National Hardwood Magazine - October 2023

CLASSIC AMERICAN HARDWOODS Continued from page 39
Merchandizing Line with 3D Board Scanner.
in American lumber, but they need to be educated.
“Our home base in Memphis is made up of a team of 130 people
that are all instrumental in the success of CAH. However, the
life blood of our business starts with the partnerships that we have
with our sawmills. Heath Long has gone out and developed strong
relationships with these sawmills that we work closely with. Heath
has been in the business for 30 years and has
been buying green lumber and burning up the
road three to four days a week visiting with our
mill partners.
“Will Donoho, who started with me two days
after I made the plunge, is V.P. of sales and
purchasing, has played a significant role in
our success,” Courtney continued. “Will manages
all the purchasing, scheduling and sales
of the entire company. Moreover, he manages
our three seasoned veterans, Jim Tipton, J.K.
O’Brien, and John Hise, as well as our new additions,
David Alba and Chris Fouts.”
CAH has been set up for continued growth
as it still has excess capacity, allowing for
Courtney to start Memphis International Trading
Company (MITCO), CAH’s brokerage arm.
“We have four guys that work in that business,
Rick Shelton, Chuck Underwood, JR Johns
and Dan Cerdena. Their ability to source and
sell has helped us to increase our capacity.
They trade green lumber, kiln-dried lumber and staves,”
he said.
While Courtney plays a pivotal role in the forest products
industry, he has also written a book titled, “Against
the Grain,” and has a had a documentary, “Undefeated,”
made about the time that he spent mentoring underprivileged
students from Manassas High School in Memphis,
TN, which won Best Documentary at the Academy
Awards. Courtney now has a podcast called “An Army
of Normal Folks,” which features average folks doing
extraordinary things in their communities, which surprisingly
has been as high as #10 in the U.S. on Apple’s
podcast charts
CAH is a member of National Hardwood Lumber Association,
American Hardwood Export Council and Indiana
Hardwood Lumbermen’s Association, and Courtney
is currently on the NHLA Board of Directors. n
For more infomation, visit
cahmemphis.com.
SFPA EXPO PHOTOS Continued from page 47
John Smith, Colin Campbell and Russell Fite, Wood-Mizer LLC,
Indianapolis, IN
Kirk Soule and Mark Erickson, Blue Book Services Inc., Carol
Stream, IL
Additional photos on next page
48 OCTOBER 2023 n NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE RealAmericanHardwood.com/industry
RealAmericanHardwood.com/industry
OCTOBER 2023 n NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE 49