commentFSC Names New President
The U.S. branch of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has appointed Corey Brinkema its new president, effective November 5, 2007. “I’m honored to be working on behalf of the global champion for responsible forest management and to be representing a symbol of such high integrity in the forest products marketplace,” says Brinkema. The FSC-US presidency has been vacant since early 2007, when Roger Dower left the organization to assume the presidency of the Johnson Foundation.
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Brinkema served most recently as executive director of the Minneapolis-based nonprofit, the Green Institute. He believes his experiences at the organization prepared him well for his new position. Over the past year, the Green Institute partnered with local builders to develop a green homebuilding and remodeling certification program called Minnesota GreenStar. “Our program did the due diligence on wood certification programs and found that only FSC provides the necessary safeguards for high-conservation-value forests and chain-of-custody controls,” says Brinkema.
The Green Institute also retails FSC hardwood flooring and millwork from Minnesota producers. From this work, “we learned to appreciate the rigor and value of the chain-of-custody system,” he says. “We’ve also witnessed firsthand the recent growth in demand for FSC-certified building products and the benefits this growth can provide to local communities.”
Noting that “FSC paper markets have blossomed faster than anyone could have predicted,” Ian Hanna, director of northwest certified forestry at the Northwest Natural Resource Group and member of the FSC-US board of directors, says that Brinkema’s biggest challenges will be managing this success while increasing growth in other markets. Brinkema agrees, saying that “we need to solidify these gains and work toward similar penetration in the building construction industry.”
Brinkema says that, while FSC-US will retain its office in Washington, D.C., the organization is considering branching out to other locations. “Honestly, we’re not sure yet where I’ll be based,” he says. The board of directors is happy to have Brinkema on board, wherever he’s based. “Corey has the capacity for deeply complex strategy and subtle attention to detail,” says Hanna. “He is exactly the president we had hoped to find.”This article was produced by BuildingGreen, Inc.- www.buildinggreen.com
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