Jesse Cook, CEO, PK Wood Pellet (2025 Forest Business Accelerator Cohort)
Built from the Forest
Conversations with Forest Business Accelerator Entrepreneurs
Built from the Forest highlights founders who have participated in the Forest Business Accelerator and are building businesses rooted in the future of the forest economy. These entrepreneurs are transforming forest-based materials into high value products, technologies, and solutions that strengthen regional supply chains and expand sustainable manufacturing.
This conversation features Jesse Cook, CEO of PK Wood Pellet, a 2025 Forest Business Accelerator company, developing a regional supply of renewable, bulk wood pellets made from sawmill byproducts to replace imported fuels and strengthen local energy systems.
The Forest Business Accelerator 2026 cohort selection process is underway. Learn more here.
Q and A with Jesse Cook, CEO, PK Wood Pellet
Jesse Cook of PK Wood Pellet talks about their plans and products at the final sprint of the 2025 Forest Business Accelerator. Photo by Kelly Nottermann.
Q: Tell us about your company – what inspired you to start it, and what problem are you solving?
A: PK Wood Pellet was founded to strengthen and localize a very tenuous and inefficient bulk pellet supply chain. We’re replacing imported pellets and fossil fuels with locally produced, renewable energy – made from the byproducts of Vermont’s working forests. Our goal is to create a stable, regional source of thermal energy that keeps dollars, jobs, and carbon benefits local.
Q: What’s unique about your product or service, and how does it contribute to forest industry innovation or sustainability in Vermont and the Region?
A: PK Wood Pellet is the only dedicated bulk pellet plant in New England. We take low-value sawmill residuals that often leave the region or go unused – and turn them into high-efficiency thermal energy. By converting these local byproducts into renewable energy for homes, businesses, and institutions, we’re adding value to the forest economy, strengthening sawmill markets, and keeping the energy and carbon cycle fully regional.
Q: What stage is your business at, and what milestones are you most proud of so far?
A: We’ve secured our site in Wells River, completed key engineering and design work, and assembled project financing with support from state and federal partners. We’re now in the process of purchasing equipment and setting up the site. We’re proud to have built strong regional support for a project that will create jobs, strengthen local sawmills, and bring renewable thermal energy production back to Vermont.
Q: How has participating in the Forest Business Accelerator impacted your company or your thinking as a founder?
A: Participating in the Forest Business Accelerator helped us clarify our value proposition, better understand our market, and think strategically about expanding our product line. It was incredibly educational in showing how to ground business assumptions in real data and provide practical tools that we can continue to use after the program.
Q: What excites you most about the future of your company and the industry?
A: We’re excited to finally build the plant and begin producing pellets – turning this plan into real jobs, renewable energy, and steady demand for local sawmill byproducts. For the broader industry, it’s encouraging to see the forest economy moving toward more integrated, value-added uses of wood that support both local businesses and long-term forest health.
The leadership team of PK Wood Pellet at Sprint 1 of the 2025 Forest Business Accelerator. Photo by Kelly Nottermann.
Learn More
We’re excited to bring green manufacturing jobs to Vermont that directly support the state’s climate and forest economy goals. PK Wood Pellet turns low-value sawmill residuals into renewable thermal energy, creating a stable market for local wood byproducts while displacing imported fossil fuels.
The Forest Business Accelerator 2026 cohort selection process is underway. Learn more here.