuqualak, Noxubee County, Miss. The plant will increase the company’s production of its ZIP System and AdvanTech structural panels, while providing more than 150 direct new jobs.

“After considering multiple locations for what will be our most efficient and sustainable facility, we have decided to invest in and partner with Shuqualak, Mississippi, and the broader Noxubee County region,” HEW President Brian Carlson comments. “We will build a world-class workforce by leveraging the diverse talent in the surrounding communities. In line with our commitment to sustainability and environmental stewardship, we have already started our permitting process in Mississippi.”

The Shuqualak location will be HEW’s sixth OSB mill in the U.S.

“Huber Engineered Woods is committed to meeting demand for customers, and we are excited to do so in a state with a rich history of sustainable forestry and wood products manufacturing,” Carlson adds. “Our mill will create a market for the abundant supply of smaller diameter timber, creating environmentally focused efficiencies.”

The new facility, reportedly a $418 million investment, will be located on 551 acres and will feature some of the most advanced processes and technologies available for manufacturing operations. Initiation of project construction is pending various federal, state and local permits as well as economic development incentive approvals and/or processes.

Mississippi Development Authority is providing assistance for infrastructure needs. MDA also certified the company for the Advantage Jobs Rebate Program, which is designated for eligible businesses that create new jobs exceeding the average annual wage of the state or county in which the company locates or expands.

In March, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Mississippi Dept. of Environmental Quality released a joint public notice for Huber’s application for a permit pursuant to the Clean Water Act, and in May MDEQ released a Large Construction Notice of Intent under the Large Construction General Permit applied for by Huber at Shuqualak.

Huber had planned to build its sixth OSB plant in Cohasset, Minn., but after experiencing constant entanglements in the process from governing authorities, including a Minnesota Court of Appeals decision that would have caused further delay in the construction of the $440 million plant, Huber opted to pull out of the project and begin looking elsewhere.

Huber proposes to purchase stream and wetland credits from an approved mitigation bank for the Mississippi project.

Huber had announced in June 2021 its plan to build an OSB plant on nearly 200 acres at Cohasset. But in a ruling on an appeal from the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe (its reservation was a mile from the proposed plant) and the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, the court of appeals said the Cohasset city planners’ earlier decision to only require an Environmental Worksheet Assessment (EAW) of the project, and not require a more detailed Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) needed to be re-addressed by the city because of issues involving several acres of two public waters wetlands. The court said such wetlands were accorded greater protection under state law.

Huber operates OSB facilities in Maine, Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee and Oklahoma.

RELATED ARTICLES

J.M. HUBER CORP. RECEIVES MANAGEMENT HONOR

TRIBAL FOCUS ON SEVERAL ACRES OF PUBLIC WETLANDS DOOMS HUBER OSB PROJECT IN MINNESOTA

Established in 1975, Victor Crondahl started Westmill Industries supplying parts and equipment to the Canadian plywood manufacturing industry. Now, nearly five decades later Westmill continues to grow under its current owner, Mike Crondahl, son of the founder.

Westmill has become a world leader in the design and manufacture of veneer drying equipment and technologies. Twenty-five years after Westmill installed the plywood industry’s first insulated stainless dryer floor under an existing dryer, a practice that is now standard worldwide, Westmill continues to grow and achieve milestones such as currently building the largest veneer dryer in the world.

After having been awarded many important veneer dryer patents over the past 20+ years, today Westmill remains most proud of receiving both the prestigious Innovator of the Year and the Supplier of the Year awards from the EWTA.

“To all our friends and customers worldwide, thank you for entrusting us with your dryer needs and for helping us grow!” comments Mike Crondahl, Owner/President.