Dragon President Joe Koch Retires; Terry Veysey Assumes Leadership of Dragon

Joe Koch, president and CEO of Dragon Products and Coastal Cement since 1993, announced today he is retiring from the company due to health reasons. Terry Veysey, a longtime vice president of the firm, has been named executive vice president and CEO and has assumed the leadership of both companies, effective this month.

Koch, a resident of Cumberland, will remain on the board of directors of Dragon Products. He is past chairman of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce and the Pine Tree Council of the Boy Scouts of America. He is currently a board member of the Portland Cement Association, and the Northeast Cement Shippers Association.

In a letter to employees, Koch said “My retirement is certainly earlier than I had expected, but as many of you may know I have been ill with cancer and my illness is taking more and more of my time from work. So, it is with some regret that I am leaving; I will undoubtedly miss working with all of you.”

Koch, who oversaw an inter-model project to ship cement and a $50 million modernization at the plant during his tenure to enable the company to maintain steady employment levels, credited his employees for the long-term success of the company, New England’s only cement manufacturer. “The last 12 years has been a period of continual successes,” he said in the letter. “This has largely been a result of a team approach, where every employee’s contribution is a part of the teamwork. None of your company’s officers ever forget that each of you make the difference between failure and success.”

Koch said Veysey is “one of the architects of our team philosophy and brings a thorough knowledge of the company to the job and for the most part the transition will be seamless. With Terry’s leadership, I am confident that the same kind of teamwork can be applied to the company’s next decade or two.”

Headquartered in Portland, Dragon employs more than 225 full-time employees statewide. The cement is supplied to most ready-mix companies in the state, and others throughout New England by barge through Coastal Cement terminals in Newington, N.H. and Boston. Dragon also has ready-mix concrete plants in Biddeford, Westbrook, Portland, Lewiston, Brunswick, Augusta, Canton, Fairfield, Madawaska and Presque Isle. For additional information, visit the company's web site at www.dragonproducts.com.

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