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ArborGen Welcomes Rob van Rossen as General Manager Australasia Operations

Submitted by: John Warner on Jun 16, 2008 at 7:17 pm Tagged with: Alternative Energy, Alternative Fuel, biofuel Source: ArborGen

SUMMERVILLE, S.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ArborGen, a world leading tree improvement and production business, announced that Rob van Rossen, previously General Manager Southern at Rayonier Asia Pacific, has joined the Company as General Manager of ArborGen Australasia. In this role van Rossen will oversee ArborGen’s New Zealand and Australian operations.

Van Rossen comes to ArborGen with a deep forestry experience. Most recently, at Rayonier, he has been responsible for overseeing three southern forest regions and until December 2007, Tasmania. Prior to joining Rayonier, van Rossen was employed by Carter Holt Harvey for 15 years holding senior management positions in forest operations, harvesting and forest management, as well as in Carter Holt Harvey’s wood processing businesses. Van Rossen began his career as a technical forester with the New Zealand Forest Service and then New Zealand Forest Products before working in consulting companies, which included international experience in Sweden and the Philippines. Van Rossen is a member of the New Zealand Institute of Forestry.

“Rob is a great addition to the ArborGen Executive team and brings a wealth of forestry knowledge and experience to our organization,” notes Barbara Wells, President and Chief Executive Officer of ArborGen. “Rob will oversee our Australasian commercial production and sales, and lead our marketing program, providing forest landowners access to ArborGen’s rich and broad portfolio of superior Radiata pine and Eucalyptus products.”

Van Rossen has a Bachelor of Forestry Science and a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration from Canterbury University.

About ArborGen

ArborGen is a world leading tree improvement and production business with primary markets in the United States, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand. Headquartered in the United States, the Company operates from more than 20 locations, producing more than 350 million treestocks each year and employing more than 185 people. The Company, through traditional breeding and advanced genetic technologies, is dedicated to providing the best available genetics and tree planting stock for forest landowners that will enable the forestry industry to produce more wood on less land, thus conserving native forests in all their diversity for future generations. ArborGen is also developing trees as feedstock for biofuel production, an important solution for meeting the world’s growing demand for renewable energy. For more information, please visit www.arborgen.com.