PORT TOWNSEND — With 10 challenging years with Port Townsend Paper Corp. behind him, John Begley says the time is right to retire as the company’s president and chief executive officer.
“It’s exciting,” said Begley on Tuesday, as he announced he would retire on April 30.
Succeeding him will be Charles Hodges, who has been a consultant at Port Townsend Paper, both at the Port Townsend mill and in the company’s box-making facilities in Richmond, British Columbia, during the past nine months.
Hodges retired in 2006 from a position as senior vice president-manufacturing southern region for Georgia-Pacific Corp. in Crossett, Ark.
Begley, who will remain on the company’s board of directors, said he expects a smooth transition as he works with Hodges before leaving.
“He understands what’s going on,” Begley said.
While Begley has faced ups and downs with Port Townsend Paper since he joined it in 1997, last year he helped shepherd the company through perhaps its roughest patch: filing for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 and exiting the process in August as a private company under the control of its bondholders.
The process kept the paper mill at the southern edge of Port Townsend employing about 315 people as the largest private employer in Jefferson County.
“I’m going to be 62 in a couple of months,” Begley said. “The company is well positioned now. It has all the rough stuff behind it.
“It’s been a tough 10 years, and it will be better to not have to wake up and worry what’s going to happen today.”
Retirement in Port Ludlow and refreshing his golf game are high on Begley’s agenda after April, but he also plans to remain on Centrum’s board and remain involved in the community.
Ted Lodge, board chairman, thanked Begley for his years of leadership.
“We wish him well in his retirement. We are also very pleased to have someone of Charlie’s caliber and qualifications taking over the reins of the company.”
Begley said he will best remember his “outstanding employees.”
“I certainly can’t say enough about the character and quality of the people,” he said.
Begley also praised those in the community who supported the company through the good and bad times.
“We went through a lot of uncertainty, but I don’t think the feeling in the town ever wavered,” he said.
Begley spent his entire professional career in the papermaking business.
He was associated with Weyerhaeuser Co. for nearly 25 years, moving from a sales trainee to general manager for the western region and Pacific Rim of Weyerhaeuser Paper Co., according to his professional biography.
He was strategic planning director for Weyerhaeuser before joining Port Townsend Paper in 1997.
