Keynote Speakers
Frank Owens, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Sustainable Bioproducts, College of Forest Resources, Mississippi State University
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Since 2001, Frank Owens has been involved in the global marketing and sourcing of wood products. Fluent in Japanese, he has lived abroad for eight years in East Asia and the Middle East. He holds a bachelor's degree in international relations from the University of Minnesota, a master's degree in East Asian languages from UCLA, and a doctoral degree in forest resources from Mississippi State University, where he currently serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Sustainable Bioproducts. He teaches courses in wood anatomy, forest products marketing and lumber manufacturing and conducts research on lumber properties and computer vision applications for wood identification. He is Vice President of the Forest Products Society and serves on the Council of the International Association of Wood Anatomists (IAWA) and the Board of Directors of the National Association of Floor Covering Technicians (NAFCT).
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Presentation Title: Computer-vision Wood Identification: an A.I. Application for Combating Illegal Wood Trade
Jaret Brochmann
Vice President of Sales and Technical Service for North America
Bakelite Synthetics
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Jaret Brochmann is the Vice President of Sales and Technical Service for North America at Bakelite Synthetics,, a leading global integrated producer of amino and phenolic resins, critical to the building and construction, specialty, and transportation markets. Today he is responsible for developing and executing strategies for the North American adhesives business.
With more than 20 years of experience in the adhesives industry, prior to his current role, Jaret has spent his entire professional career and held a variety of roles within the organization, first as a Resin Technologist in Diboll, TX for Borden Chemical in 2002, and then multiple regional technical sales and national management roles for both Momentive and Hexion within the Forest Products Division.
Jaret earned a Masters in Science from the University of Minnesota in 2002 and a Bachelors in Wood Science from the University of Illinois in 2000.
Lorraine Russ
Senior Director Plywood & EWP
Roseburg
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Lorraine Russ has been in the building industry for the majority of her professional career. She spent 10-years with LP Building Products working in various commercial roles including, Product Management, Innovation and Director of Sales & Marketing, before joining Carlisle Construction Materials as General Manager for their Diversified Residential Products division. Today Lorraine is the Senior Director of Plywood & EWP for Roseburg Forest Products. Lorraine earned her MBA from Belmont University’s Jack C. Massey College of Business and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland where she was an Academic All-American and Captain of the Women’s Tennis Team.
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Presentation Title: Innovation in Building Products