Cees de Jager is the President and CEO of the Softwood Lumber Board for Canada and the United States.

Starting his forest products industry career with MacMillan Bloedel in 1995, Cees progressed through sales, marketing and leadership roles within the company, and later, with Weyerhaeuser. In 2002, Cees founded Hunter Consulting International a full-service consultancy specializing in forest products and building materials. The company quickly established itself as a leader in its field – delivering award winning and results oriented market development and promotion programs in North American and internationally.

In 2008, Cees was engaged to lead the Binational Softwood Lumber Council (BSLC) and took on the additional responsibility of Chief Marketing Officer for the Softwood Lumber Board (SLB) after it was established in 2012. In December of 2018, Cees was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of the SLB.

Through his leadership roles with these two organizations, Cees’ efforts to increase demand for softwood lumber-based building systems have delivered considerable results. SLB investments have generated more than 6 billion board feet of incremental demand for softwood lumber in the United States, helping shift the market preference from carbon intensive materials to sustainable wood products. Thanks in large part to the efforts of the BSLC and SLB, wood is becoming the material of choice in market segments not previously captured by the industry including multi-family and non-residential construction.