CANOPY ’24 Speakers

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.

Ross Bernet
Carbon Removal Buyer
Carbon Removal Team, Microsoft

Ross Bernet is Carbon Removal Buyer on Microsoft’s Carbon Removal Team, where he focuses on negotiating deals to purchase high-quality removal credits from reforestation and Improved Forest Management projects. Before joining Microsoft, Ross worked across the non-profit and private sector in roles at the intersection of nature and technology. He received his Master’s degree in Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies where he focused on the use of remote sensing and geospatial technology. Today he is most interested in how we can shape the voluntary carbon market to channel funding towards high-quality Nature-Based Projects. He would like to see Improved Forest Management be used more widely to support timberland owners, the local environment and the climate.

Ethan Breitling
Vice President for Communications and Creative
National Alliance of Forest Owners

Ethan Breitling is NAFO’s Vice President for Communications and Creative. Ethan started his career running a sawmill and teaching forestry and ecology at a 100-year-old Boy Scout summer camp in the Adirondack Park.  The camp owned and operated its own working forest, which not only taught him about forest management, but also taught him the foundations of strategic communications – convincing 11-year-old boys that the Forestry Merit Badge is exciting.

Here in Washington, Ethan has made his career developing strategic fundraising communications campaigns for local, state, and federal races. Ethan previously served as NAFO’s Communications and Creative Director. He came to NAFO from Bay Armoury Consulting, where he managed multiple fundraising communications operations focused on supporting moderation in politics. Ethan earned his degree in Political Science at Western Connecticut State University and studied Foreign Policy at American University.

Laura Calandrella
Executive Director
Keeping Forests

Laura Calandrella is the Executive Director of Keeping Forests. Keeping Forests is a coalition of diverse multi-sector partners conserving the natural, economic, and cultural value of southern working forests. Our mission is to catalyze markets that support private landowners who steward 86% of the region’s 245 million acres of forest in the 13 states that comprise the U.S. South. 

Laura brings more than 20 years of conservation experience to Keeping Forests. She has dedicated her career to fostering collaborative efforts that drive meaningful change Her book, Our Next Evolution, outlines the leadership required to deliver transformative solutions to our environmental challenges. 

Under her leadership, Keeping Forests has successfully expanded its partnership, reach, and influence in the forest conservation community. She lives in Atlanta, GA.

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.

Phil Cottle
Head of Forestry and Agriculture
ForestRe/Globe Underwriting

Phil is Head of Forestry and of the ‘ForestRe’-branded underwriting team based in the City of London. We operate as part of an agency called ‘Globe Underwriting’ that is part of the Ardonagh Group . Phil has 35yrs experience in forestry and crop risk analysis within the context of a rapidly warming climate. 

Forestry insurance / tree-crop products have been available since 2007 across 50 countries for small growers, companies, municipalities and pension fund portfolios.  These products are the familiar indemnity, now with hybrid burn scar and alternative hurricane and wildfire parametric policies. ForestRe has instigated or supported many small grower programmes in France, Spain, Portugal, New Zealand, Australia and with Outdoor Underwriters in the USA. 

Our insurance rating is A+ Lloyd’s and better with European reinsurers for most business, but also offer A- rated capacity and B++ insurers for non-institutional clients. 

Carbon forestry insurance has been available for years. Now we also cross-sell more sophisticated carbon delivery guarantee products from well-known agencies and work with others to support their offering and increase availability. 

Investment portfolio risk analysis reporting is a recent strand to the business, helping clients to preview their risk prior or post purchase. Such analysis uses the latest geo-spatial data within our own specialist fire and wind modelling tools. This review will be in terms of historic loss profile and future modelling and impact of climate scenario on success of the investment.

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.

Corey Davis
Vice President of Forestry Operations
Superior Pine Products Company

After graduating from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, Corey worked for Langdale Forest Products as a Procurement Forester, gaining experience with pole marking and timber inventory operations.  In 2014 Corey began his career with Superior Pine Products as an inventory cruiser and eventually worked his way to Forest Manager then Vice President of Forest Operations, overseeing forest management operations across 189,000 acres in four Southeastern states. Superior Pine Products Company was founded in 1926, and its early leaders were instrumental in starting organizations like the Forest Landowners Association and the American Tree Farm Program, as a small, family-owned business that prides itself on being a leader in the forest industry in the Southeastern region. 

Chris Elwell
Managing Director of Investment Analysis
Timberland Investment Resources

Chris oversees investment analytics for TIR, managing the design and deployment of key forest management, planning, inventory and enterprise-wide information and decision support systems. This work also includes managing a team of forest analysts who employ these tools to assess current and prospective investments in the context of clients’ portfolio objectives. He also is TIR’s resident expert on matters relating to carbon forestry markets and the monetization of forest-based carbon resources. In addition to this expertise, Chris has extensive experience managing timberland assets in both the U.S. Southeast and U.S. West.

Chris is a graduate of the University of the South, where he earned a BA in Natural Resources. He also holds an MS in Forestry from Yale University, and an MBA from Kennesaw State University. He is a member of the Society of American Foresters.

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.

Joe Furia
Executive Director
World Forestry Center

Joe Furia leads World Forestry Center, a Portland-based, 55-year-old nonprofit working at the intersection of people and forests. In a world grappling with climate change, population growth, and catastrophic wildfire, Joe believes that how we manage our forests impacts all of us.

Since joining World Forestry Center in September 2018, Joe has shifted the organization’s focus to driving social change in support of a more sustainable forestry future. He brings expertise in nonprofit executive leadership, natural resource law and policy, and business. He served as chair of the Mitigation Committee of the Oregon Governor’s Council on Wildfire Response, which provided Governor Kate Brown with recommendations on how sustainable forest management can help address catastrophic wildfires in Oregon.

Before World Forestry Center, Joe worked as General Counsel and Policy Director for The Freshwater Trust (the largest restoration-focused organization in the Pacific Northwest) and as a natural resource and environmental attorney for the law firms K&L Gates LLP and Landye, Bennett, Blumstein. Joe earned his B.A. in Political Science from Yale College and a J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School.

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.

Vince Granato
Chief Projects Officer
Port of Portland

As PDX Next chief project officer, Vince leads a team focused on the schedule, scope and budget of the major construction projects at the Portland International Airport, which aim to upgrade and update PDX while keeping the local character that travelers love.

Vince, a native of Portland, has been with us for over 37 years in various managerial and financial capacities. He most recently served as chief operating officer. Prior to that, he was chief financial officer, where he managed all our financial activities and administrative areas such as risk management, internal audit, contracts and procurement, and research.

In his career, Vince has been involved in a number of national initiatives in the aviation industry including the Transportation Security Administration Baggage Screening Investment Study Group and various other projects for Airports Council International. He’s also a board member of Sport Oregon.

Jessica Halofsky
Director, Northwest Climate Hub and Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Center
U.S. Forest Service

Jessica Halofsky is the Director of the Northwest Climate Hub as well as the Western Wildland Environmental Threats Assessment Center. Jessica is an ecologist with over a decade of experience in climate change science and applications. Jessica has been a scientist at the University of Washington, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences since 2008, conducting applied research on fire and disturbance ecology, vegetation dynamics, and climate change impacts and adaptation. She has worked on a number of model-based projects focused on potential shifts in fire regimes and vegetation with climate change.

Jessica has also worked closely with Forest Service scientists and managers through her work at the University of Washington, with a joint University-Forest Service (Office of Sustainability and Climate and PNW Station) affiliation over the last several years. She pioneered one of the first climate change vulnerability assessment and adaptation projects with Olympic National Forest and Park. Since that initial project, Jessica has co-led (with Pacific Northwest Research Station emeritus scientist Dave L. Peterson) eight other sub-regional to regional-scale climate change vulnerability assessment and adaptation projects around the western U.S. Read more about these project at Adaptation Partners. Jessica was recently recognized for her climate change work with a National Climate Change Adaptation Leadership Award for Natural Resources from the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.

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.

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.

Merritt Jenkins
Co-Founder and CEO
Kodama Systems

Merritt Jenkins is co-founder and CEO of Kodama Systems, a forestry technology company developing tools to improve the efficiency of forest management. Kodama is leveraging machine autonomy and low-earth orbit satellite connectivity to enable operators to control machines off-site, improving both safety and economics of logging operations. Merritt has a BS/BE from Dartmouth College, an MS in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University, and an MBA from MIT.

Charlotte Kaiser
Head of Impact Finance
BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group

Charlotte Kaiser serves as BTG’s first Head of Impact Finance, where she leads efforts to source, structure and execute impact-focused transactions, as well as build and strengthen partnerships with the conservation community and other key stakeholders, lead impact-focused capital formation efforts, and support impact-focused investment initiatives across TIG’s US$ 4.9 billion investment portfolio. Prior to joining TIG, Charlotte served as Managing Director of NatureVest at The Nature Conservancy (TNC). NatureVest is TNC’s impact investment team charged with creating and transacting deals that can deliver both conservation results and financial returns for investors. During Charlotte’s tenure, TNC grew its impact investment portfolio to more than US$ 2.5 billion of capital committed to conservation transactions aiming to deliver benefits for people and the planet. A former community development banker, Charlotte holds a BA from Harvard University in Environmental Science and Public Policy, a Masters in Environmental Science from the Yale School of the Environment, and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.

Kurt Krapfl
Forestry Director
ACR

Dr.Kurt Krapfl, Forestry Director at ACR, has served in various roles at ACR related to carbon market implementation, methodology development, policy setting, and strategic direction since 2016. Throughout this time, he has directly contributed to and overseen the registration, verification, and issuance of more than 150 million tonnes of high-quality forest carbon credits. He has also led and supported the development and publication of innovative methodologies at ACR related to improved forest management, afforestation and reforestation, avoided conversion of forests, wetland and grassland restoration, and new quantification tools and ACR program standard updates.  Kurt’s primary areas of expertise are forest carbon quantification and methodology development, forest resource management, and silviculture. He holds a PhD in Forest Management from Mississippi State University and MS and BS degrees in Forestry from Southern Illinois University. Kurt has also worked for government entities, including the U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service, as well as ecological consulting firms. Kurt’s work has been published in peer reviewed academic journals as well as applied settings. He has given numerous presentations and testimonies in relation to the carbon market to stakeholders, policy makers, technical audiences, and the general public.

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
Director, Sustainable Land Management
CDPQ Global Infrastructure

Charles-Hugo leads the global timberland, carbon, and biodiversity investments at CDPQ, a Quebec-based pension fund with C$434 billion in net assets. Launched in 2020, the Sustainable Land Management mandate focuses on land assets and targets direct investments through platforms and strategic partnerships. Involved since the mandate’s inception, Charles-Hugo’s key responsibilities include sourcing new opportunities, structuring transactions and partnerships, and actively participating on the boards of portfolio companies. Before his current role, Charles-Hugo was part of the Innovation and Investment Strategy team at CDPQ, where he helped establish new investment mandates and accelerate the execution of unconventional transactions. He began his career in Investment Banking at BMO Capital Markets, gaining foundational experience in M&A transactions. Charles-Hugo holds a Master in Finance from Laval University and is a CFA and CPA charterholder.

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.

Stephen Levesque
Managing Director of Forest Operations
Campbell Global, a J.P. Morgan Company

Stephen is the Managing Director of Forest Operations for Campbell Global. He is the Chairman of the Responsible Investment Team and serves on the Investment Committee and the Price Forecast Team. He is responsible for the implementation of sustainable forest management plans that are designed to achieve client objectives. Stephen also provides leadership for ESG-related (Environmental, Social, and Governance) initiatives including forest carbon, third-party certification, and biodiversity.

Prior to joining Campbell, Stephen spent the first ten years of his career working for the U.S. Forest Service in Alaska.  He then managed a nature-based consulting firm in Northern California. 

Stephen received his Master’s in Forest Engineering and Hydrology from Oregon State University and a B.S. in Fisheries Biology from Humboldt State University. He serves as a Board Member for the World Forestry Center.

Armando Manalo
Partner
Upswell

Armando Manalo is a Partner at Upswell, a design studio based Portland OR, where he drives the strategy and creative realization of experiences at the intersection of social change, culture, and placemaking.
With significant international experience and background in the social and technology sectors, Armando brings a multicultural and multidisciplinary lens to his work. He has led technology initiatives programs for Adobe and Intel as well as the development of multi-year narrative environments for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, the Oregon Historical Society, the Library of Congress, and World Forestry Center.  He has an MA from the University of California, Berkeley, and a BA from Brown University.

Chris Martin
Portfolio Manager, Americas Private Natural Capital
APG Asset Management

Based in New York City, Chris is a Portfolio Manager for APG’s Private Natural Capital strategy in North America with transaction execution responsibility. APG is a Dutch pension asset manager with AUM in excess of €500 billion. As part of APG’s real assets business, PNC makes investments in forestry and agriculture which provide attractive risk-adjusted returns and demonstrate real world impact on climate and nature/biodiversity.

Previously, Chris led portfolio management of an institutional portfolio of Brazilian timberland investments at Resource Management Service, LLC. Chris began his career as Program Associate, Andes-Amazon Initiative at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Chris holds a Master of Business Administration and Master of Forestry from Yale University and a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies (summa cum laude) from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

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.

Spencer Meyer
Chief Ratings Officer
BeZero Carbon

Dr. Spencer Meyer is the Chief Ratings Officer at BeZero Carbon, the global carbon ratings agency. Spencer leads a large team covering all carbon sectors, and works with corporates, developers, and investors across the carbon market. An expert in climate science, he has more than 20 years’ experience with nature-based solutions, focusing on forests, climate and water. As a forester and landscape ecologist, he has worked with forest industry, conservation NGOs, private foundations and governments on forest management, carbon markets, conservation finance, and partnership development.  Before joining BeZero Carbon, Spencer was the head of science at NCX, a climate tech pioneer, where he led carbon markets, biodiversity and co-benefits research. Spencer previously worked at the Highstead Foundation, Harvard Forest, Yale School of the Environment, The Nature Conservancy and the University of Maine. He earned his AB from Dartmouth College and his MS and PhD in forest management and sustainability science from the University of Maine. Spencer is based in Connecticut, USA.

Asger Strange Olesen
Global Head, Climate, Biodiversity, and ESG
IWC Asset Management+

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.

Matt Purdy
Director, Forest Investments
The Conservation Fund

Matt Purdy serves as the Director of Forest Investments at The Conservation Fund. In this role, Matt leads the marketing and development of investment opportunities for mission-aligned partners to work with the Working Forest Fund®, a unique and proven model for the permanent conservation of U.S. working forests that balances climate, natural and local economic benefits.

Matt brings over a decade of experience from the timberland investment space where he held a variety of roles as a forester, analyst and portfolio manager for large institutional investors. Prior to joining The Conservation Fund, Matt was the Impact and Sustainability Director at Campbell Global, a leading forest investment company. He holds a Master of Business Administration from Oregon State University, a Master of Science in Geography from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Bachelor of Arts in Geography from the University of Florida.

Bob Saul
Owner, Shearwell
Senior Advisor, Fiera Comox

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 co-founded Alder Point Capital Management in 2022 to invest in impact-oriented U.S. farmland and timberland assets. Prior to Alder Point, Spenser served as Director of Finance & Business Development for Heartwood Biomass, a small forest products manufacturing business in Northeastern Oregon, working at the intersection forest restoration, wildfire mitigation, and rural economic resilience. Spenser previously held the role of Senior Vice President, Real Assets at New Island Capital Management, a large single-family office in San Francisco, where he led both capital deployment and asset management for U.S. timberland, farmland, and environmental markets investments. In earlier roles, Spenser contributed to World Wildlife Fund’s climate change work with Fortune 500s and to USAID projects in Africa.  Spenser earned his MBA and Master of Forestry degrees from Yale University, and his B.A. summa cum laude in International Political Economy from Colorado College. He lives near his roots on a small former dairy farm in Wallowa, Oregon.

Christina Sheffey
Executive Creative Director
Bully Pulpit International

Christina Sheffey is the Executive Creative Director at Bully Pulpit International (BPI), where her pioneering approach to digital creative advertising has helped candidates to office; improve the reputation of under-siege organizations; and change the conversation around mental health and addiction. 

Christina couples broad expertise in creative strategy with her ability to develop effective and stand-out advertising. Her work has helped propel candidates like Jerry Brown, Raphael Warnock and Catherine Cortez-Masto to victory; registered over 100,000 first-time voters; and helped pass numerous ballot initiatives across a variety of states and issues. She has also led campaign efforts for Working Forest Initiative, Walmart, McDonald’s, and Disney, among others. 

Christina was recently recognized by the American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC) as a 40 Under 40 and by Campaigns and Elections with the Rising Star award. Her work has been recognized by the OneShow, PRWeek, the Webbys, the Anthems, New York Times, Washington Post and Rolling Stone Magazine.

 Christina earned her degree in Political Communications from GWU and lives in San Francisco with her husband and adorable puppy.

Brendan Slui
Senior Vice President, Forest Resources
Rayonier

Brendan was appointed Senior Vice President, Forest Resources in May 2023 and oversees Rayonier’s U.S. and New Zealand forestry operations. He joined Rayonier in 1999 as a Senior Forester based in Wanganui, New Zealand, and has held numerous roles of increasing responsibility. From 2003 to 2014 he was a Regional Manager responsible for the regional forestry operations in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. In September 2014, after a 6-month assignment with Rayonier in the U.S. as Regional Director for Gulf States, he was promoted to Operations Director, based in Auckland, New Zealand, and was responsible for Matariki Forests timberlands activities and programs. In 2018, he was promoted to Managing Director of Rayonier New Zealand where he was responsible for leading Rayonier New Zealand in the management of the Matariki Forests estate.

Brendan holds a Bachelor of Forestry Science (Hons) from the University of Canterbury.

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
EFM Investments & Advisory

Amrita Vatsal is a Managing Director with EFM. She joined the firm in 2011 to lead the creation of impact investment vehicles that aim accelerate the adoption of climate-smart forestry across the United States. She is a member of EFM’s executive management team and investment committees. In this role, she shapes the company’s growth by managing new product development, investor engagement and advisory relationships. She supports investment due diligence and portfolio management, with a special focus on carbon markets and natural climate solutions (NCS) investments.  Prior to EFM, Amrita worked with Pricewaterhouse Coopers, where she began her career in Singapore. She has also worked for a venture debt Fund in West Africa (E+CO) and a clean tech investment bank in Minneapolis (Piper Jaffrey). Her love for forests began during a stint in Indonesia where she worked for the Katingan Project, a 200,000 hectare REDD+ project. 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

Bettina von Hagen is co-founder and 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.

David Walters
Vice President, Acquisitions and Business Development
Green Diamond Resource Company

David is Vice-President of Acquisitions and Business Development for Green Diamond.  Green Diamond is a Fifth-Generation private timber company with approximately 2.3 million acres owned and/or managed in the continental United States.  David leads a group responsible for forestland and other real estate transactions, conservation easements, forest carbon offset projects, renewable energy opportunities, and a variety of other initiatives.  His background is in forest biometrics with degrees from Oregon State, Virginia Tech, and the University of Minnesota.  Prior to coming to Green Diamond in 2019, he worked for Pope Resources, LandVest, Roseburg Forest Products, and the University of Minnesota in a variety of roles. 

Angela Wells
Senior Director, Community and Sustained Engagement
American Forest Foundation

Angela Wells is the Senior Director of Community and Sustained Engagement at the American Forest Foundation, a national conservation organization whose mission is to deliver meaningful conservation impact through the empowerment of family forest owners. She has over 20 years of experience leading and managing programs to support small forest and farm owners and their stewardship objectives, including work to expand their access to new revenue streams generated through delivery of sustainability and ecosystem services. Angela holds a masters degree from Oregon State University in Forest Resource Management and bachelors degrees in Forest Ecology and Community and Environmental Planning from the University of Washington.