50 Years Strong: The People, Relationships and Trading Culture Behind Tampa International Forest Products
“Fifty years of TIFP is really 50 years of relationships. Those relationships are our greatest asset.”– Sam Barranco, president of Tampa International Forest Products LLC
Tampa International Forest Products’ Southern Yellow Pine Department includes (front row, from left) Tom Brown, 16 years; Chris Johnson, 2 years; Joe Chappell, 8 years; Austin Higgins, 8 years; and Tim Goodrich, 41 years; (back row) Corey Ireson, 6 years; Jason Gregory, 8 years; Nick Dill, 29 years; and Sam Robinson, 11 years.
For five decades, Tampa International Forest Products (TIFP) has built its business on a simple philosophy: be the trading partner you would want to have.
On April 28, 1976, the business opened its doors in Tampa, FL. Fifty years later, TIFP is an employee-owned Division of Forest City Trading Group LLC. It is a relationship-driven trading company with the same fundamental belief that has guided it from the beginning: business is built on people, trust and the ability to deliver solutions, effectively.
Sam Barranco, the company’s fifth operating president, believes its longevity is not an accident.
“I think it all starts with our culture,” he said. “We are a family. We are not perfect, but I genuinely love our employees and the effort and energy they bring to TIFP every day.”
Sam Barranco is the president of Tampa International Forest Products LLC, based in Tampa, FL.
Barranco knows the culture firsthand. He spent 30 years working with former TIFP president Joe Brown, whom he described as a great trader, leader and mentor, before taking over the presidency.
That history matters. In an industry where markets can change by the hour, relationships can last for decades. TIFP has built its business around those long-term relationships with customers, sawmills, suppliers, carriers and employees.
The result is a trading company that is built to respond. TIFP’s role in the market goes well beyond matching a load of lumber with a customer.
Its 30-plus traders are expected to understand what the customer or supplier is actually trying to accomplish and then find the best way to get there.
“We listen to our customers and suppliers and offer them different options to accomplish what they need,” Barranco said.
Members of the Plywood Division include (from left) Connor Higgins, 2 years; Andrew Wirkus, 6 years; Renee Patterson, 20-plus years; and Mike Marmo, 14 years.
That might mean sourcing a specific item from a mill, finding an alternative when the original product isn’t available, putting together a competitive delivered program, solving a transportation problem or finding a home for lumber that doesn’t fit the original sales plan.
For example, in today’s market more customers are looking at swapping species.
“A traditional Eastern Spruce buyer may now be looking at West Coast products, such as Hem-Fir or Doug Fir,” Barranco explained. European Spruce is another option, and now the less expensive Southern Yellow Pine is entering more traditional Spruce markets.
Customers can’t call the Spruce mill and ask for help with buying a different species from somewhere else, so that’s where Tampa International comes in and bridges that gap.
“We can point out the fact that your Spruce is coming in and it’s $700 delivered, and I can either ship you a higher grade Southern Yellow Pine and get it there at $550 or I can ship you the same No. 2 grade at $475,” Barranco explained. “We are able to do this all for our customers on the same call.”
Members of the Spruce Department are (from left) Joe Taylor, 9 years; Bradley Deiuliis, 10 years; Justin Smith, 11 years; Mike Kleinman, 8 years; and Nick Brigato, 23 years.
Tampa International’s mainstay product is Southern Yellow Pine.
“Historically, if you brought up Tampa International, you would know that we are centered around one of the largest Southern Yellow Pine departments in all of North America,” said Barranco.
He said when he started out 32 years ago, the Southern Yellow Pine traders sold their wood to treating plants.
“I was one of the first that got into the residential or the retail lumber yards that ultimately became national accounts, like a Builders FirstSource or USLBM,” Barranco said. “To this day, we touch every aspect of Southern Yellow Pine from the largest timber makers all the way down to the boards and the cut parts for pallet stock. We do everything, and we still have almost 90 percent of our 33 traders sell some Southern Yellow Pine.”
Tampa International has specialized departments, not only for its top product but also for others, including Eastern species and Western species such as Hem-Fir and Douglas Fir, European Spruce, both domestic and imported plywood, OSB, rebar and wire mesh. It continues to add more products that are geared toward infrastructure.
The company’s trading floor brings together market knowledge, sourcing relationships and logistical capabilities to move quickly when opportunities arise.
Members of Tampa International’s Steel Department include (from left) Dylan Buchanan, 2-1/2 years; Michael Broccoli, 1-1/2 years; Aylen Gonzalez, 6 months; Justin Foster, 4-1/2 years; and Brent Wuorinen, 25 years.
“We bring together a multitude of options for our customers — competitively and with expertise,” said Barranco.
TIFP has a young, yet knowledgeable trading floor, and they are “digging for something new every day,” Barranco said.
“The diversity has been the real key for Tampa International’s success. The diversity allows you to expand and contract during the different market fluctuations,” he noted.
In 2025 and 2026, Tampa International bought from about 500 different lumber suppliers, which includes predominately mills and also distributors. On the customer side, TIFP has sold lumber to 1,000 customers this past year.
“And we are always looking to grow that,” said Barranco.
It has between 400 and 500 trucks of products going out a week. At times, when it gets a lot of European Spruce that comes through the ports, those numbers can jump up to 600 to 800 loads a week.
Members of the Logistics Department are (from left) Derek Hernandez, 2 years; Ariel Perelis, 2 months; Audrey Kroeger, 1.5 years; Liam Massey, 1 month; and Rich Savachik, 3 years.
Tampa International has many large customers, which are the ones that utilize its services the most. Some of those include large treating plants, multi-family builders, pro-dealers, truss builders, and packaging and crating manufacturers.
TIFP doesn’t claim to be the answer for every inquiry. But when the company believes it can help, the expectation is straightforward: Be relentless until the need is satisfied. And that philosophy is the same on the supplier side.
Tampa International’s mill partners are important to the company. The mills “turn trees into cash, and we help them do that,” said Barranco.
For sawmills and other suppliers, being a good trading partner means more than buying the products that happen to fit today’s demand. TIFP wants to be the company a mill can call when the situation isn’t quite so simple.
“We don’t just want to hear from our mill partners when they can quote exactly what we’re looking for,” Barranco explained. “If they have product that needs a home, a claim load that needs to be re-sold, or any situation where we can assist, we want to answer the call.”
That commitment creates a two-way relationship. TIFP works to provide its customers with dependable sourcing options while helping its suppliers maximize the value of their production.
From left are Taylor Cox, Industrial Department, 3 years; Annette Vega, Industrial Department, 36 years, Southern Yellow Pine; and Joseph Chambers, High Grade Industrials Department, 1-1/2 years
Tampa International has always taken an aggressive stance when it comes to transportation, including having two full-time employees who book trucks.
“We always prided ourselves on that we have very aggressive trucking pricing,” Barranco said.
When transportation challenges have popped up, such as a shortage of drivers and available trucks or higher freight prices, Tampa International has found ways to keep product moving and provide customers with reliable transportation options.
The company also uses rail cars as another part of its transportation strategy, including about 1,500 last year.
The ability to adapt is important in the lumber business, where no two days are alike. TIFP’s value is its ability to navigate the many changes, such as freight changes or inventory shifts. The company expects its traders to be thorough and complete — not simply to quote a number, but to understand the entire transaction. That means asking questions, understanding specifications, identifying alternatives, following through on details and communicating when something changes.
Barranco gives his traders a simple rule: “Be the customer that you wish you had. Be the supplier that you wish you had.”
Tampa International Forest Products staff members pictured are (front row, from left) Maria Casanas, 2 years; Denise Zak, 10 years; Janet King, 36 years; and Monica Isaza, 4-1/2 years; (back row) Charlie Morton, 4-1/2 years; Faith Buchanan, 4-1/2 years; David Negron, 1 year; Lissa Stanton, 40 years; and David Garnica, 20 years.
He said he learned an important lesson early in his career that has remained central to the way he leads TIFP today: “Issues will arise in this job — many, actually — and we are judged by the manner in which we handle them.”
For TIFP, that means standing behind the relationship when business gets difficult, not just when everything goes according to plan. “I want to be the same guy in good times and bad,” he said. “A partner through and through.”
Barranco also sees one of his most important responsibilities at TIFP as teaching the next generation of traders.
“I want to be a teacher and a leader for the next generation,” he said. “I want to give them my experience as a senior trader, a business leader and a father to help them make the best decisions they can.”
For Barranco, trading is about much more than buying and selling lumber. It teaches responsibility, judgment, communication, patience, accountability and the importance of keeping your word. And when a young trader inevitably makes a mistake, Barranco wants them to know they have someone in their corner.
The Tampa International Hardwood Department includes (from left) Nick Roeser, 3 years; Eric Bryant, 3 years; Trent Stoker, 6 years; Elijah Freeman, 16 years; and Dallas Wirkus, 7 years.
“I want them to know that when things go wrong, I’m there too,” he said.
At TIFP, the company and its employees are like a family and that mentality extends outward to customers and suppliers as well.
“Fifty years of TIFP is really 50 years of relationships,” Barranco said. “Those relationships are our greatest asset.”
His motto: A trading company built on relationships. A culture built on family. And a commitment to be the partner you wish you had.
TIFP is a member of many associations, such as North American Wholesale Lumber Association, Southern Forest Products Association, Mississippi Lumber Manufacturers Association, Western Wood Products Association, National Hardwood Lumber Association and a multitude of others including some that are specific to its departments.
For more information, visit tifp.com.
