Innovating to Revitalize Forestry Communities
by Cynthia Kinnunen, July 2010
Years in professional hockey, with its fast-paced, strategic and confident nature, made David Butler (MBET ‘06) a natural for the world of entrepreneurship and business. When David was searching for an MBA program that suited his needs, he found exactly what he was looking for in the Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology at University of Waterloo. The MBET, which is run through The Conrad Centre for Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology (CCBET), was David’s program of choice for a number of reasons: the small class sizes, international student balance and, of course, it had a strong focus on innovation and entrepreneurship.
Following his passions took him into business with his father, Jeffrey Butler, as Butler-Consultants, a management consultancy with expertise in forestry and related industries. It was at this time the White River project evolved.
In January of 2007, Domtar – one of the major employers in the White River area – announced it was shutting down its harvesting and sawmill operations. This was a huge blow to a community that relied on forestry or forestry-related companies to keep their economies afloat.
The Township of White River and the Pic Mobert First Nations hired Butler-Consultants to assist in identifying and implementing solutions to this situation and the result was the creation of a company, White River Forest Products (WRFP) – a four-way partnership between the Township’s economic development department, the Pic Mobert First Nation, a private investor and Butler-Consultants. WRFP purchased the former Domtar Sawmill and Cogeneration Complex that had been closed since 2007.
While there have been challenges with the four-way partnership, David is pleased with the strong support from the community. “It helps that we all share the same objectives: to be profitable, to protect and create a positive environment for employees, and to be innovative and socially responsible.”
Innovation is part of the project that David especially embraces. “We want to integrate new bio-technologies within the traditional forest products industry to enhance the product mix and maximize our triple bottom line: clean energy, high employment and economic recovery.”
David continues to search out new and innovative strategies, most recently having travelled to Austria and Northern Italy on a technology mission touring bio-heat, power and pellet facilities in these regions.
“They are excellent models for bioenergy in Canada,” explains David.
David lives in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, where Butler-Consultants is based. When he’s not finding new and inspired ways to innovate industry, he can be found at the local arena playing shinny during the winter months or on the golf course in the summer.
