Roseburg has announced the appointments of Tony Hamill as Chief Operations Officer and Vivek Karuppuswamy as Senior Vice President Human Resources and Labor.
Joining Roseburg later this month, Hamill and Karuppuswamy bring a combined 50 years of operations and HR expertise to Roseburg’s leadership team as the company moves forward with its ambitious capital projects program and new product lines.
“Tony and Vivek are proven leaders who complement an already amazing team focused on advancing operational, manufacturing and sales priorities that will drive Roseburg’s next phase of growth,’’ said Roseburg President and CEO Stuart Gray. “We’re fortunate and pleased to have them as part of our organization during this exciting time.”
Experienced leaders
As COO, Hamill will coordinate strategy and execution among Roseburg’s manufacturing, sales and marketing, SIOP (Sales, Inventory, and Operations Planning), and engineering teams while enhancing skillsets across the organization that are key to supporting increasingly advanced manufacturing technologies.
A registered professional engineer for more than 30 years, Hamill joins Roseburg from Louisiana Pacific where he served as Vice President-Siding Operations, leading business operations across two Siding divisions totaling 12 production facilities and 1,800 employees. Prior to 2022, Hamill held leadership roles
in engineering and was accountable for executing major strategic growth projects for LP, including plant and equipment modernizations. From 1996 to 2013, Hamill was an engineering and operations leader for Stantec, a global consulting engineering firm.
“I’m very proud to be joining Roseburg, a customer-focused leader with a storied history and an outstanding future,” Hamill said. “There’s no place better to be in our industry. Innovative and driven to win, Roseburg grows the timber it uses to provide high-quality, sustainable wood products, which creates tremendous operational opportunities to provide new products faster and more reliably. Roseburg’s leadership is committed to the company’s continuing evolution, and it will be thrilling for me to be part of it.”
Karuppuswamy joins Roseburg from Northwest Hardwoods, a hardwood lumber manufacturing and distribution company, where he led human resources since March 2020.
As Vice President and CHRO, he realigned NHW’s structure to better meet demand-driven priorities, while guiding its high-performance culture. He previously held HR leadership positions for 11 years at Terex Corporation, a global lifting and material handling solutions company.
At Roseburg, Karuppuswamy will be responsible for advancing the company’s people-centered culture, overseeing recruiting and staffing, compensation, employee and labor relations, employee training, benefits and more.
“From what I have seen and heard, Roseburg’s team members are the foundation of the company’s success, and I am eager to collaborate with them to build on Roseburg’s strong culture,’’ Karuppuswamy said. “My focus will be on fostering an environment that enhances both individual and organizational growth, aligned with Roseburg’s commitment to excellence and innovation.’’
Roseburg growth
With the opening earlier this year of a new lumber mill in North Carolina, Roanoke Valley Lumber, and the creation of two new, state-of-the art manufacturing plants among other existing facility improvements in Oregon, Roseburg is midway through a nearly $1 billion expansion that will enhance the company’s product lineup and coast-to-coast availability.
Dillard Components has begun producing Armorite Exterior Trim, a finished exterior trim product for residential and shed use made from specialty MDF panels. Dillard MDF, coming online in 2026, will use residuals from Roseburg’s local mills and other sources to manufacture standard medium density fiberboard (MDF), as well as thin high-density fiberboard (HDF).
