Our vision
What we do
1. Ensuring the delivery of supportive policy and regulation
By building relationships with key politicians and regulators, legislation is developed that enables members to innovate, remain competitive and grow, thereby future-proofing our wood processing and manufacturing sector.
- Government seeks our contribution on developing workable regulations that consider technical information, risks, costs and benefits
- Policy formation mitigates and removes barriers to domestic and international trade of wood and wood products
- We proactively communicate to government the benefits of providing support and investment to develop sector opportunities, such as recognition of credits for long-lived harvest wood products, reviewing standards, and biomass expansion
- Our collaborative advocacy on key issues enhances our success
2. Promotion & education
Our messaging and storytelling, actively educates government, media and the public on the essential role of the wood processing and manufacturing sector to New Zealand.
- Our story about our core purpose and priorities is clear - we are a trusted and reliable voice for our members
- Policy makers and the wider industry are aware of our members' contributions to regional development, strong communities and protecting the environment
- Our social license to operate is future-proofed We are the ‘go to’ organisation for information on our sector
3. Demonstrating value for our members
Through our activities, members are inspired to be involved with WPMA, enhancing our influence and importance.
- By meeting our strategic priorities and supporting our members' business needs, we continue to build a strong and inclusive organisation that members are proud to belong to
- We create value and play a crucial role in growing our sector and meeting New Zealand’s economic and climate change targets
- As the peak organisation for wood products we promote our industry successes
- We have relevant business tools and governance procedures in place
Our people
Mark Ross
Chief Executive
Mark commenced as Chief Executive of WPMA in July 2023. He has a strong passion for the New Zealand primary sector and natural environment, having worked within the wider agricultural, horticultural, and forestry industries throughout his career. Mark's experience ranges from managing eradication programmes against exotic pests and diseases, to developing new policy, and holding leadership positions at Animal and Plant Health NZ, Federated Farmers of NZ and the Ministry for Primary Industries. He also has hands on experience working on farms, orchards, within the forestry sector and in field research.
Mark is a Masters graduate of Massey University in Business and Lincoln University in Horticulture. His governance experience includes director roles on Agrecovery and Growsafe, along with school Trustee/Chair appointments at St Mary's College and St Frances de Sales schools. He was also the government-appointed chair of the review of the standard for Management of Agrichemicals (NZS8409).
Mark has received a community award for leadership in eradicating Australian subterranean termites from the Waikato region.
Phone 027 442 9965
Jeanette Sutherland
Business Manager
Jeanette joined WPA in 2010. supporting the Board and Membership through the merge with PMA in 2014 to form the Wood Processors and Manufacturers Association of NZ (WPMA). In 2023 Jeanette took up the position of Business Manager moving from her previous role of Executive Assistant to the CE.
Jeanette also holds the position of Board Secretary supporting the Chair and Board of Directors.
Jeanette has over 20 years of experience in a variety of disciplines, including business operations, short and long term business planning, governance and financial management. Jeanette has built strong relationships from the Boardroom through to the Membership and senior stakeholders.
Prior to entering the corporate world Jeanette achieved significant knowledge and experience through involvement with medicine and medical practice management.
Jeanette is an Associate Member of the New Zealand Institute of Management (ANZIM) and Member of the Institute of Managers and Leaders (IML ANZ)
Jane Cuming
Technical Manager
With a background in construction Jane is contracted as WPMA's Technical Manager.
Jane is a qualified builder and has held technical and advisory roles with James Hardie, the Building Industry Authority and Fletcher Distribution. From 2005 - 2013 Jane served on the Building Practitioners Board with governs the Licensed Building Practitioners scheme.
For the past two years, in addition to her WPMA work, Jane has taught the Building Act and Building Code at Victoria University of Wellington School of Architecture.
Jane is a passionate advocate for the use of timber as a building material and believes robust research and strong standards are critical to accelerating the shift to low carbon buildings.
The Board
Don Hammond
Chairman
Don has a 45-year career in forestry graduating in 1976 with an Honours degree in Forestry Science from Canterbury University. He has supplemented this with a Diploma in Business Management from Massey University, A Certificate in Adult Teaching and a Massey University/Fonterra Governance development course.
Don is a New Zealand Institute of Forestry Registered Forestry Consultant and was awarded the NZIF Forester of the Year in 2022.
Don has worked across the spectrum of planation and indigenous forestry in NZ including establishment, tending and harvesting, forest investment analysis, valuation, timber processing and more recently governance. He is a member of the Institute of Directors.
Don has also managed a wide range of pest eradication programmes within New Zealand including high profile incursions like Painted Apple Moth, various ants, mosquitos and beetles and fruit flies.
Throughout his career he has been involved in supporting and governing research programmes including Better Border Biosecurity (B3), Bioprotection Centre of Research Excellence and chaired the Board of STIMBR and Phytos (involved with phytosanitary treatment of logs).
Don has also been the Ministerially appointed inaugural Chair of both the Game Animal Council (2013), and the Ministerial Arms Advisory Group (2020).
Don has interests in forestry and farming and represents dairy farmers on the Fonterra Cooperative Council.
Jon Ryder
Deputy Chair
Dr Jon Ryder is the CEO of Oji Fibre Solutions (OjiFS) and is directly responsible for the health, safety and environment, EBIT, manufacturing, engineering, sales and marketing and strategic development.
Jon has over 30 years' experience in the forestry, pulp and paper industry, stemming from his biochemistry degree and PHD in Pulp and Paper Manufacturing. His career started in the UK in technical and production management of fine coated paper mills, then in New Zealand with packaging paper manufacturing at Kinleith Mill and on to pulp mill management at Tasman Mill. Jon also managed the Pulp and Paper Mills in Australia, as well as sales and marketing functions for Australian Papers.
Jon returned to New Zealand in 2012 to take up the challenge of CEO of OjiFS. Jon leads with passion and pride, and is extremely personable, regularly engaging with staff face-to-face via informal sessions across all the OjiFS sites.
Ben Campbell
Head of Markets and Innovation - Abodo Wood Limited
Ben Campbell is the Head of Markets and Innovation at Abodo Wood Limited. Here he leads the business in global sales and architectural specification development, along with the company Research and Development and New Product Development programs.
The company has established distribution in over 35 export markets and throughout New Zealand, with ambitions for further market expansion over the coming years.
Ben has worked in the timber and building products sector for over 20 years, during which time he developed extensive knowledge and experience in solid timber, engineered wood products, timber treatment, wood modification technologies and exterior cladding systems.
Ben has been instrumental in the specification and delivery of sustainable timber solutions to countless projects in New Zealand, around the world and across both residential and commercial sectors.
Ben was awarded a Prime Minister's Business Scholarship in 2012 through which he completed study in design thinking best practice at Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. Ben holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Arts from the University of Auckland and is a regular speaker at conferences and events.
Ben is passionate about improving the sustainability of the construction industry by offering renewable alternatives to old growth timbers, for the benefit of future generations.
Brendan Smith
Technical Servcies - Product Manger - JNL Group
Technical Services - Product Manager for the JNL Group
After graduating from the Australian National University, Canberra, with a BSc (Forestry) Brendan commenced a near forty-year career in wood processing (saw milling and plywood / LVL manufacture), as supervisor or operations manager in both Australia and New Zealand.
- Private Investment Pinus radiata Forest establishment and silviculture supervisor, with a consulting / management company in Tumbarumba, NSW.
- Plywood, LVL and Framing timber manufacture, 8 years - APM Wood Products Canberra (Brown and Dureau Building Materials / Amcor).
- Plywood, LVL, Sawn timber manufacture, 30 years, being Juken New Zealand’s East Coast Mill manager for several years. Brendan is now GM Compliance & Risk for the JNL group, which also includes Reconstituted Wood Panels - Juken New Zealand Ltd.
Brendan represented industry as the WPMA member on the Standards NZ, NZ 3602, Timber and Wood-based Products for Use in Building, review committee. He also is on the Standards Australia and NZ review committee for AS/NZS 8008, Finger Jointed Structural Timber and AS/NZS 4708 Sustainable Forest Management, and actively involved with Joint NZ / Australian Standards for wood processing.
He has been President of the Engineered Wood Products Association of Australasia (3 terms), and currently on the EWPAA Board.
Craig Dawson
Director - Westco Lumber Limited
Craig is a shareholder and Director of Westco Lumber Limited which has a sawmill near Hokitika on the West Coast and a processing and distribution operation in Wainoni, Christchurch. Craig is the fifth generation of his family involved in the sawmilling/forestry industry.
Westco Lumber is an appearance grade timber operation cutting pruned logs and selling to customers in New Zealand, Australia, USA, Europe and Asia.
Craig trained as an accountant and joined Westco 32 years ago as the Company Accountant. During this time his work experience has covered all operations in the company including Health and Safety, sales and planning and has been responsible for the financial information and compliance systems of the company.
In 2015 Craig became a share holder and now leads the company.
With over 30 years in the industry and a detailed working knowledge from logs through processing to customers, together with the required understanding of compliance issues faced, Craig is well placed to contribute on industry wide matters.
Ian Jones
General Manager - Fletcher Wood Products Limited
Ian Jones is the General Manager for Fletcher Wood Products which includes operating businesses of Waipapa Pine Limited and Renewable Wood Fuels, and is responsible for the strategy and construction of the new $275m Wood Panels plant in Taupo.
Ian has a long history, 32 years, with Fletcher Building working across steel manufacturing, steel distribution, pipes, cement, aggregates and concrete.
After previously holding several GM and CE roles, the attractiveness and challenge of building a timber business from scratch for Fletchers was compelling.
Key achievements have been many years of favorable results in the operating business with customers, safety and people at the core, along with strategic moves including divestment of Pacific Steel (steel mill), $90m investment in the cement supply chain for Golden Bay Cement, and now the work to date on the timber business.
Mark Hansen
Managing Director - Rosvall Sawmill Limited
Mark is the Managing Director and shareholder of Rosvall Sawmill Limited.
Rosvall Sawmill Limited is located in Whangarei and are a successful pruned and sawlog mill with export markets in Australia, USA and the Pacific Islands.
Mark has a life-time experience working in the wood processing industry with a lot of experience around Treating, Milling and Marketing.
Mark's general knowledge is extensive of the whole industry and is very aware how we are all inter-dependent on each other for growth to happen and successful business to succeed.
Mark has a strong interest in Research and Development including 5 years on the SWI (Solid Wood Initiative) board which was a Science consortia working in the wood processing space.
Mark is trained in accountancy but wears his sawmill wood processing hat most of the time.
Mark Taylor
General Manager - Tenon Clearwood Limited Partnership
Mark is the General Manager of Tenon Clearwood Limited Partnership situated in Taupo.
Mark has over 35 years' experience within the industry, including leadership roles in:
- Primary Processing
- Remanufacturing
- Global Distribution and Sales
- Proven history in managing a large complex operation focused on producing quality products for the global market.
Mark has been a WPMA Board member since 2009 and has made constructive and experience-based contributions during that time.
Mark is excited about the potential for the industry and welcomes the opportunities to collaborate with the other Directors of the WPMA Board to support and grow the sector.
Tony Clifford
Managing Director - Pan Pac Forest Products Limited
Tony was appointed to the position of Managing Director - Pan Pac Forest Products Limited in February 2020. Prior to that, 8 years as General Manager - Pulp Division of Pan Pac Forest Products Limited with end-to-end responsibility for raw material, chemicals and energy purposes though production to sales and marketing of 300,000 tonnes of market pulp. This included market developments in China and India for 200,000 tonnes of BCTMP from 2012.
Tony has held various business development, management and engineering responsibilities within Pan Pac over the last 30 years.
Tony was an Executive member for 6 years and Chair of the NZ Pine Manufacturers Association (merged into WPMA in 2014). Board member of MUEG (Major Electricity Users Group) from 2012 to 2020.
Keith Knox
General Manager - Xlam ANZ
Keith is the General Manager of Xlam ANZ.
Keith has worked in the timber manufacturing and construction related industries for more than 30 years throughout Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
Keith worked for over 20 years at Big River Industries in a range of roles including Manufacturing, Sales, and as part of the Executive Team, establishing a green field operation in Western Australia as WA Manager before moving to Queensland as State Manager QLD/NT. Keith's background had a particular focus on Engineered Wood Products to the Commercial and Multi-Residential construction markets.
The five years prior to joining Xlam Keith headed up Mergers and Acquisitions for Big River Industries with a focus on diversifying the business both by segment and geography.
Before immigrating to Australia Keith was involved in the timber and panel industry in south Africa, manufacturing and supplying both structural and decorative timber products to the construction industry.
Keith has a strong interest in ensuring the success of Engineered Wood Products and in particular mass timber across the regions. With the market pressures we find ourselves under it is even more important that we understand the risks and opportunities.