Thomas Mende
Thomas was born in Wiesbaden, Germany. He received a bachelor’s degree in business from Coastal Carolina College and an MBA from the University of South Carolina. He became a naturalized US citizen in 1994.
From 1990 until 2006, Thomas worked for New South Companies in South Carolina, a manufacturer of Southern pine wood products. During that time, he focused on softwood exports from the US to Asia and Europe and imports from South America and Europe. He also developed the distribution system for his supplier, Klausner, in Asia and Australia.
In 2006, Thomas joined Klausner as President of Klausner Trading USA, started the company’s sales to the Middle East, and opened and supervised the Shanghai, China, and New Delhi, India, sales offices for Klausner.
In 2019, he joined Binderholz. The company’s US branch, Binderholz Timber LLC, located in Atlanta, Georgia, imports lumber, glulam, and CLT. It also operates two Southern pine sawmills in Florida and North Carolina.
Thomas has traveled to 89 countries and conducted business in 58, bringing a unique, global perspective to the industry. He was recently appointed by the US Secretary of Agriculture as the importer alternate board member of the Softwood Lumber Board and is the manufacturers’ representative board member on the Executive Committee of the North American Wholesale Lumber Association.