Dirk Koopman is stepping down as CEO of Koopman Lumber, with his sister Denise Brookhouse taking over the role, effective in January.
Dirk Koopman will remain with the company their grandfather founded, taking on the role of chairman of the board and president, according to a LinkedIn post from Koopman on Thursday.
“Denise and I literally grew up just up the street from the Koopman Lumber store in Whitinsville,” Koopman wrote in the post. “We learned this business from the ground up, working alongside our dad, and we’ve been partners in it ever since. Serving as CEO has been the honor of a lifetime, but I’ve known for a long time that Denise was the right person to lead our next chapter.”
Brookhouse was formerly in the role of CFO, with her husband Tony Brookhouse serving as the company’s chief operating officer.
The third generation of family leadership has guided Koopman Lumber through expansion efforts, which have seen the Whitinsville-based hardware and lumber retailer expand across Massachusetts. Founded in 1939 by family patriarch Peter Koopman as a single hardware store, the firm now has about 480 employees and a dozen locations.
Koopman Lumber is the 13th largest family-owned business in Central Massachusetts, according to information provided to the WBJ Research Department.
Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.
