John Linn, KD sales manager, recently celebrated his one year workiversary with Gutchess Lumber. Since October 2020, John has become a vital member of the sales team and the organization as a whole. Here is a bit of John’s story:
I’ve been in the hardwood lumber business for about 19 years. I started in the industry working for a small concentration yard in Roanoke, Virginia, mainly providing Yellow Poplar for a trading company in Cortland, New York that was exporting container loads overseas. Eventually that Virginia yard closed and I moved to New York in 2004 to work for that trading company.
It was there that I learned the export market and gained many valuable relationships with suppliers around the country and end users in overseas markets. Being able to travel domestically and especially overseas to visit end users, gave me invaluable insight into the hardwood industry that most people don’t get to see. I travelled mostly to China and Southeast Asia several times a year, getting to know the culture, customers and lumber industry there.
When I started with Gutchess Lumber, it opened an entirely new world of knowledge and opportunity for me, since it was the first time I was directly exposed to the entire production process, from the standing timber, to the sawmill, down to managing the KD inventory. Gutchess Lumber is an amazing company to work for who invests in its employees. I have a new appreciation for the lumber industry in my current role and I’m looking forward to seeing what the future brings.
