Our People

John Drew - John Drew left Willamette Industries and joined Far West Fibers at Beaverton, Oregon in early 1985. John attended high school in Pennsylvania and graduated from Mercersburg in 1963. He enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley and majored in chemical engineering for two years. John graduated with a degree in political science with an emphasis in law in 1967.

Between 1980 and 1995 John was active in community recycling and solid waste organizations and committees including ISRI, PSI, AOR, DEQ, Metro, and various SWAC’s. He was recognized as the AOR Recycler of the Year in 1992. For many years he has been a strong supporter of and involved in United Way and Young Audiences.

In 1988 John became the Chairman, President, CEO, CFO, and General Manager in charge of Operations. In 2005 he turned over most of his daily duties and responsibilities to Keith Ristau and Mike McCracken. He remains the Chairman and CEO of our affiliated companies Spokane Recycling Products, Waste Paper Services and Bluebird Recycling.

Keith Ristau - Keith is a graduate of Corvallis High School and Southern Oregon State University. He joined Far West Fibers in the spring of 1993 and in the fall was promoted to Plant Manager of our Beaverton Plant. Keith became an owner and stockholder in the company in the fall of 1997 and in March of 1998, became a Vice President for our corporation. On October 1, 2004 Keith was promoted to Chief Operating Officer and then in May of 2005 became the company President.

Since 1996, Keith has been committed to the success of United Way of the Columbia-Willamette and their many community support agencies. He has co-directed the annual United Way Golf Tournament (with Stan Girard) and has worked on many United Way committees including their Vision Councils, their Dial 211 Help-line Project and their Campaign Cabinet. Keith is presently a member of the United Way Board of Directors. Keith lives in Portland with his lovely wife Ann, and wonderful son Aaron.

Mike McCracken - Mike McCracken began his career at Far West Fibers as a part-time warehouseman in the summer of 1989 to earn extra money for college. He was hired full-time in June of 1994 as a Broker Assistant. In 1997, he was promoted to Plant Manager of our Northeast plant. Finally, in 2005 Mike was promoted to CFO where he currently remains. 

Mike graduated from Sunset High School in 1987. He received his BS in General Science at the University of Oregon in 1994. He then went to night school for two years while working at Far West Fibers to obtain his BS in Information Technology from the University of Phoenix in 2002. Shortly thereafter, he went back to school to the University of Portland to obtain his MBA in 2004.

As CFO, Mike executes the daily operations of our corporate and accounting departments. He directs all accounting, financial and treasury functions. He manages our entire IT infrastructure from network hardware to all software platforms. He utilizes financial analysis, modeling and planning to manage cost containment and profit management. He controls our debt and investment activities and negotiates bank financing. He also serves as our Secretary - Treasurer and is a key member of our senior management team.

Stan Girard - Stan “Rupe” Girard is the Chief Operating Officer for Far West Fibers. He moved to Oregon shortly after graduating from Vermillion High School in 1978. His employment with Far West Fibers began in 1981 as a warehouseman. He has been the General Manager for both our Hillsboro and NE Portland facilities. Stan has a degree in accounting. Since 1996, Stan has been committed to the success of the United Way of the Columbia-Willamette and their many community support agencies. He has co-directed the United Way Golf Tournament (with Keith Ristau) and was a Loaned Executive for United Way during their 1999 campaign. Stan currently resides in Saint Helens and is very active with the High School Booster Club; his hobbies included camping and crosswords. Stan has two wonderful children and is supported by his High School sweetheart (Nancy).

Jeff Murray - Jeff Murray is the Vice-President Business development for Far West Fibers. Jeff Murray began his refuse/recycling career in 1977 collecting bundled newspapers from the tops of garbage cans for Millers’ Sanitary Service in SW Portland. In 1983 Jeff became the first recycling coordinator for Millers. In 1987 Jeff left Millers and went to work as the first recycling coordinator for Metropolitan Disposal Corp. Jeff worked with others at MDC to build an innovative recycling collection program for large and small businesses throughout Portland. While at MDC Jeff represented the company on several local, regional and state refuse and recycling committees and associations.

In 1993 Jeff went to work for Far West as a projects manager. Jeff’s primary responsibilities were to continue to be involved in the various solid waste committees and trade associations on behalf of Far West and work with the haulers that fibered the Far West facilities. After fifteen years in the collection industry, Jeff quickly learned the different needs of the paper processors and the NW paper mills relative to the collectors. In 2003, Jeff was promoted to Vice-President of Business development – responsible for sourcing Far West facilities, working with trade associations, government relations, and government regulations. Jeff is a native Oregonian; graduated from Central Catholic High School and attended Portland State University.

Mark Onustock - Mark Onustock is a native Oregonian born and raised in Portland. He graduated from Jesuit High School and the University of Washington. He also attended the Columbia Business School Executive Education Program. He joined Far West Fibers in 1989. His past positions include Plant Manager of Beaverton and NE Portland and General Manager of the NE Portland Plant. Mark was promoted to Vice-President in 2002. He is currently Vice-President in charge of the Sales and Marketing Division.

Vinod Singh - Vinod Singh is the Operations Manager of Far West Fiber’s Hillsboro location. Prior to this assignment he was the Plant Manager of the NE Portland Plant and before that a supervisor at our Hillsboro Plant. Vinod started with Far West Fibers in 1990 as a warehouseman at our Beaverton Plant. He now manages the Beaverton Recycling Public Depot. He is a native Oregonian and has spent his entire career in the recycling industry.

Donna Bisset - Donna Bisset is Far West Fiber's Human Resources Manager. Donna joined Far West Fibers at the Beaverton facility in 1997 and served as Benefits Administrator, Human Resources Administrator, and Executive Assistant to John Drew. Donna has over twenty five years of broad Human Resources and general business management experience. Donna was promoted to the position of Human Resources Manager in 2008. Born and raised in Oregon, Donna has a long history of supporting the community and recycling as a way of life.

Don Lages -  Don joined our Sales and Marketing division in September 1999. He is the Southwest Regional Manager for the California market. Don graduated from the University of Colorado and has been involved in the recycling industry for 21 years.  He has held several management positions with another company prior to joining Far West Fibers.

Pete Middleton - Pete started his career in the paper and recycling business in 1970 while working at Star Paper Tube in So. Carolina. Returning to his home in the Northwest in 74’, he started with a wastepaper recycling business in Seattle, WA.  He has worked for two wastepaper recycling companies prior to his employment at Far West Fibers in December of 99’. He has experience in the operations arena holding various positions and has sourced and worked with hundreds of potential supply lines to the recycling stream. He has been involved in marketing while fibering most mills on the west coast holding positions as, Regional and West Coast Sales Manager.

Working with all types of customers and suppliers both domestic and abroad has brought enjoyment to his career.  Pete has grown strong relationships as well as friendships in his business and personal life during his many years in the business. There have been many changes in the recycling streams which have brought ample opportunities to get various commodities to a proper end-user. Pete is married to a wonderful wife, Lynette, for 32 years now and has two fantastic children. His position is Marketing Manager for Far West Fibers.

TJ Millbrooke - TJ is the newest member of the Far West Fibers management team joining the company in October, 2009 as the Operations Manager in charge of the NE & SE Portland recycling facilities. Prior to joining Far West, TJ was the operations manager for a local Portland start-up paint company, Yolo Colorhouse. While at YOLO, TJ helped introduce environmental responsibility into the paint industry. TJ previously spent 10 years working in purchasing, finance, supply chain and logistics for Daimler Trucks North America (Freightliner).

TJ is part of the new leadership at Far West that will grow the company in new directions while always remembering the past foundations and values laid out by John Drew. TJ’s commitment to recycling and community involvement goes back decades. TJ earned his Master Recycler (http://www.masterrecycler.org) award in 1995. TJ has been very active within his local NE Portland neighborhood association and local public elementary schools.  TJ is a proud Oregon Duck, graduating in 1992, and native Oregonian. TJ and his wife Jonie have two young sons whose activities keep them both very busy.