Sep. 21--"Nimble." That's the single word that John Conkle uses to describe the company where he works.

Considering how quickly and thoroughly that company, Tacoma-based Simpson Investment Co., has changed its focus in recent years, it's an apt description of an enterprise reacting to wholesale changes in the forest products business.

Conkle is part of a revamped and reorganized executive team at Simpson. As a longtime Simpson Tacoma Kraft Co. executive, he's watched the company evolve rapidly over the last few years.

The Tacoma kraft mill Conkle manages as a newly minted vice president is the sole remnant of the pulp and paper business that was the dominant force in the company in the '80s and early '90s. Eight other Simpson paper mills, once scattered from California to Michigan, are now gone -- sold off or closed down as part of a strategic realignment starting in the

last part of the '90s.

The company has reshaped itself as the largest independent lumber company in the Pacific Northwest.

And now it is making a $100 million move into the green energy business, a business totally new to the company.

The shift from paper to lumber is reflected in the shares that each business now contributes to Simpson's sales. Some 70 percent of Simpson's sales now are generated by the lumber business and just 25 percent by the Tacoma paper mill. The remaining 5 percent of sales comes from the company's door company.

Simpson Investment President Ray Tennison said Simpson recognized fairly early that the company's pulp and paper mills wouldn't provide the kind of return on the massive investments needed to modernize them into consistent profit makers.

"We did a lot of things that Weyerhaeuser is doing now, but we did it six or eight years ago to make our infrastructure more efficient and smaller," Tennison said.

Tennison recently talked about privately held Simpson's strategy as he gathered with his new executive leadership team at the company's modern but modest Tacoma Tideflats headquarters.

That headquarters moved from Seattle in 2004 to bring management closer to company operations in Tacoma, Shelton and southwest Washington.

"We're growing again. And we're growing the next generation of management across the board," said Tennison.

Tennison has turned much of the day-to-day operations over to executive vice president Allan Trinkwald, now the chief operating officer. That shift will allow Tennison more time to spend on strategic issues.

Conkle, a 22-year Simpson employee, just four months ago assumed command of the Tacoma kraft mill on the Tideflats. He replaces longtime mill general manager Don Johnson who retired. Dave McEntee has been promoted to vice president of governmental and external affairs. Among McEntee's other jobs, he is spearheading the company's new venture into green power generation. Betsy Stauffer has rejoined the company as its vice president and general counsel.

That new team is moving Simpson into the 21st century.