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Cortland Line Promotes Randy Brown to President

Cortland's long-time president and CEO, Brian Ward, will retire to pursue a career in university-level teaching.

Cortland Line has has promoted COO Randy Brown to the position of president and CEO. Cortland’s long-time president and CEO, Brian Ward, will retire to pursue a career in university-level teaching.

“This is truly the dawn of a new day for Cortland,” remarked chairman Sandy Douglas following the announcement. “We’d like to thank Brian for his 25-plus years of service to the company as well as his assistance during this transition of leadership. We also welcome Randy as Cortland’s new president and CEO. He’s already done a superb job rebuilding our manufacturing infrastructure and reinvigorating our R&D department, and he has the investors’ full personal and financial support to return Cortland to the leadership position it has historically enjoyed.”

Mr. Brown has enjoyed successful careers in banking, manufacturing and distribution. Most recently, he was the president of Ongweoweh Corp, a national distributor and leading recycler of pallets and packaging, where he grew sales from $25 million to $140 million in 12 years.

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Cortland Line recently went through a transition period, following the acquisition of the company by a private investment group. Cortland’s new investment group is made up of business executives with equally impressive resumes, from heads of Wall Street and west coast investment firms, to the founder of a respected advertising agency, the CEO of a leading publishing company, and a Texas rancher with interests in real estate and energy markets.

“And, we’re all bound together by a common mission: to build Cortland into a global leader in fly-fishing and braided products – we expect to work closely with our customers and supporters as we develop and test our products along the way. Right now we just might be the best capitalized company in the fly-fishing market, too.” Brown concluded.

Jim Teeny, a long-time customer and friend of Cortland offered his own perspective from his office in Gresham, Oregon.

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“I have been a fly fisherman since I was 12 and active in the fly-fishing industry for over 40 years. I know something about fly tackle, and it has been my personal experience, as well as that of my wife and business partner, Donna, that without question the highest-quality fly lines are produced by Cortland. As much fishing as we do, it’s most important that our fly lines hold up in both fresh and saltwater fly fishing. Now, with such significant capital provided by their new investors, Cortland has a new energy, a more ambitious trajectory and a new sense of purpose. We are very proud to say that our Teeny fly lines are produced by Cortland.”

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