Vancouver, BC – The creation of a full-time President and CEO position for U.S. Wood- Works reflects WoodWorks’ transition from a pilot initiative to a sustained national program. It also reflects a transition to U.S.-based management. Until now, the program’s day-to-day leadership was undertaken by Vancouver-based Kelly McCloskey & Associates (KMA), specifically Kelly and KMA Vicepresident Dwight Yochim.

In a previous role as President of the Canadian Wood Council, Kelly led the creation of the Canadian Wood WORKS! initiative, which now includes successful programs in five Canadian provinces. Building on the Canadian model, he worked with the Wood Products Council (WPC) board to establish the U.S. iteration and manage its three-year pilot phase.

“The WPC created WoodWorks as a pilot to determine the potential for success in the U.S., and the results clearly demonstrate that significant market growth is achievable,” said Kelly. “However, WoodWorks is a U.S. program and the transition to U.S.-based leadership is appropriate and timely, particularly since there is also a transition to more U.S.-based funding. For these reasons, and because the position is fullrather than part-time, I did not apply for the new position. That said, KMA was founded on a passion for the use of wood and we’ll continue to support Adrian and the WoodWorks program however we can.” Adrian Blocker, most recently serving as President of the Southern Forest Products Association, has been appointed President and CEO of the U.S. WoodWorks initiative.

In addition to supporting WoodWorks, KMA will continue to consult to the forest sector in the areas of coalition building, market intelligence and strategy development and implementation. It will also merge officially with Tree Frog Creative Communications, producer of the widely acclaimed Tree Frog Forestry News. Kelly will join Tree Frog President Sandy McKellar on the Editorial Board and produce a weekly opinion column on major forest sector trends, a new feature of the Tree Frog News.For more information on where the Frog is going, click here: http://www.treefrogcreative.ca/about/press-release.

Prior to WoodWorks, Kelly was President and CEO of the Wood Promotion Network and President of the Canadian Wood Council. He is also a former Chief Forester with Ainsworth Lumber and a Management Consultant for Price Waterhouse. Kelly holds a BSF and an MBA from the University of British Columbia. In 2010 he was awarded the Distinguished Professional Forester Award by the Association of BC Forest Professionals, that association’s highest honor.

Source: Kelly McCloskey & Associates