AWARD RECIPIENT IS NO STRANGER 

Article By Rich Donnell, Editor-in-Chief, Timber Processing February 2015

“We’re showing our age,” David Richbourg said to me when I told him I had passed along an article I had written about him in 1988 to our associate editor who was preparing to visit Richbourg to conduct the question and answer session that begins on page 12 of this issue.

The interview serves as our announcement that Richbourg, who is plant manager at H.W. Culp Lumber Co. in New London, NC, is Timber Processing’s Annual Person of the Year. Richbourg becomes the 27th recipient of the award, which recognizes sawmill owners or employees who have played a vital role in their respective companies, who have contributed to the greater good of the sawmill industry through leadership in associations or other support groups, and who have simply had a long and impressive career in the industry.

What’s unusual about our selection of Richbourg is that he is a plant manager. Most of those years we’ve recognized an owner of a softwood or hardwood sawmill operation. A couple of times we’ve selected a general manager. But never a plant manager.

Why not? No good reason, other than it’s probably an easier process to pinpoint an owner for the award. Thus going into the selection process our goal became to find a plant manager who deserved the honor, based on the criteria. Richbourg and a few other plant managers surfaced during our search. But Richbourg’s outstanding performance at highly respected H.W. Culp Lumber for the past 18 years, his involvement with the Southeastern Lumber Manufacturers Assn., and his 24 years as a sawmill machinery salesman prior to his transition to plant manager all worked in his favor.

Old articles provide a stoppage in time. The article I wrote in 1988 for this magazine was actually about David and his brother, Al Richbourg. Al was the director of sales and marketing at Newman Machine. David, after some college studies, followed Al to Newman in 1973 and eventually became product manager of the planer line, reporting to his older brother. But the year before our article appeared, David had joined up with Harvey Sales Co. as a sales representative (HEMCO/LSI/Ukiah), while still representing the Newman planer line.

David commented in that article, “Good sales people have to not only stay current, but stay ahead of the general knowledge of the sawmill industry.”

It would be almost 10 years before Henry Culp hired Richbourg as plant manager, but Richbourg’s thinking (and training) was already a good fit at innovative Culp Lumber.

That article appeared 27 years ago. The following year in 1989 we announced our first man of the year. Now, so many years later, we are pleased that Richbourg’s career path has come upon our award. Sometimes showing your age is a good thing.