Charlie grew up in North Vancouver, leaving home for Winnipeg at an early age to work for a food broker and continue his education. Family circumstances brought him back to North Vancouver a few years later where he got his start in the business working for a log broker. He spent his first few years in the office learning the ropes and taking various industry related courses before becoming a trader himself. Charlie found that he enjoyed it as much as he excelled at it and when the opportunity to purchase a log brokerage company presented itself, he and a partner took the plunge. It was 1964 and their newly formed company had only three employees: Charlie, his partner and their secretary. They became prominent suppliers to both local and Japanese mills. When his partner decided to retire in 1992, Charlie purchased his stake in the company. Canadian Overseas currently has 12 employees.

Ron was appointed President of Canadian Overseas Log & Lumber Ltd. and Northview Enterprises Ltd. in the fall of 2005. Prior to that Ron had been one of our principal log traders and timber appraisers. He joined COLL full time in 1990 after working as a logger in Alaska and then for a major BC Coast company as a timber cruiser. Ron received his Diploma of Technology in Renewable Resources Forestry Option in 1989. Ron was born and raised in North Vancouver and succeeds his father as president.

Graham just may have been destined for a career in this industry. He grew up in small logging communities – Nanaimo River, Menzies Bay, Campbell River, Powell River and Squamish. His summer jobs during high school and university were in logging and sawmilling. After university, he worked with a large chartered accountancy firm, obtaining his CA designation in 1981. Many of his clients were forest companies, so when he joined COLL as Chief Financial Officer in 1984, the business was very familiar.

Roger started his forestry career in 1976 after graduating from the University of British Columbia. He worked for Tahsis Company, Crown Zellerbach, Canfor and Western Pulp before joining Canadian Overseas in 1992. His business travels have taken him throughout BC, the US (including extensive travel in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska) as well as to Japan.

Roger says the most rewarding part of his job is finding solutions for the sales and supply challenges of our customers. He believes the many long term relationships we’ve maintained with our customers attests to the success we’ve had meeting these challenges.

Dave manages our custom cutting, finding appropriate logs and turning them into specified lumber products. Custom cutting allows us to time the cuts to match market demand and the customer's inventory. This allows our customer to provide a "just-in-time" lumber delivery service.

Dave has been in the lumber industry since 1989. Before joining COLL in 2001, Dave worked for MacMillan Bloedel and then Weyerhaeuser Company Ltd. He has extensive experience in Japan lumber export sales, production supervision, remaning and custom cutting. He specializes in custom cutting Cypress, Sitka Spruce, White Spruce, Hemlock, Douglas Fir and Western Red Cedar.

Dave is fluent in both English and Cantonese.

Dave manages logging operations and the marketing of timber for a variety of timber tenures and licensees. This is a job that involves lots of trees and lots of people, combined with lots of travel and the challenge of solving problem situations.

Dave joined COLL in 1995 and has over thirty years of Forest Industry experience. Prior to joining COLL, Dave worked for Forestry companies on Vancouver Island where he was born and raised. He received his Forest Technologist Diploma from BCIT in 1977 and then continued his education part time, while working full time for a Forest Management company, receiving his RPF in 1990.

Dave is a Director in the Truck Loggers Association, President of the Fraser Valley Woodlot association and the manager of the Blue Mountain Woodlot. He is also a member of Ridge Meadows Search and Rescue.

Derrick sells and markets logs, sourcing timber for our APFP mill as well as other local mills.

Derrick was born and raised on the BC coast and is a third generation logger. He has 20 years of forestry experience including coastal scaling and quality control. Prior to joining COLL in 2006, Derrick worked for both logging and scaling contractors and most recently for International Forest Products.

Roger is based on Vancouver Island where his primary focus is acquiring and managing timber through BC Forest Service small business programs and developing long term relationships with Native groups and community forests in Campbell River North as well as the Sunshine Coast.

Roger has over seventeen years of experience in the Coastal Forest Industry including cruising and accessing standing timber, forest engineering, supervision of heli and conventional logging operations, quality control and project management.