Polaris Materials Corp. announced a management succession plan effective Oct. 1, 2015.
Herb Wilson, who has been with the company since July 2001, and is currently president and chief executive officer and a director since January 2009, will become executive vice chair of the board of directors on Oct. 1, 2015. He will be succeeded as president and chief executive officer on that date by Ken Palko, the company’s vice president of operations.
Palko has been with the company since February 2008, prior to which he worked for Dufferin Aggregates (part of the Holcim Cement Group) and Lafarge Aggregates. The chief executive officer of the company’s U.S. distribution and marketing subsidiary, Bill Terry, is retiring on Sept. 30, 2015, and his duties will be assumed by Scott Dryden, the company’s current vice president of business development.
Dryden has worked in the marine transportation industry, primarily on the west coast of North America, for the past seven years, including five years with CSL International Inc., the company’s exclusive shipping contractor where he managed the CSL logistics for Polaris’ operations. Darren McDonald, the company’s vice president finance and CFO will have an expanded role that will also include responsibility for the company’s secretarial function.
Terry Lyons, chair of the board of Polaris, commented: “The board has been diligently planning for this natural succession over the last year. We have every confidence in the management team to drive the company forward as construction markets continue to recover in the U.S. We are delighted that Herb Wilson is continuing in an executive role with the board which ensures that the management team will continue to have the benefit of his guidance and industry experience. We also want to wish Bill Terry well in his retirement and to thank him for his contribution to the growth of the company”.
Polaris Materials Corp. is exclusively focused on the development of quarries and the production of construction aggregates in British Columbia for marine transportation to urban markets on the west coast of North America to meet local supply deficits. In 2007, Polaris began shipping sand and gravel from the Orca Quarry to San Francisco Bay, Vancouver, BC and Hawaii.