CANOPY ’24 Speakers

Interested in speaking this year?

Submit your speaker proposal here.

—

Below are the bios of the confirmed speakers for the 2024 CANOPY: Forests + Markets + Society conference at World Forestry Center.

Lee Alexander
Vice President of Global Fiber Supply
International Paper

Lee is responsible for overall strategy and leadership for International Paper’s Global Fiber Supply organization, managing a $2B annual spend to source nearly 60 million tons of wood fiber to IP’s mill system and to other customers via long term turn-key agreements.

Lee is involved in numerous organizations outside International Paper.  He currently serves on the Executive Committee and Board of Directors for the Forest Resource Association (FRA), a national organization supporting the forest industry.  He is also an Executive Board member and officer for Southern Reins, a non-profit organization supporting the Memphis community through equine therapy, and is a member of the American Forest and Paper Association (AF&PA)’s Wood Fiber Resource Committee.   Lee formerly served on International Paper’s Political Action Committee (IP-PAC) Board of Directors. 

A native of Cordele, Georgia, Lee attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and the University of Georgia, where he completed a BS in Forest Resources. During his 35+ years in the industry, he has held numerous operations, technical, and leadership positions and has worked and lived across the south. Lee and his wife Margaret have two boys, James (20) and Paul (16).  They live on a horse farm in Fayette County, TN and enjoy working, living, and playing outdoors.

Will Autrey
Director of Technical Services
Larson & McGowin

Will Autrey serves as Director of Technical Services for Larson & McGowin, LLC. Born in Greenville, Alabama, Mr. Autrey earned a Bachelor of Science in Forestry with a Land Management emphasis and Minor in Business from Auburn University and joined Larson &
McGowin, LLC. in 2004.

His continuing education includes additional coursework at Auburn University, the University of Georgia, Louisiana State University, and The Association of Consulting Foresters in forest inventory design, financial valuations, geographic information systems (GIS), bottomland hardwood silviculture, invasive species control, and business management.

Mr. Autrey’s primary responsibility as the director of the Technical Services Group at Larson & McGowin is guiding the Geospatial, Growth and Yield, and Forest Inventory teams. Mr. Autrey has held areas of increasing responsibility in Larson & McGowin’s Technical Services Group, beginning as an inventory forester and progressing through manager of forest inventory services prior to his current role.

Domestically, Mr. Autrey has extensive on the ground forestry and land management experience spanning the eastern United States from Texas to Maine. Internationally, Mr. Autrey has directed several field projects in Belize and served as a member of an on-site forest business consulting team in the Republic of Fiji.

Mr. Autrey recently co-authored Introduction to Consulting Forestry 2nd edition, a collaborative effort by members of the Association of Consulting Foresters that was recently published by the Society of American Foresters. Specifically, Mr. Autrey was responsible for authoring the “Technology in Modern Forestry” chapter.

Mr. Autrey is an active member of the Association of Consulting Foresters and the Alabama Forestry Association. He is a registered Forester in Alabama (License No. 2020), a member of Xi Sigma Pi Forestry Honors Society, and an FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot License holder.

Laura Calandrella
Executive Director
Keeping Forests

Since Keeping Forests launched in 2016, Laura has been an advisor to Keeping Forests on the development of collaborative partnerships and collective impact strategies.

 

Carter Coe
Managing Partner
Chinook Forest Partners

Carter is a Managing Partner at Chinook Forest Partners. He is focused on Investor Relations, Capital Raising, Acquisition Sourcing Outside of the Northwest, and Finance & Accounting/Back Office Oversight.

Carter found his way to Chinook through a path of timberland investment experiences that took form in 2009 when Carter left corporate finance in search of an investment career focused on natural resources. Motivation was driven by a desire to recover the tactile sensation of being in the woods as a young boy in search of nature’s finest moments. Carter relishes the opportunity to be outside on timberland assets with the Chinook team, investors, and industry peers.

Carter previously worked in positions that afforded him unique insights into the world of timberland investment management, having held internships at Forest Capital Partners and Forisk Consulting followed by full-time roles with MetLife’s Timberland Finance Group and Stafford Capital Partners’ timberlands business. Carter was fortunate to work for exceptional mentors and make observations unavailable to most industry observers, consequently informing opinions on where the timberland investment industry works well and where it does not. Structuring, compliance, transparency, and alignment became an increasing interest for Carter and ultimately led in part to his decision to join former colleague, Scott Marshall, and former fellow Limited Partner, Kelly Droege, on the Chinook Forest Partners quest to provide a better timberland investment solution for investors seeking a cost-efficient approach with heightened governance.

Carter holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation, a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from The Georgia Institute of Technology, and a Master of Forest Resources in Forest

Business from The University of Georgia. He lives in Cumming, GA with his wife, daughter, son, and dog.

Steve Courtney
Vice President of Operations
Beck Group Consulting

Steve Courtney is the Vice-President of Operations with The Beck Group, a forest products consulting company based in Portland, Oregon. Prior to joining Beck, Steve worked for forest products producers in Washington, Oregon, and California, with a focus on raw materials procurement and team leadership. Many members of his teams have attained high industry leadership.

Steve’s career has given him a deep, experiential understanding of mill operations, public policy, and the industry’s market drivers. He continues to share this knowledge in service to wood products companies’ business objectives.

Steve holds a Bachelor’s degree in Forest Engineering from Oregon State University and an MBA from National University. He and his dog currently reside in John Day, Oregon.

Chung-Hong Fu
Founding Member and Partner
Timberland Investment Resources

Chung-Hong Fu is a founding member and partner of Timberland Investment Resources, a timberland investment management organization based in Atlanta, Georgia. He leads the firm’s economic research efforts and helps set investment strategy and analysis. He began his career at Temple-Inland Forest Products Corporation serving as a forest economist. Before his current role at Timberland Investment Resources, Hong served as Senior Investment Analyst for Global Forest Partners.

Hong received a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Columbia University. In addition, Hong received a Ph.D. in Forest Economics from North Carolina State University.

Thomas W. Goodrich
Senior Advisor
The Lyme Timber Company

Tom joined Lyme in 2023 and assists the firm with business development, client management and strategic planning matters.  He was previously Executive Vice President, Corporate Development with Resource Management Service, a timberland investment manager with extensive holdings across the US South.  Prior to RMS, he was a partner with Stafford Capital Partners, where he was responsible for the origination and negotiation of institutional timberland investments, primarily in the secondary market but also structured as co-investments and separate accounts.  He also held various positions with Global Forest Partners, a timberland manager focused on non-US investment strategies.  Before joining GFP, he worked in a variety of roles in the investment banking industry.  He started his career with Lehman Brothers, and was later an analyst and associate in the M&A practice of Chase Securities prior to attending business school.  He holds a BS from Lehigh University, an MBA from the University of Michigan and is a CFA charterholder.

Troy Harris is the Managing Director of Timberland and Innovative Wood Products at Jamestown with 30 years of experience in public and institutional timberland portfolio management, timberland acquisitions and dispositions, operations management, and business development throughout the U.S. Troy is a passionate advocate of the mass timber industry and has been vital in connecting it to the commercial real estate industry through his work to build 619 Ponce in Atlanta, the first “Georgia Grown” mass timber building. Troy is a Certified Forester and serves on the Forest Landowners Association (FLA) and the Georgia Forestry Association (GFA) boards. He also serves on the Executive Committee of the National Alliance of Forest Owners (NAFO) and is a Trustee for the Georgia Forestry Foundation. Troy received a Bachelor of Science in Forest Management from Auburn University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Georgia.

Vernon Hiott
Senior Vice President, Business Development and Land Resources
Rayonier

Vernon Hiott is the Senior Vice President of Business Development and Land Resources at Rayonier Inc., a pure-play timberland REIT owning more than 2.7 million acres in the U.S. and New Zealand with an annual sustainable yield of over 11 million tons.  Vernon has over 18 years of experience in timberland management and currently leads a portfolio of businesses across Rayonier’s landbase including traditional non-timber income activities and land-based solutions.  Additionally, Vernon leads the company’s log and chip export operations in the U.S. South and Pacific Northwest as well as developing strategic log and fiber supply arrangements for new and existing customers.  Vernon holds a Bachelor of Science in Forestry from Clemson University and a Masters of Forest Economics from the University of Georgia.

Ross Holbrook
Sustainability Manager
Forest Investment Associates

Ross serves as sustainability manager for Forest Investment Associates (FIA), a specialist investment manager with more than 37 years of timberland investment experience, helping clients around the world grow value through investing in sustainable forestry.

He works across the growing scope of FIA’s sustainability programs, including the implementation of the firm’s ESG and impact roadmap. He also works with investment and forestry operations staff on ESG integration to ensure continual improvement and is a member of the Business Development and Sustainability Team. His career started in exploration geology, working in remote areas with traditional communities, where he was exposed to a variety of natural resources, sustainability, social impact, and other ESG considerations and opportunities. Prior to FIA, he managed a boutique sustainability, business development, regulatory, and natural resources-focused consultancy for a diverse client base throughout the United States, Latin America, and Europe. Ross earned his BS in Geology & Environmental Geosciences from College of Charleston; MBA from the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University; and masters of international management from IAE Paris Sorbonne Business School.

Jim Hourdequin
Managing Director and CEO
The Lyme Timber Company

Jim joined Lyme in 2005 and leads the Company’s investment and business strategies. Over the past 20 years, he has managed the acquisition of over 1.8 million acres of timberland throughout the US and Canada. With a background that combines forest ecology and business operations, Jim has championed Lyme’s focus on timberland investments that integrate conservation and climate outcomes with operational improvements.  Alongside its timberland portfolio, Lyme has invests in sawmills, log distribution yards, and logging operations.  Prior to Lyme, Jim co-founded Long View Forest Inc., a logging and forestry services business based in Vermont, where he remains involved as an owner and member of the management team. He serves on the Board of the National Alliance of Forest Owners and the Finance Committee for the Montshire Museum of Science. Jim earned an M.B.A. with Distinction from the Harvard Business School and a B.A. cum laude in Biology from Dartmouth College.

Hill Jeffries
Partner
Eversheds Sutherland

Hill Jeffries represents businesses in M&A transactions, joint ventures and governance matters.  As a member of the Eversheds Sutherland (US) Forestry & Climate Solutions group, Hill has represented clients in purchase and sale transactions covering millions of acres of U.S. timberlands.  He represents several ex-U.S. institutional investors in their ongoing investments in U.S. timberlands, and he routinely counsels timberland investment management organizations (TIMOs) with respect to their day-to-day commercial matters.  He also negotiates investment management agreements on behalf of both TIMOs and timberland investors, and applies his timber industry experience in representing buyers and sellers of lumber mills.

Dave Kunert
Vice President of Resources
Hampton Lumber

Dave Kunert is the VP of Resources for Hampton Lumber. With over 25 years’ experience in the timber industry, he oversees procurement of raw material for Hampton’s multiple sawmills in NW Oregon and SW Washington. Dave graduated from Oregon State University with a BS in Forest Engineering. He briefly served as a Road Specialist with the Oregon Department of Forestry before beginning his career at Hampton as a Forester in 1998 where he worked closely with contractors, landowners, elected officials and agencies.

Dave’s passion for rural communities and natural resource industries was instilled at an early age while being raised on a cattle ranch in Central Oregon. He is inspired by his wife, Angie, and their two adult children and enjoys time with his family and a variety of outdoor pursuits.

Charles-Hugo Lajeunesse
Senior Associate of Sustainable Land Management
CDPQ Global Infrastructure

David LaMont
Senior Vice President of Corporate Development
SunGas Renewables

David currently serves as SVP of Corporate Development at SunGas Renewables and oversees SunGas’ development of the Beaver Lake Renewable Energy project in Louisiana, which will produce over 400,000 metric tons per year of renewable methanol from sustainably sourced wood fiber.  He is a recognized expert in thermal conversion energy technologies and has two decades of experience in technology assessment, deployment and financing. Most recently, he led the technology commercialization group at GTI Energy that created and spun out SunGas. Previously, he worked for 10 years in the global energy business for ConocoPhillips, leading efforts in business and technology analysis, large scale technology deployment, and strategy and planning. He has also held roles in two hydrogen and fuel cell technology startup companies. David has a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Washington State University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Gerrity Lansing
Managing Director and Partner, BTG Pactual
Head, BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group

Gerrity provides overall strategic and business leadership for TIG, and is a Managing Director and Partner of BTG Pactual. Prior to his current role, Gerrity was a Founder and CEO of Equator, LLC and its Brazilian subsidiary, TTG Brasil Investimentos Florestais Ltda (“TTG Brasil”), which was acquired by BTG Pactual in 2012. Prior to this, Gerrity spent nearly a decade building and as CEO of Madison Trading, LLC and Chatham Energy Partners, LLC (acquired by The Intercontinental Exchange). He is on the Board of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, the Buckley School in New York City, the National Alliance of Forest Owners (NAFO) and La Fundación de la Universidad del Valle de Guatemala. Gerrity received his B.A. from Duke University.

Peter McHale
Co-Founder and CEO
Gaia AI

Peter is the CEO and cofounder of Gaia AI. He worked on perception AI early on at Ford’s autonomous vehicle research program, and went on to contribute to AI development at Argo AI and May Mobility, two autonomous vehicle companies. Peter holds technical masters degrees from Carnegie Mellon and the University of Michigan, and an MBA from MIT Sloan. Gaia AI’s tools were built from the ground up for forestry, using LiDAR-equipped backpacks and a mobile app to keep foresters in the loop. By equipping expert foresters with advanced AI, we provide inventories that have better accuracy, transparency, scalability, and quality control than either humans or AI could provide on their own.

Dr. Brooks Mendell
President and CEO
Forisk Consulting, LLC

Dr. Brooks Mendell is President and CEO at Forisk, which provides analysis and education to help senior managers and investors in the forest industry make better decisions. Founded by Brooks in 2004, Forisk publishes the Forisk Research Quarterly, which includes market analysis, operations research, and timber forecasts for North America’s forest products industry; the Forisk Wood Fiber Review, which tracks pulpwood and chip prices in the U.S.; and the North American Forest Industry Capacity Database.

Dr. Mendell is an internationally recognized business advisor, researcher, and speaker in the fields of forest business, timberland investing, wood bioenergy, and business communications. He has broad domestic and international experience supporting small businesses, Fortune 500 corporations, and public organizations. His industry experience includes roles in harvest operations, wood procurement, management consulting, and academia. A Fulbright Scholar and inductee in the Georgia Foresters Hall of Fame, his forestry-related books include “Loving Trees is Not Enough”, “Forest Finance Simplified”, and “Aunt Fanny Learns Forestry: Managing Timberland as an Investment.”

Dr. Mendell earned BS and MS degrees at M.I.T., an MBA at the University of California at Berkeley, and a PhD in Forest Finance at UGA.

Asger Strange Olesen
Global Head, Climate, Biodiversity, and ESG
International Woodland Company AM+

Asger is Global Head of Climate, Biodiversity, and ESG at IWC AM+. He brings solid experience from climate and ecosystem management in Europe, Africa, and Latin America, and has worked in and for the European Commission on developing the current Forest and Climate Policy and Framework, including on technologies, EU taxonomy and GHG accounting. Asger was previously Chief Ecosystem Officer at FSC International and also worked as an advisor, EU official and carbon project developer. He is UNFCCC Revioewer and serves in a number of advisory boards and expert groups.

Todd Payne
President, Lumber
Sierra Pacific Industries

Todd Payne is President of Lumber at Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) which is headquartered near Redding, California. SPI is an industry leader in technology and
innovation in its production facilities as well as being the largest private landowner in the US with over 2.4 million acres. This makes SPI one of the largest lumber manufacturers in North America. The value-added philosophy of SPI allows for the best use of wood fiber in a variety of products including lumber, millwork, windows, landscape materials, and renewable energy.

Todd began his career with Seneca, an Oregon based forest products company, in 1990 after graduating from Oregon State University with a business degree with a minor in forest products. Throughout his 34-year career, Todd has held a number of leadership positions including Vice President – Timberlands, Vice President & GM, and President & CEO, all with Seneca. Upon SPI’s acquisition of Seneca at the end of September 2021, Todd accepted the President of Lumber role overseeing SPI’s 18-sawmills, 8-renewable energy facilities, 3-millwork/reman plants, sales & marketing functions, and timberlands.

Todd has served on several association boards throughout his career including the
Western Wood Products Association (currently Chair), Oregon Forest Industries Council (immediate past Chair), and Softwood Lumber Board / American Wood Council – both while at Seneca.

Curtis Robinhold
Executive Director
Port of Portland

 A keen fly fisherman and white-water rafter, Curtis Robinhold has led the Port of Portland as Executive Director since July 2017. The Port, governed by a nine-member Commission appointed by the Governor, encompasses four marine terminals, two general aviation airports and Portland International Airport. It employs about 800 people and enjoys annual operating revenues of approximately $329 million. Foreign trade moving through the Port amounts to $14 billion annually. 

Prior to joining the Port in 2014 as Deputy Executive Director, Curtis was Chief of Staff to Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber, where he oversaw the Governor’s policy agenda, staff and policy advisors. Previously, Curtis served as CEO of an energy efficiency finance company in Portland, Oregon and held various leadership roles in BP Alternative Energy’s businesses throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa. At BP, Curtis was instrumental in developing strategy for the Alternative Energy unit, as well as spearheading growth in renewable energy businesses in new markets such as India and China. In his early career, Curtis spent 10 years working for Oregon’s Governor John Kitzhaber and Congressman Peter DeFazio. 

Curtis grew up in Eugene, Oregon and spent a gap year in Germany, where he learned to speak the language and joined the cult-following of Bruce Springsteen. Curtis holds a BA from the University of California at San Diego, as well as a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Master of Environmental Management (MEM) from Yale University. He and his wife Angela Uherbelau live in Portland with their two daughters. 

Bob Saul
Owner
Shearwell

Bob has enjoyed a twenty five-year career in agricultural and forestry investing for pension funds, endowments and insurance companies. He’s worked on investment projects all over the United States and Central America including plantation and natural forests, water right monetization, aquifer development, greenfield establishment of citrus, almonds, and maple syrup sugarbushes. He has also partnered with renewable energy firms to develop carbon and wind projects. His day job has supported his establishment of two hundred acres of Black walnut plantations in the Connecticut River Valley. He currently serves as a senior agricultural advisor for Fiera Capital, a Canadian-based agricultural investment manager, and as an advisor for the Grantham Foundation for the Environment. He also serves on several non-profit and municipal boards in his hometown of Amherst, Massachusetts. He recently completed a book, The Provision Problem: A Conversation About Food and Fiber Production in the Climate Emergency Era, published on the Harvard Forest website. The book is the product of his Bullard Fellowship at the Harvard Forest. The project distills thirty-five interviews with expert climate scientists, natural resource investors, venture capitalists, conservationists, environmental activists, farmers, and foresters, into an in-depth discussion regarding the role and responsibility of U.S. landowners in the generations ahead.

Spenser Shadle
Managing Director
Alder Point Capital

Spenser leads Alder Point’s asset management functions, internal operations, and compliance, in addition to deal sourcing and underwriting. Prior to Alder Point, Spenser served as Director of Finance & Business Development for Heartwood Biomass, a forest products manufacturing business working at the intersection of forest restoration and rural economic resilience. Spenser previously held the role of Senior Vice President, Real Assets at New Island Capital Management, where he led both capital deployment and asset management for U.S. timberland, farmland, and environmental markets investments. In past roles, Spenser served as Program Officer for World Wildlife Fund’s climate change work with Fortune 500s and supported USAID projects in Africa.

Spenser holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management, a Master of Forestry from the Yale School of the Environment, and a BA from Colorado College.

Spenser lives with his family on a former dairy farm, at the foot of the Wallowa Mountains in Northeast Oregon.

Will Sonnenfeld
Principal
WillSonn Advisory

Will Sonnenfeld is Principal at WillSonn Advisory, LLC, where he provides consulting services to a wide array of participants in many sectors of the timber and wood products space.  Formed in 2009, WillSonn Advisory has helped clients in the areas of: Business Assessments and Due Diligence for timberland and mill acquisitions and financing; Contract preparation, review and negotiations; Independent Third-Party Review of appraisals, financial projections and timberland harvest flows; and Strategic Plan Development, including price and volume forecasts.  Clients have included public and private companies, TIMOs, lenders, NGO’s and institutional investors.  Will Sonnenfeld holds a BS in Forest Management from Texas A&M University, an MBA in Finance from the University of Oregon, and held a CPA certificate from 1994-2001 (lapsed).

Prior to, and in between, his consulting work, Will Sonnenfeld held a number of senior management positions in the industry, including SVP Strategic Initiatives for Brookfield Timberlands where he led its US timberland acquisition efforts, SVP at The St Joe Company where he was in charge of the Timberlands and Rural Land Sales divisions, and SVP at GE Capital where he was involved in business development and lending activities to GECC’s timber, wood products and bio-energy clients.  From 1988 to 2006, Will Sonnenfeld worked for Plum Creek Timber Company, the last 11 of which were focused on timberland acquisitions and divestitures, where he transacted on over 3.6 million acres.  Will also held management positions in corporate planning, Inventory and GIS, and financial reporting.  Will began his 30+ year career as a forester for Temple Inland in the piney woods of East Texas.

Joe Taggart
President and CEO
LandVest

Joe Taggart is CEO of LandVest, a specialty Forestry and Real Estate advisory firm.  In his role, he is responsible for the overall management, leadership and accountability of LandVest. The firm is a third-party certified manager of 2.5 million acres of land in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Pacific Northwest.  LandVest also maintains a luxury real estate brokerage business; appraisal & consulting division, and is the largest broker of institutional timberland in the U.S. Prior to joining LandVest, Joe worked in marketing and operations at the Weyerhaeuser Company in Washington and Oregon. He also has experience with Pacific Lumber and Shipping Company of Seattle, Washington and Mistik Management in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan.  Joe graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Forest Management and Economics. He later earned a Master’s of Forest Economics from Yale University. He a Trustee of the New England Forest Foundation and the New Hampshire Historical Society (Vice Chair).

Amrita Vatsal
Managing Director, Business Development
EFM Investments & Advisory

Amrita joined EFM in 2011 and is a member of EFM’s management team. In this role, she shapes the company’s growth and impact investment strategies managing new product development, fund structuring and investor recruitment. Additionally, as a member of the investment committee, she contributes to property sourcing, transaction structuring, conservation finance, and carbon project development. Prior to EFM, Amrita was an Assistant Manager with Pricewaterhouse Coopers in Singapore for 5 years and she subsequently cultivated a passion for financing the growth of environmental business while working for Piper Jaffray’s clean-tech banking group. Her love for forests began during a stint in Indonesia where she helped develop a carbon project on 200,000 hectares of pristine tropical peat forest. Amrita is a Fellow of the Erb Institute and graduated from the University of Michigan with an MBA and an MS in Natural Resources.

Bettina von Hagen
Co-Founder and CEO
EFM Investments & Advisory

Bettina von Hagen is co-founder CEO of EFM (efmi.com), an investment management and climate-smart forest management company based in Portland, OR and focused on natural climate solutions.  In addition to general management, Bettina leads the firm’s acquisition and disposition activities and is a member of the Investment Committees and Board of Directors.

Previously, Bettina was Vice President at Ecotrust for forestry and ecosystem service programs and managed the Natural Capital Fund, a $40 million fund that invests in key businesses and initiatives in the conservation economy.  Bettina has over 25 years of experience in fund management, impact investing, conservation finance, ecosystem service markets, commercial lending and forestry.   Prior to joining Ecotrust, she was a vice president and commercial lender at First Interstate Bank of Oregon. Bettina has an MBA from the University of Chicago and a BA from the University of the Pacific.  She was born and raised in Peru and holds Peruvian and U.S. citizenship. She currently serves on the boards of EFM and co-chairs the board of Forest Trends.