Industry leaders, board members, work colleagues, family and close friends gathered at a dinner in Brisbane last week to recognise 30 years of devoted service to the engineered wood sector by Simon Dorries who has stepped down as general manager of EWPAA. Mr Dorries, who joined the Engineered Wood Products Association of Australasia as a laboratory technician in 1985, took up his new position as CEO of Australian Forestry Standard Ltd, based in Brisbane, on Monday this week.
“In his nine years as general manager, Simon elevated EWPAA to the highest ranking as an industry organisation, not only in Australia and New Zealand but in the wider international scene, significantly extending its scope of activities,” acting CEO Andy McNaught said.
“The association grew under his stewardship as a respected industry body that developed wider market access for its members, exposed sub-standard products in the marketplace and championed EWPAA products through no fewer than nine certification schemes.
“His work lobbying governments and trade unions on the dangers of structurally unsound and high emission imports and their threat to the lives of both site workers and consumers gained international coverage.” Mr McNaught said during his tenure as GM, Mr Dorries worked to amalgamate the Australian Wood Panels Association into EWPAA, adding particleboard and MDF to its ‘product mix’ that included plywood and LVL. He said EWPAA now also represented solid wood products and the Australian wood packaging system and was widely recognised as a deliverer of chain of custody certification.
Mr Dorries travelled extensively promoting and certifying EWPAA products in the US, Japan, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands. Simon Dorries paid tribute to the EWPAA staff in Brisbane and the outside consultants who had contributed greatly to EWPAA’s high reputation.
“We were a team and our successes came from team work, and I am glad and proud to have worked closely with all of them,” Mr Dorries said. An extensive interview process is under way to find a successor to Mr Dorries and an announcement of a new EWPAA CEO is expected soon.
Photos:
EWPAA technical manager and acting CEO Andy McNaught makes a presentation to Simon Dorries at the Brisbane dinner.
Simon Dorries receives best wishes from Vicki Roberts (former EWPAA executive assistant), and the EWPAA Brisbane team Andrew McLaughlin, quality systems manager, Karrin Ryan, laboratory technician, Suzie Steiger, laboratory manager, Christian Hamlyn, laboratory technician, Sonia Moore, executive assistant, Andy McNaught, technical manager and acting CEO, and Anna Zlotek, financial officer.
