Logan Ledbetter (left) and Shorty Titus.
Southern Willamette Valley
Employees Drive Company Giving Program
Roseburg-based North River Boats is one of the nation’s foremost aluminum boat manufacturers, supplying the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, and commercial and recreational customers with high-quality vessels. It’s also one of Douglas County’s largest private employers.
Recognizing that workers are central to North River’s success, CEO Brent Hutchings introduced an employee stock ownership plan in 2016, along with an exceptional benefits plan. Now, the company is taking employee involvement a step further through the North River Community Fund of OCF. “Our company was doing so well, we wanted to come up with a fund to help the local community,” explains Recreational Fabrication Lead Logan Ledbetter.
“My wife, Chrys, and I and are committed to sharing our company’s prosperity with the people and community who make it happen. We had heard good things about OCF and wanted to use it as a vehicle to take care of the people of North River as well as the greater Roseburg community.”
Brent Hutchings
CEO, North River Boats
Electrical Designer Shorty Titus acknowledges OCF’s help in charting this new course: “They took us by the hand and helped us figure out how to get this process going.”
North River’s strong philanthropic culture had already inspired Logan and Shorty to create the employee-led North River United committee, which can direct financial aid to workers within two hours. “We figured that committee could also serve as the committee for the OCF fund,” Shorty says.
Like North River United, North River Community Fund is completely employee-driven; any employee can bring a grant recommendation to the committee for a vote. “They want to do something to help, and our Community Fund gives them a way to do it,” Shorty adds.
“We’d like to start as local as we can, and then hopefully we’ll expand and be able to help locally and regionally,” Logan concludes. “There’s not a better feeling at the end of the day than being able to help someone.”