A L L I N T H E Townsend Lumber’s next generation FAMILY
L aura Townsend has worked in her family’s lumber business for as long as she can remember. As a kid, she swept sawdust and cleaned washrooms. When she got older, she worked in the office, and attended business meetings. This past Janu- ary, Laura took on her biggest chal- lenge yet. At 34 years of age, she became owner of Townsend Lum- ber. Her husband, 36-year-old Mike Penner, is co-owner. “Few businesses make it to the third generation,” says Laura. “When my dad (David Townsend) started talking about retirement a few years ago, Mike and I started to give serious thought to succeed- ing him. In the end, we realized that moving into an ownership role likely wouldn’t be too different from what we’d been doing.” In the role of controller since 2010, Laura was already overseeing the finance, human resources and in- formation technology needs of the Townsend companies; Mike, mean- while, had been working on the op- erations side since 2013. “I’m a chartered accountant, and Mike is a former general contractor superintendent,” says Laura. “So we complement each other.”
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