For being a visionary leader, Brad Thorlakson of Vernon-based forestry giant Tolko has been awarded the 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Forest Products Association of Canada.
Thorlakson is the third generation of the family to run the company, which started in Vernon in 1956.
Since then, Tolko Industries has grown to 17 locations in BC, Alberta and the deep south of the US with a total of 3,000 employees.
Thorlakson started to work in the family business 40 years ago at the Lavington Planer Mill and worked his way up to vice-president of marketing and sales and then president and CEO, 2010-24, before transitioning to his current position of executive chairman in the last few months.
"Brad Thorlakson's impact on the forest sector and the Forest Products Association of Canada has been profound," said association president Derek Nighbor.
He has guided Tolko Industries, a proud BC-based family business, for many years with visionary leadership and a deep commitment to Tolko employees, community well-being and sustainability. Brad's decades of leadership and engagement have benefited the sector well beyond Tolko."
Thorlakson promotes the good, safe and sustainable work that happens in Canada's mills and forests and advocates for government policies that better support forestry workers and their families.
Tolko's operations span from Armstrong, Lavington, Lumby and Lake Country in the Okanagan; Heffley Creek in Kamloops; and Williams Lake to HIgh Prairie, Athabasca and High Level in Alberta; Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama in the US; and a warehouse and distribution centre in Vancouver.
Tolko used to have a lumber mill and plywood plant in Kelowna, which at its peak had 700 workers and was one of Kelowna's largest private-sector employers.
However, it closed in 2020, a victim of a perfect storm of challenges, including high tree-cutting fees and taxes, low prices for lumber, big tariffs on exports to the US and soft demand for lumber from domestic and US construction companies.
The forestry industry continues to suffer under those conditions.
However, Tolko has found a way to continue on and find growth pockets.
"My grandfather (Harold) began our legacy in the forest industry 68 years ago," said Thorlakson.
"As a generational, family-owned company, I feel incredibly proud to continue and grow what he and my father (Al) built -- a company committed to safety, with people who are passionate about sustainable forest management, while deliveriing incomparable products to our customers. It is an honour to be recognized by the Forest Products Association of Canada as being a leader in sustainable forest management."
Thorlakson is a former association director, co-chair of the BC Lumber Trade Council, committee head with the BC Manufacturers' Advisory Group and represents Western Canada on the Softwood Lumber Board.
