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CEO, DRAKE EXTRUSION, RIDGEWAY
CEO, DRAKE EXTRUSION, RIDGEWAY
Virginia Business// August 30, 2023//
A subsidiary of Duroc AB, a Swedish manufacturer specializing in filament yarn and staple fiber, Drake Extrusion has been based in Henry County since 1996, with Parkinson as its CEO since 2001. Its staple fiber is used in various applications such as flooring, rugs, furniture, technical filters, car interiors and nonwoven fabrics.
Drake has expanded its Henry County facility twice in the past decade, and in 2021, the company purchased yarn manufacturer Michael S. Becker, a North Carolina business that has annual sales of about $4 million. In Duroc’s February earnings report, the parent company said that it had experienced a loss of about 20.8 million Swedish krona, or $2 million, last fall due to a bad debt by a major Drake customer. “Prices for polypropylene raw material leveled off in Europe during the quarter, while a price fall continued in the USA,” Duroc CEO John Häger said.
Parkinson is a GO Virginia Region 3 board member and serves as secretary and treasurer for Martinsville-Henry County Chamber’s Partnership for Economic Growth. He is an accounting and finance graduate of the U.K.’s Lancaster University.
