January 07, 2009 02:40 PM Eastern Time 

SFI Inc. Hires Director for Canadian Market Activities

ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Independent Sustainable Forestry Initiative^® Inc. (SFI^®) has hired Danny Karch to manage market development and acceptance of its forest certification programs in Canada. Karch takes on the new position of National Director, Market Access (Canada) after a 15-year career with the forest products industry in Canada, most recently as national director of forest products for RONA.

“SFI Inc. has a solid presence in Canada, and Danny will strengthen this by ensuring that buyers in the private and public sectors recognize the program’s many strengths, and that Canadian consumers understand the SFI label on paper and wood products is proof it is a responsible environmental choice,” said SFI President and CEO Kathy Abusow. “Danny has a long history of supporting responsible sourcing of forest products, and he will be instrumental in implementing our marketing campaign that will be launched in Canada early this year.”

The SFI program was created to certify forests in the United States and Canada, and has become one of the largest and fastest-growing forest certification programs in the world. There are 61 million hectares (150 million acres) of SFI-certified lands across North America including 39 million hectares (96 million acres) in Canada.

“I look forward to building on the immense opportunities to expand SFI forest, chain-of-custody and fibre sourcing certification across Canada,” Karch said. “I especially welcome the chance to work with customers in both the paper and solid wood sectors, conservation groups, provincial and federal governments, and other key stakeholders to promote the benefits of SFI certification.”

Karch joined RONA, Canada’s largest distributor and retailer of hardware, home renovation and gardening products, in 2005 where he managed the commodity forest products, engineered wood and allied forest products divisions. Previously, he worked in the lumber sales and marketing division of Bowater Canada.

Karch is fluently bilingual in both English and French, and will work out of the SFI Inc. office at 201 boul de l'industrie, Box 212, Candiac, Que. J5R 6A6. He can be reached at 450 659-8733 or by email at Danny.Karch@sfiprogram.org

About SFI Inc.

SFI Inc. is a 501c(3) non-profit charitable organization, and is solely responsible for maintaining, overseeing and improving the Sustainable Forestry Initiative program (www.sfiprogram.org), that is internationally recognized and among the largest in the world. It is one of the fastest-growing forest certification programs with 61 million hectares (150 million acres) of SFI-certified forests across North America. The SFI Standard also includes unique fibre sourcing requirements that promote responsible forest management on all suppliers’ lands and a chain-of-custody certification, which can communicate to buyers how much certified fibre is in a specific product. The SFI forest standard is endorsed by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification, a global umbrella organization that has strict requirements for endorsement. SFI Inc. is governed by a three-chamber board of directors representing environmental, social and economic sectors equally.