LIEBETREU TO LEAD FOREST RESOURCES ASSOCIATION

RELEASE: April 18, 2008

CONTACT: Neil Ward (301/838-9385)
nward@forestresources.org

Rockville, MD – April 13, the Forest Resources Association elected Dave Liebetreu, International Paper’s Vice President, Global Sourcing, to serve as FRA’s Chairman for the coming two-year period.

Liebetreu thanked his predecessor, Jim Brody, for his leadership in focusing the 74-year-old organization on obtaining operational efficiencies for the U.S. wood supply chain and for strengthening FRA’s financial position.

Liebetreu praised FRA’s work, under Brody’s leadership, in serving as an implementation organization for the Wood Supply Research Institute’s research on operational efficiency; for creating opportunities for engaging the opportunities and challenges presented by emerging biomass markets; and for the creation of the Agricultural Transportation Efficiency Coalition (AgTEC), in pursuit of Gross Vehicle Weight reform in forest and farm product trucking.

Liebetreu noted the current “challenging times” facing mills and loggers and urged FRA’s Board of Directors to be careful with dollars while building FRA’s relevance as an organization.

He noted the increasing importance of “climate change” policy as a factor affecting the wood supply chain, and advised that the organization must prepare to grapple with that issue, and with other potentially divisive ones, such as certification.

He urged FRA to enhance its role in building ground-level support for policy change in Washington.

As International Paper’s Vice President, Global Sourcing, Dave Liebetreu is responsible for fiber procurement, real estate, land sales, and minerals operations, in addition to providing leadership for the global contracting and purchasing of raw materials, energy, transportation, capital, and repair material and services.

Liebetreu began his career with International Paper nearly 15 years ago, after 12 years of service with the U.S. Army. He has held a number of manufacturing and leadership positions for the company, including operations and technical manager at the Androscoggin Mill in Jay, Maine, mill manager of the former Hudson River Mill in Corinth, New York, and executive assistant to former Chairman and CEO John Dillon.

He received his degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York and his master’s degree from the University of Michigan.

He is based in Memphis, Tennessee.

The Forest Resources Association Inc. is a nonprofit trade association concerned with the safe, efficient, and sustainable harvest of forest products and their transport from woods to mill. FRA represents wood consumers, independent logging contractors, and wood dealers, as well as businesses providing products and services to the forest resource-based industries.

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Caption for photo: “Dave Liebetreu, newly elected Chairman of the Forest Resources Association.”