James J. Healey is Special Assistant to the President and Chief Operating Officer. Prior to serving in this advisory role, he held the position of Vice President, Utility and Industrial Products (UIP), where he was responsible for advancing Koppers strategy of being a vertically integrated, high-value global supplier of wood-based technologies to infrastructure markets.

Jim started his career at Osmose as a Field Foreman and subsequently left to earn a master’s degree in wood physics from West Virginia University. In 1985, Jim joined Koppers, where he spent 22 years in various operations roles – the first half of that time period in the railroad business, followed by 11 years in the utility operations.

Adding to his experience in the utility sector, Jim joined Cox Industries in 2007, which then became a part of Koppers with the Cox acquisition in April 2018. He then moved into the role of General Manager – East Region of our UIP business, where he had responsibility for four of seven utility pole treating plants.

Jim earned a bachelor’s degree in forestry from Iowa State University. He has served as President of the American Wood Protection Association (AWPA), voting member of ANSI 05 and a board member of the North American Wood Pole Coalition . He remains actively involved in various industry associations.

He currently resides in Charleston, SC, with his wife Karyn.