Innovation in Family Business:  That Surge of Excitement

Valerie Johnson, of D.R. Johnson Lumber Co., is the second generation president of her family’s award winning lumber business.

“A surge of excitement about the potential upside…” is how Valerie describes the realization of cross laminated timber (CLT) as a new direction for the family’s once downsizing lumber company.

Through strategic partnerships and funding D.R. Johnson Lumber Co. is now on the world stage as the first certified US wood manufacturer of cross laminated timber (CLT) panels for the emerging “Timber Age” of construction.

CLT has been used in Europe since the 1990’s but Oregon is now also directly benefitting from this construction industry disruption with a new 12-story multi-family residence in the Pearl District and the Oregon Forest Science Complex on the OSU Corvallis campus, as well as a full production schedule of new CLT projects for 2018.

The Johnson family company founders were early innovators in the timber industry giving co-owners Valerie and her sister, Jodi Westbrooks, advantages in preparing for this revitalization of their business, industry and, potentially, the economic base of rural Oregon.

Valerie will share her personal journey that led DR Johnson Lumber Co. to this strategic investment

Register Here!