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GreenFirst appoints Joel Fournier as CEO

GreenFirst Forest Products has announced the appointment of Joel Fournier as its new CEO. He will be taking over operations from Interim CEO Paul Rivett, who will continue to serve as executive chair of the board of directors.

Fournier is a seasoned executive with over two decades of hands-on experience in lumber mills in both Eastern and Western Canada.

He grew up in a lumber mill town and studied wood science at Laval University. Additionally, he obtained his master’s degree in business administration from Moncton. He began his career at J.D. Irving as a co-op student and steadily rose up the ranks to become director, lumber mill optimization and new product development. Fournier is well-known for his expertise in manufacturing, quality control and process improvement, with a track record of achieving operational excellence and driving growth through strategic business approaches and employee engagement.

Fournier also has a strong background in the entire forest products value chain, including finance, sales and strategy. Before joining GreenFirst, he served as the vice-president, coastal operations at Western Forest Products. Prior to that, he held the position of chief operating officer at Sinclair Group Forest Products.

Fournier will be a hands-on leader in the lumber mill operations and has committed to be based out of GreenFirst’s offices in Timmins, Ont., which is very close in proximately to all of GreenFirst’s lumber mills.

“We are very excited to have Joel join us. He is a proven leader with decades of experience in lumber mill operations,” said Rivett. “Joel brings his leadership and experience to optimize and grow our business at GreenFirst as we begin a new phase in the maturation of our young, focused and entrepreneurial company.”