Director, Port Blakely Companies
Bruce Lemire-Elmore, serves as a family director on the Board of Port Blakely Companies, a family-owned land and timber company founded in 1854. Bruce’s grandfather purchased the company in 1903 along with his two brothers. The company is now in its fourth generation of Eddy family management. The company owns and manages 140,000 acres of forests in the Pacific Northwest, and 70,000 acres in New Zealand; and it operates a log trading business active in the Pacific Northwest and the U.S. Southeast. Port Blakely is a recognized industry leader in scientific and environmentally friendly forest practices; all of its forest products are certified sustainable. On the real estate side, Port Blakely has recently completed the development of Issaquah Highlands, a comprehensive urban village west of Seattle, comprising 3.5 square miles, homes for 7,000 persons, both schools and colleges, retail and commercial centres, and a large hospital and medical centre. The development has received numerous awards for both its environmental focus, and its people-friendly community design; it is listed as one of the top 10 sustainable communities in the U.S. (New Homes magazine, 2008).
Born and raised on the West Coast, Bruce entered the Jesuits in California, earning masters degrees in philosophy and theology. After leaving the Jesuits, he moved to Toronto, Ontario, married, and taught high school for 7 years. He and his wife moved to her hometown of Victoria, BC in 1981, and switched their hobbies and their jobs. Residential renovation, construction, and rental management became their job; adult education and classical choir development became their volunteer work. Bruce reconnected with the family company in 2000 when he and other volunteers initiated a family council, assisted by John Davis of Harvard Business School. After serving as family council chair, he was selected to serve on the company’s board of directors in 2006, and continues in that role. Bruce has presented at the Harvard Business School’s Families in Business program for the last 6 years. His wife died in 2012; their four adult children live on the West Coast of both Canada and the U.S.