Saturday, 15 December 2001
A Message from the Executive Director
People are constantly impressed with the wide variety of useful certified wood products that have come to the marketplace since FSC’s beginning in 1993. There are over 1700 companies manufacturing over 8000 products. From pencils and guitars to plywood and doors, you name it and it can be made of FSC-certified wood.
That said, it is with deep regret that I must report that FSC international director Heiko Liedeker and I have resigned from the steering committee for the April Certified Forest Products Council (CFPC) conference to be held in Atlanta. Many companies were looking forward to the opportunity to showcase their products, but the trade fair will no longer feature product displays. It has become an "informational" conference only, and certification is just one of four topics. This is particularly unfair to those companies that had been planning for this event since last year and we feel that we must register our protest here over an opportunity missed. However, we are still attending the conference and encourage your participation in the exchange of information.
I am pleased to announce that we are already planning to initiate a new FSC regional marketing strategy that demonstrates our focus on customer service and continues to demonstrate our strengths. We will give certified companies and economic members the opportunity to meet with potential customers and suppliers in various regions of the U.S. later in the year. We will provide forums for discussion and communications support in conjunction with these gatherings and on an ongoing basis. We will be contacting you in the new year to get your input and to share our ideas to make these events a great success in 2002.