The popular Executive Panel, moderated by Kevin Bromley, Partner, PwC Vancouver and Robert Barnden, conference co-host from PwC Sweden, was the last panel of the day and included executives from Canadian, American and Finnish-based companies. Duncan Davies of International Forest Products outlined the challenges facing his BC based company, including the increased Canadian dollar, mountain pine beetle and the 15% export tax charged on US exports. Interfor’s success is the strength of its balance sheet and its diversification into the US. Boise Cascade’s Tom Stephens explained his company’s recent restructuring with an aim to differentiating itself through a better understanding of customers’ needs and a “never stop learning” attitude. Mark Suwyn from NewPage discussed the paradigm shift in advertising and the resulting increase in catalogues and direct mailings, the market in which his company is focused . He also noted the significant increase in training dollars his company has invested in their employees so that everyone is aware of the key performance metrics for the company. Jukka Tiitinen of Metso Paper talked of the importance in having diversified investments to enable a company to weather an industry downturn.
Closing Remarks
Robert Barden, PwC’s Global Forest, Paper & Packaging Industry Leader from Stockholm, Sweden, highlighted the day and thanked the speakers for their insight into the theme “Challenging Times, Winning Strategies”.
Panelists
Duncan Davies
President and CEO,
International
Forest Products
Vancouver, Canada
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Jukka Tiitinen
President, Metso Paper North America
Metso Paper
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