Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | M | Montana Business Quarterly

Forest industry expert retires.

Article Excerpt
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

When Chuck Keegan graduated with a master's degree in forestry from The University of Montana in 1977, the forest products industry was still the undisputed heavyweight of Missoula's economy.

But in one fistful of years, it was knocked down by a national recession. Only a fraction of the lumber mills that once dominated the region managed to stagger back to their feet by the 1990s, and those that did have been fighting to keep their footing ever since.

For the past 30 years, Keegan has followed the timber industry's struggles and triumphs as an economist with the University of Montana's Bureau of Business and Economic Research. In that time, he has watched the region's forest products industry fulfill his predictions--and reinvent itself in improbable ways.

Now it's time to retire, leaving his position as the Bureau's director of forest industry and manufacturing research.

The Bureau has gone through major transitions in leadership in the past year and a half, said Paul Polzin, who also recently retired as BBER director and was replaced by Patrick Barkey.

"(Keegan's) retirement will create a hole in our organization because he has been the foundation of forest products industry research in this state for at least two decades," said Polzin, who has worked with Keegan since he was hired at the bureau fresh out of college. "His research is absolutely first-rate, is recognized on a national level, and the university has been very lucky to have him."

Even with the loss of so much institutional knowledge, Polzin is confident in the Bureau's ability to continue producing nationally recognized research. Keegan's...

View this article FREE - Now for a Limited Time, try Goliath Business News
Free for 3 Days!