Jeffrey Plourde

With a proven track record at JD Irving Ltd, I've excelled in enhancing quality control and process improvements, leveraging my expertise in inspection reporting and strategic planning. My leadership significantly improved compliance and operational efficiency, mentoring teams towards excellence. Skilled in both technical assessments and fostering teamwork, I drive projects to successful completion with meticulous attention to detail and robust problem-solving capabilities. Overall I have gained multiple years of progressive varying experience in the sawmill group as a technical specialist in lumber quality control/management. Acquiring NLGA lumber grading certification in 2004 as a production employee in the St Leonard Sawmill allowed me to become a staff member as a Quality Control specialist for the St Leonard site from 2007 to 2016. In this role, I gained experience in JDI lumber grading standards, optimized grading technologies, and JDI sawmills packaging and grading standards for end clients.

From 2016 to 2021, I took a role in process improvement and production planning at the St Leonard site where I was leading a group of PI specialists in evaluating business improvement projects and production planning at the St Leonard site. Business improvement projects where related to productivity improvements and quality/lumber grading improvement gains to help the business sustain long term improvements. In this role I gained significant business skills and grading optimization skills to qualify as chief grader for the division.

From 2021 to 2024, I worked as the Planer Superintendent at the Kedgwick planer facility, a sister mill located near St-Leonard where U was responsible for the full P/L of the planer facility. In this role I gained business financial acumen, people management skills and negotiations skills as the site leader that further enabled him to receive the promotion as a senior chief grader for the division.

My overall progression into a basic QC role to Process improvement specialist, then a management role enabled me to do the role of chief grader through gains of technical skills unique to our JDI sawmill business model, but also management and people leadership skills that are needed to influence multiples sites in achieving proper standards in quality control for the division.

2015 J.D. Irving Ltd Leadership Certification

2017 (February) Continuous Improvement Green Belt Certification (Business improvement Green Belt)

2019 (July) High Performance Hockey Coach

Since 1998, I have been coaching youth from 5 to 18 Years old boys and for the past 2 years Girls u17 and High School Softball.