150 Years of Forest Product Import and Sales Experience

Spartan Resources International, located at 1207 Laskin Road in Virginia Beach, Virginia, is partnered with Argo Fine Imports, headquartered in Mandeville, Louisiana.

Our companies include three past presidents of the International Hardwood Plywood Association (formerly known as IWPA). Our mission is to provide our customers with continuous solutions to their changing environment. Within the Spartan office, we have over 150 years of forest product import and sales experience.

Incorporated in 2010, Spartan Resources International has a current in-house staff of 4. Overseas we have several on staff procurement managers located in SE Asia and South America. We offer FSC and OLB certified panel products.

Our Staff Consists of the Below Personnel Listed in Order as They Came to Spartan

Mr. Chris Paras

President of Spartan, spent 18 years purchasing forest products overseas prior to 2010. In 2010/2011, he served as President of the International Hardwood Plywood Association.

He now continues to manage overseas procurement functions and staff, and also handles sales to several key customers. He also maintains a function as VP of Procurement for Argo.

Mr. Ed Cabiad

Began working with Chris Paras in 2001, and managed import and documentation from several continents prior to coming to Spartan in 2011. He now functions as Logistics Manager and Office Manager at Spartan.

Mr. Kong Siang Lian

Worked with Chris as manager of procurement forest products for Asia for nine years, and then joined Spartan on its inception and now continues to manage forest product purchases from Asia in several categories.

He works out of his Shanghai office and has been instrumental in developing SPARTANPLY.

Mr. Leroy Otteson

Has been in the forest products industry working for most of the west coast panel manufacturers, running plants for over 40 years. He built several plants overseas while working with all the above-mentioned staff in the early 2000s.

He manages procurement from South America and serves as technical director and quality control manager for Spartan and Argo.

Mr. Nick Paras

Started with Spartan in 2013 and began his forest products education on the procurement side. He traveled to West African suppliers and South American suppliers, learning peeling and grading of veneers.

He spent several years traveling to customers on the east and west coast and is now handling several functions at Spartan, including managing our intermodal department and compliance department, and handling sales to several key customers.

He maintains his presence on the procurement side as his long-term function will be to oversee and manage import purchases to North America.

Mr. John Pederson

John joined us at Spartan Resources Intl. in June of 2024. John brings with him over 45 years of experience in the plywood business, both domestic and imports. John will continue to work from his home in the state of Minnesota.

Mr. Brian Sheridan

Came to Spartan in 2022 with a long history of forest product import sales. Brian is a second-generation Sheridan in this industry and started his career working with his father, Frank Sheridan, at Gross Veneer sales / Afrasian Woods in 1980.

Brian and Chris worked together for 12 years prior to joining again in 2022. Brian brings 42 years of experience in sales to Spartan, along with purchasing experience from his travels to Africa in the 80s, then Brazil and Russia later in his career. Brian is serving as VP of sales at Spartan.

Our above staff brings over 150 years of experience in forest product production, imports, and sales. Let our resources work on solving and delivering your forest product import needs.

Spartan Resources, “Don’t Import Without It”