Forest Products Research Institute appoints new chair

Edinburgh Napier University’s Forest Products Research Institute (FPRI) has appointed Geoff Rhodes as the new chair of its Advisory Board.

Mr Rhodes, who until recently was marketing and business development director at Coillte Panel Products, will officially take up his post in November.

The FPRI is one of nine research institutes based at Edinburgh Napier. Its four specialist centres undertake research and development across the full range of timber and wood fibre applications.

Mr Rhodes takes over from Cedric Wilkins, who has chaired both the FPRI and the then Centre for Timber Engineering Advisory Boards since 2008.

FPRI Director Philip Turner said: “Cedric offered invaluable guidance during a period of major change and expansion for the Institute against a backdrop of tough economic conditions and changes to University funding mechanisms,” said FPRI director Philip Turner. “We are now in a strong position and are very pleased to be able to welcome someone of Geoff’s experience and expertise to the Board.”

Mr Rhodes entered the timber trade as a management trainee with Denny Mott & Dickson and subsequently joined Seaboard International, where he specialised in panel products sales from North America and the Far East, eventually taking responsibility for developing the European market for Medite MDF. This covered a period of more than 35 years which also incorporated US ownership by Medford Corporation, Willamette Industries and Weyerhaeuser Company.

He was also one of the founders of the Medite 2016 Forum and subsequently became marketing and business development director for Coillte Panel Products, which manufactures Medite MDF and SmartPly OSB. He left the business in June and is now developing his own consultancy business, Geoff Rhodes Associates, within the forest products sector.

Mr Rhodes is a former president of The Timber Trade Federation, the Fibreboard Development Organisation, and the European Association of MDF producers. He has also sat on the executive boards of the European Panels Federation, the UK Wood Panel Industries Federation, and is a Fellow of the Institute of Wood Science.