GreenFirst Announces Appointment of Joel Fournier as Chief Executive Officer
November 7, 2023
TORONTO -- GreenFirst Forest Products Inc. (TSX: GFP) ("GreenFirst") is pleased to announce the appointment of Joel Fournier as its new Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Fournier will be taking over operations from Interim CEO Paul Rivett, who will continue to serve as Executive Chair of the Board of Directors.
Mr. Fournier is a seasoned executive with over two decades of hands-on experience in lumber mills in both Eastern and Western Canada.
Mr. Fournier 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 JD Irving as a co-op student and steadily rose up the ranks to become Director, Lumber Mill Optimization and New Product Development. Mr. 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.
Mr. 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, a forestry company in British Columbia. Prior to that, he held the position of Chief Operating Officer at Sinclair Group Forest Products, also in British Columbia.
Mr. Fournier will be a hands-on leader in our lumber mill operations and has committed to be based out of GreenFirst's offices in Timmins, Ontario which is very close in proximately to all of our 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 Paul Rivett, Executive Chair of GreenFirst. "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."
About GreenFirst
GreenFirst Forest Products is a forest-first business, focused on sustainable forest management and lumber production. The Company owns four sawmills located in rich wood baskets proudly operating over 6.1 million hectares of FSC® certified public Ontario forestlands (FSC® C167905). The Company believes that responsible forest practices, coupled with the long-term green advantage of lumber, provide GreenFirst with significant cyclical and secular advantages in building products.
