SPRINGFIELD, Ore. (AP) — Roseburg Forest Products will move its corporate headquarters to Springfield by late next summer.
The firm, now based in Dillard, near Roseburg, says it will move 85 corporate employees to the former Northwest Community Credit Union building on Gateway Street by next September.
The employees, including most of its top executives, will join about 30 information technology employees already in the building, said Rebecca Taylor, Roseburg's spokeswoman.
Roseburg is remodeling the 50,429-square-foot building for its corporate offices.
One of the state's major companies, Roseburg has more than 3,000 employees in Oregon, Montana, Louisiana, Mississippi and Georgia. The company makes softwood and hardwood plywood, particleboard, medium density fiberboard, laminates and engineered wood products. It owns and manages 630,000 acres of timberland.
The company last summer disclosed it would move most of its corporate headquarters to Springfield.
"The company has considered this move for some time and concluded that a location with access to a broader pool of professional employees, proximity to corporate services, and a major airport is needed for the long-term growth of the company," the firm said at the time.
However, it wasn't known until now how many corporate employees would move.
The firm's top executives, including Grady Mulbery, who will become president on Jan. 1, will relocate to Springfield, along with executives in finance, sales, timberlands management, engineering and human resources, Taylor said on Thursday.
Even though the headquarters will move to Springfield, the Dillard office will remain as a regional headquarters with corporate offices, including payroll and human resources, the company said.
Also, the company's current president and chief executive officer, Allyn Ford, will keep an office in Dillard, Taylor said.
Ford, president and chief executive for the past 18 years, is to step down from the president's job on Jan. 1. He will retire as chief executive on Jan. 1, 2017.
Mulbery will assume the joint role of CEO and president when Ford retires.
Ford, the son of the firm's founder, Kenneth Ford, will remain chairman of the board.
Roseburg, with five mills in Douglas County, will have 1,800 employees in the Douglas County area after the corporate move, Taylor said.
Last fall, Roseburg Forest Products bought the Northwest Community Credit Union headquarters building on Gateway Street for $5.75 million.
The credit union, which retains a branch in the building, sold the structure because it had built a new headquarters in Eugene.
For Roseburg Forest Products, the headquarters relocation and the leadership succession are among several recent changes.
On Thursday, the firm announced the company will create two new business lines — solid wood and composites — by combining the sales and manufacturing functions for each. Sales and manufacturing have operated independently of each other, the company said.
The reorganization will take effect on Jan. 1.
Other areas of the firm will remain as currently structured, Mulbery said in a statement.
"With the talent we have internally, we have the opportunity to take a fresh look at how we run our business," he said. "We have worked hard to develop clarity in our organization and streamline the decision-making process. Being structured by business unit made the most sense internally and for our customers."
With the latest changes, composites manufacturing director Mark Avery will be promoted to vice president of the composite panel business and logistics, the company said.
Vice president of sales and marketing Steve Killgore will become vice president of the solid wood business and marketing.
"It is a testament to the bench strength of the company to be able to promote from within the organization," Ford said in a statement. "This new structure establishes a strong platform for the continued success and growth of our company."
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Information from: The Register-Guard, https://www.registerguard.com/