APA—The Engineered Wood Assn. presented Tony Vuksich the 2022 Bronson J. Lewis award during the APA Annual Meeting held October 15-18 at the J.W. Marriott Turnberry Resort in Aventura, Fla. The award is named in honor of the late Bronson Lewis, who served for 24 years as secretary and then executive vice president of the association. The award recognizes individuals for their leadership and outstanding contributions to the engineered wood industry.

Tony Vuksich, center, flanked by his wife, Anita, receives the Bronson J. Lewis Award from APA Board Chairman Roy O. Martin III.

Vuksich recently announced his retirement after serving the engineered wood industry for 50 years. He began his life-long career with Willamette Valley Co. in 1972 in sales. He became a branch manager in 1976, a regional manager in 1980, vice president of the northwest in 1996 and global wood vice president in 2010. He also supported the establishment of Willamette Valley Co. facilities in Chile and the Netherlands.

In addition to his work with Willamette Valley Co., his contributions to the engineered wood industry include a 20-year term serving on the EWTA (Engineered Wood Technology Assn.) Advisory Committee where he worked on funding special projects for APA and promoting the EWTA Info Fair and membership. He has served as an active member of the Wood Based Composite Center for the last 12 years. He has organized APA’s Mike St. John Golf Tournament for the past 35 years. Vuksich will continue to contribute to the industry maintaining the golf tournament operations.

A standing ovation greeted the announcement by APA Board Chairman Roy O Martin III. Accepting the award, at times his voice breaking with emotion, Vuksich read the names of the previous recipients of the award and commented, “I don’t belong on this list, but here I am.” He thanked his wife, Anita, for her support during all his travels, and he thanked the engineered wood industry community for providing him lifelong friendships and experiences.

APA President Mark Tibbetts added, “On behalf of the members and APA staff, we wish Tony only the best in his retirement.”

West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. has announced it is permanently curtailing approximately 170MMBF of combined production at its Fraser Lake and Williams Lake sawmills and approximately 85MMSF of plywood production at its Quesnel Plywood mill.

The curtailments will be realized through the elimination of one shift at each facility. The reduction in capacity is expected to impact 77 positions at Fraser Lake Sawmill, 15 positions at Williams Lake Lumber, and 55 positions at Quesnel Plywood and will occur over the course of the fourth quarter of 2022.

West Fraser expects to mitigate the impact on effected employees by providing work opportunities at other West Fraser operations. West Fraser cites access to available timber is an increasing challenge in British Columbia and ongoing transportation constraints impairing ability to reliably access markets as the reason for curtailing production.

LP Building Solutions (LP) celebrated a landmark day in company history on Aug. 19, 2022 with the grand opening of its new global headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee.

The new headquarters, which spans the top two floors—all 60,000 sq. ft.—of the Creative Office Building in Midtown’s Broadwest development, allows LP to further expand its corporate hybrid workplace model while upgrading its office environment.

Founded 50 years ago in Portland, Oregon, LP relocated its headquarters to Nashville in 2004. Prior to its move to Broadwest, the company was in downtown’s central business district. In 2021, LP announced the move to the Broadwest complex to seek a more innovative, collaborative and flexible office space. With more than 60 collaboration areas (conference rooms, huddle rooms and more), the new state-of-the-art headquarters is designed to support a hybrid work environment that allows employees to determine where they work—whether remotely or in the office—based on their roles and responsibilities.