Canfor shaking up head office

Corporate changes are underway at Canfor, but there will be no local direct impacts, according to officials at the forestry company.

The pulp side of the business was split from the lumber side in 2006 into an income trust but now the two sides are reuniting.

"The pulp side was spun out onto its own because of tax incentives, but those no longer exist," said Canfor's public affairs manager Corinne Stavness. "We are stronger operating under one corporate structure now, so that is what we are doing."

A single CEO will direct both sides of the B.C.-based multinational corporation. The pulp side and the lumber side will each have its own board of directors, the pulp side will have a company president and have some company divides, but the CEO will be the final authority for both branches. Wholesale downsizing was not the intention of the remerging, according to Stavness.

"Operations will continue on as they always were, it's just that we can be stronger leveraging the effects of both companies working together," she said. "The facilities are not changed, the aim was about leveraging buying power as one larger entity instead of two smaller ones."

Joe Nemeth was the corporate leader of Canfor Pulp but stepped down in August. His position will be filled by Brett Robinson, an internal promotion, and the overall CEO of both corporate entities is Don Kayne who moved into the post following Nemeth's amicable departure.