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Staff Bios

Plywood Certification

Dick Bower
Plywood Certification Supervisor
Sun Prairie, Wisconsin
dick.bower@tecotested.com

Dick joined TECO in 2004 as Plywood Certification Supervisor. In this position he manages TECO's plywood technicians as well as interacts with TECO clients and their customers in the global plywood industry. Dick has over 30 years experience in technical and supervisory positions in the forest products industry, including Sherwin-Williams, Champion International, and Georgia-Pacific Resins. Dick holds BS and MS degrees in Forest Products from Iowa State University.

Mike Russell
Plywood Specialist
Shreveport, Louisiana
mike.russell@tecotested.com
Certifications: ASQ - Certified Quality Auditor

Mr. Russell began his career working for Louisiana Pacific Corporation in 1970. He was with TECO from 1986 to 1989 working with Coastal Lumber Company, then Champion in Camden, Texas. From 1989 to 1991, Russell worked for the APA but returned to TECO in 1991 to perform the TECO concept of the Man-in-the-Mill for Hunt Forest Products mills in Natalbany and Pollock, Louisiana. He attended the University of Louisiana at Monroe majoring in accounting, and the College of Pentecost obtaining a degree in Christian education.

Jim Campbell
Plywood Field Representative
Many, Louisiana
jim.campbell@tecotested.com

Jim Campbell is a plywood veteran with more than 40 years in the industry. He started his career in 1963 at Weyerhaeuser Company in Longview, Washington, as a mill laborer and finished in 1969 as a gluing supervisor. Mr. Campbell moved to the southern U.S. in 1970 to become a supervisor and training instructor for the American Plywood Association. In 1978, he joined Monsanto Company as a technical sales supervisor selling and servicing plywood resin throughout the Louisiana/Texas area. Campbell retired from H.B. Fuller Company as a wood products business manager in 2000. He worked with TECO as a Plywood Technician and Auditor from 2002 through 2007. Jim currently assists TECO on a part-time basis in both North and South America.

Bruce Ellsworth
Plywood Technician
Eugene, Oregon
bruce.ellsworth@tecotested.com

Mr. Ellsworth started his wood products career in a furniture factory and then went on to manufacturing Silent Floors for Trus Joist™. Ellsworth worked for Willamette Industries in Springfield, Oregon, for 20 years before joining TECO. He spent more than three years as a laboratory technician prior to becoming a plywood technician. Ellsworth attended a community college for two years and has volunteered for the Santa Clara Rural Fire District in Lane County, Oregon. He has also volunteered in the District Attorney's office as a Crime Victims Advocate.

Dave Gilmore
Plywood Technician (Relief)
Eugene, Oregon
dave.gilmore@tecotested.com

Mr. Gilmore joined TECO in July 2005. In 1964, Dave began working in a mill that his father co-owned; Port Plywood in Astoria, Oregon. He later went on to work at Rosboro Lumber Company in Springfield, Oregon where he worked for twenty-eight years. Dave decided to return to school in the mid 1990s and then worked as a branch secretary for a Fortune 500 insurance company. Dave jumped at the opportunity to return to his roots in the plywood industry when offered a position with TECO. Gilmore is a Relief Plywood Technician in the West.

James Givens
Plywood Technician
Thornton, Arkansas
james.givens@tecotested.com

James Givens joined TECO in 2002. He has more than 30 years in plywood production with supervisory and maintenance skills. Givens also provides quarterly visits to TECO's South American customers. Givens has a BS degree in animal science and an associates degree in forestry business.

Don McKinley
Plywood Technician
Chester, South Carolina
don.mckinley@tecotested.com

Mr. McKinley began his career in plywood in 1959 at Georgia Pacific in Coos Bay, Oregon. In 1965, he went to work for Weyerhaeuser in North Bend, Oregon, transferring to Wright City, Oklahoma, for the startup of that mill. McKinley retired in 1995 but has worked off and on for TECO since retirement. He has also served as a plywood technician at the Weyerhaeuser mills in Dierks, Arkansas, and Emerson, Arkansas.

Charlie Welch
Plywood Technician
Fitzgerald, Georgia
charlie.welch@tecotested.com

Charlie Welch has worked in the wood products industry in one capacity or another for more than 40 years. Charlie started his career at Evans Products in Missoula, Montana as a Finish End Supervisor then moving on to various Boise Cascade plants in Oregon. He then worked for The Murphy Company as a Superintendent of Shipping and then on to Georgia Pacific as a Finishing and Shipping Supervisor until 1996. In 1996, Charlie came to TECO as a Plywood Technician. Mr. Welch attended Linn-Benton Community College in Albany, Oregon and served four years in the U.S. Navy.