LP Building Solutions (LP) has announced the appointment of Executive Vice President, General Manager of Siding Jason Ringblom to the newly created role of President, overseeing all manufacturing and commercial operations, effective April 7, 2025.

This leadership transition is part of LP’s long-term succession planning, ensuring continuity of strong leadership and positioning the company for its next phase of growth. With this new structure, LP has eliminated the North American Business General Manager positions, and Ringblom will continue reporting to LP Chair & CEO Brad Southern.

“On behalf of the Board of Directors, I am pleased to have Jason serve as President and look forward to working with him in this new role,” says Southern. “Having served as General Manager for both LP’s OSB and siding businesses, I am confident that Jason is the ideal leader to help drive LP’s ongoing strategic transformation.”

Since 2018, LP has pursued a successful strategy of growth, specialization, and value creation. Building on this foundation, it is now streamlining operations by integrating siding and OSB manufacturing and consolidating all market-facing activities under a single leader, Ringblom. This new structure enhances efficiency, strengthens customer engagement, and accelerates long-term strategic execution.

By integrating operations, LP will better leverage its product portfolio—optimizing siding, structural solutions, and OSB as a cohesive offering to enhance its competitive advantage. This approach simplifies processes, making it easier for customers to do business with LP while improving service and responsiveness. The new structure also increases agility, enabling faster, more informed decision-making and optimized resource allocation. However, there are no immediate plans to change financial reporting segments.

As President, Ringblom will lead this transition, defining the new structure, appointing leadership, and aligning processes to ensure a seamless integration. As part of these changes, LP General Manager of South America Frederick Price will now report to Ringblom.

With more than 20 years at LP, including eight years on the Executive Team, Ringblom brings extensive expertise in sales, marketing, and operations. Having progressed through key leadership roles at the company—including General Sales Manager, Vice President of OSB Sales & Marketing, Executive Vice President & General Manager of OSB, and most recently, Executive Vice President & General Manager of Siding—he is well-equipped to drive this transformation. His collaborative leadership style, strategic vision, and ability to drive results position LP for continued success.

In addition to Ringblom’s appointment as President, LP has also appointed Craig Sichling to the newly created role of Senior Vice President, Chief Commercial Officer and named three new Vice Presidents, including Vice President of National Accounts Jeremy Sellers, Vice President of Field Sales Mitch Kingston, and Vice President of Supply Chain & Customer Experience Cody Austell. These changes are designed to strengthen LP’s commitment to serving customers, ensuring the company continues to deliver high-quality building products and innovative solutions to meet their evolving needs.

Organizers of the Timber Processing & Energy Expo (TP&EE) announced that the exhibitor renewal program begins this April for the biennial event, to be held September 23-25, 2026 at the Portland Exposition Center in Portland, Ore.

TP&EE 2024, held in September 2024, attracted 1,000 non-exhibitor personnel and nearly as many exhibitor personnel. About 80 wood producer companies sent personnel to comb the aisles of 180 exhibitor companies that were displaying technologies on 45,000 square feet of booth space in Hall E on the Portland Expo grounds.

In an exhibitors’ survey taken immediately after the 2024 show, 70% of exhibitors said they had confirmed an order or probably would related to discussions at the show.

TP&EE is produced by Hatton-Brown Expositions and hosted by Panel World, Timber Processing, and Wood Bioenergy magazines.

The 2026 event will be the seventh conducted by Hatton-Brown, since assuming the long-running Portland show. “It’s a much more consolidated industry in the Northwest than it was, say in the 1980s,” comments Show Director Rich Donnell. “But it’s still highly relevant, and we feel an obligation to deliver the event to the Northwest wood products community, where some of the best operators are still going strong, and several new mills are coming up.”

Larger exhibitors in the 2024 event were emailed the first week of April with renewal options for the 2026 show, options for smaller exhibitors will follow in the coming months. Sponsorship programs will also be announced soon.

Huber Engineered Woods (HEW) has announced that Kirk Blanchette will become President of HEW, succeeding Brian Carlson, who is retiring as of July 1.

Blanchette will bring more than 25 years of experience in finance, corporate strategy and leadership to the role. He is currently Chief Financial Officer & Vice President of Strategy for HEW. In addition to currently leading the marketing, strategy, finance & accounting, purchasing and risk functions for HEW, he previously had responsibility for the logistics, sales and operations planning, inside sales, information technology and industrial/OEM functions as well.

Prior to joining HEW in 2012, Blanchette held numerous roles in the venture capital and private equity industries, most recently as a Partner at Seguin Partners, a middle-market-focused fund. Prior to his principle investing roles he was an investment banker with Bank of America focused on mergers & acquisitions and corporate finance for industrial clients.

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance and Investments from Babson College and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

“I am honored to step into this role and continue building on the foundation of success established by Brian Carlson and our incredible HEW team,” Blanchette says. “As a family-owned business, we remain committed to our core values—the Huber Principles—and our valued employees and customers. I look forward to leading the organization to deliver outstanding results for our customers and shareholders into the future.”

Carlson adds, “This is an exciting time for our entire organization. Kirk is well prepared to lead HEW into its next era, where it will keep delivering innovative, sustainable building solutions that address the needs of our customers and the North American housing and construction industry at large.”