By Wade Vonasek -- Attention to quality control, work environment and sustainable manufacturing has made Pacific Crest Industries’ CEO Steve Bell the 2009 Jerry Metz Achievement Award winner.

Tradition meets technology in upstate New York, where Harden Furniture combines old-world craftsmanship with modern-day technology, to forge a profitable future.

Profiles of the forward-thinking individuals at the helm of industry-leading companies.

With 36 years in the industry under his belt, Bill Weaver has experienced woodworking from the shop floor all the way up to the front office. “Never did I envision at the beginning of my career that I would be where I am today,” says Weaver, the president and CEO of Canyon Creek Cabinet Co.. “It has been a very rewarding career full of great experiences.”

Bill LePage must be a quick learner, because in the short time he has been a part of the wood products industry he has achieved some impressive things. “I had not envisioned having a career in the wood products industry,” says LePage, vice president of Operations for The Simple Furniture Co. LLC. “I was actually working for a large national retailer as its manager of construction and store design.”

“Every day is a new experience and if you are open to learning, the experiences that make you better come every day,” says Kevin Kuske. One of the earliest experiences that shaped Kuske involved developing a treatment for schizophrenia while working as a chemist at Eli Lilly. “Observing, listening and looking at the problem from the customer’s point of view made the solution obvious and the team passionately went home to launch all three [liquid, pill and patch] formulations,” he recalls.