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Another TDA milestone for Andrew Dunn |
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Monday, 19 July 2010 00:00 |
Andrew Dunn, our CEO, is this month celebrating his 20th year with TDA. These two decades have seen considerable change at the TDA – and momentous change within the timber industry. Looking back, Andrew emphasises, first of all, the changing role of the association:
“TDA is now in the business of creating new markets for timber,” said Andrew. “It’s no longer enough to simply promote timber within existing markets: you’ve got to open up new markets as new opportunities arise and as tastes and preferences evolve.”
Unsurprisingly, many of the most profound changes Andrew has witnessed in his time at the TDA relate to changing public attitudes towards the environment. Andrew is unequivocal about the opportunities these have created:
“Ours is the only sector of the building products industry that can honestly market itself as environmentally sustainable,” said Andrew. “The problem is that we haven’t, historically, stepped up to the task.”
“Our challenge over the next 20 years is, therefore, to make the environmentally concerned consumer environmentally aware. Timber has a much smaller carbon footprint than steel or brick, and logging – as recent bushfires have reminded us – is essential to responsible forest management. This is the message that TDA has to drive home. And make no mistake, the timber sales of our members will increasingly depend in no small part on the ability of TDA and similar organisations to sell this message.”
And what does the future hold for Andrew personally?
“I’ll be here,” he said. “And I look forward to achieving these new milestones for the timber industry.” |
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