Colonial Saw executive VP elected chairman of WMIA

Colonial Saw executive vice president David Rakauskas was elected chairman of the Woodworking Machinery Industry Association’s board during the 2017 Woodworking Industry Conference.

“I’m really looking forward to leading the association during such exciting times,” Rakauskas says. “The economic situation for our industry is great, our association’s staff is doing a terrific job, our partnership with the other industry associations has never been stronger and our financial position is solid. We are in a great position to be able to make a real impact, driving value for our member companies over the next few years.”

Rakauskas started his career at Deloitte & Touche and became a certified public accountant in 1994. He’s served as controller and vice president at Colonial Saw. He’s been involved with WMIA since 1998, serving as the board vice chairman, secretary and treasurer.

“My plan is to focus our attention on education, both for our members’ sales and technical staff as well as the American woodworking workforce,” Rakauskas adds.

Also elected to the board was vice chairman Jim Besonen, owner of Wood Machinery Systems in Minnetonka, Minn.; secretary/treasurer Pascal Doucet, vice president of sales at Doucet Machineries in Daveluyville, Quebec, and chairman emeritus Scott Mueller, co-owner of Edward B. Mueller Co. in Cincinnati.

For more, visit www.wmia.org.

This article originally appeared in the July 2017 issue.