Jeremey Morris is senior purchasing manager for the central region for Great Southern Wood Preserving in Abbeville, AL. Great Southern provides treated lumber. Morris’ region takes in the Southeast, the Northeast, and all of the Caribbean Islands. The operation purchases 1.8 billion board feet of lumber per year.
Great Southern Wood is the world’s largest treater of Southern Yellow Pine. Treating is the company’s “bread and butter”, but Great Southern is also very diverse. Their reman facilities make pallets and balusters, as well as other specialty products, all out of Pine. Primarily, what they produce is surfaced. Great Southern also distributes composite decking products, as well as being a Hardie Board distributor.
Great Southern specializes in service. They own about 300 trucks, to ensure they can offer efficient and reliable service to their customers. Great Southern owns four sawmills, four reman facilities, 14 treating plants, as well as having an import and export division.
Great Southern Wood Preserving is a member of the North American Wholesale Lumber Association, Mississippi Lumber Manufacturers Association, Southeastern Lumber Manufacturers Association, Alabama Forestry Association and Georgia Forestry Association.
Morris has worked for Great Southern for 10 years. This was his first job in the forest products industry. Originally, he was in the management trainee program. He graduated from Holmes County High School in Bonifay, FL, graduated from Florida State University with a bachelor’s degree and completed a Harvard High Potential Leaders Program in 2019. In his free time, he teaches young people baseball, coaches his sons, plays golf, hunts and enjoys spending time with his family. He and his wife of 13 years, Chi-Lea Morris, have two sons, Christian Morris and Easton Morris, and two daughters, Mia Morris and Ali Morris.
For more information visit www.greatsouthernwood.com.
Kirk Todish is a member of the sales team at Bennett Lumber Products Inc., headquartered in Princeton, ID.
Bennett Lumber Products is a manufacturer of Douglas Fir, Western Larch, White Fir, Engelmann Spruce, Lodgepole Pine, Idaho White Pine, Inland Red Cedar and Ponderosa Pine. Grades offered include No. 2 and Better through No. 4 Common, D and C & Better Selects. Dimensional lumber is offered in 2×4 through 2×10 in 8’-20’ lengths. Industrial lumber is offered in 4/4, 5/4 and 6/4 thicknesses. Patterns available include paneling, siding, ceiling, shiplap, tongue and groove and decking at the Princeton mill.
Todish has worked at Bennett Lumber Products for over 30 years with experience in the company’s Planer and Shipping departments as well as the Scale Master.
In his spare time, Todish enjoys riding his Harley, raising and riding Quarter Horses as well as hunting and fishing. He is married (33 years) with two children and two grandchildren.
For more information, visit www.blpi.com.
Kenzie Hand is in sales and the marketing manager at Lucidyne Technologies, Inc., in Corvallis, OR.
Lucidyne has been an industry leader in scanning and optimization throughout North America since 1985. Products include GradeScan, which features the patented Deep Learning Artificial Intelligence Grading Platform; Perceptive Sight; and the GradeMark Reader. The company recently was acquired by Microtec, which allows for a mill-wide scanning solution.
Lucidyne Technologies is a member of Southeastern Lumber Manufacturers Association, Mississippi Lumber Manufacturers Association, Southern Forest Products Association, Western Wood Products Association, National Hardwood Lumber Association and the Northeastern Lumber Manufacturers Association.
Hand became acquainted with the forest products industry while growing up in a lumber town, Myrtle Creek, OR. Both parents worked at a mill at some point in their careers. After graduating from Oregon State University with a bachelor’s degree in marketing, Hand was hired at Lucidyne. She has worked there for seven years, and has been in her position for five years.
Hand is married to Jacob Hand and enjoys spending time with him and their two dogs as well as camping, fishing, kayaking and running.
Learn more at www.lucidyne.com.
Nathan Tellis is a Sales Manager at Western Forest Products Inc., located in Vancouver, BC.
As a leading supplier of high-quality, sustainable building products, WFP is pleased to see wood increasingly receiving recognition as the product of choice. Wood’s aesthetic, economic and environmental benefits are just some of the reasons builders and designers are increasingly gravitating to wood.
Nathan Tellis started his career in the forest products industry in 2002 after graduating from Simon Fraser University with a degree in marketing and international business. He began as a secondary reman coordinator for Hemlock and Douglas Fir, and quickly transitioned into Hemlock/Douglas Fir sales in 2006. He joined the Western Forest Products team in March of 2011 where he was introduced to Western Red Cedar and quickly became immersed. Since 2018, Nathan has been the Sales Manager for WRC, Doug Fir and Hemlock of Clears, Shops and Timbers into the domestic and international markets.
Tellis is married with three children (ages 15, 7 and 5). He spends a large portion of his free time with his family on the golf course and on the soccer fields.
For more information visit www.westernforest.com.
