CANOPY ’25 Speakers
Below are the bios of the confirmed speakers for the 2025 CANOPY: Forests + Markets + Society conference at World Forestry Center.
David Anderson
Partner
Natural Resource Results
A lifetime conservationist, David founded Natural Resource Results in 2007 where he works with municipalities, companies, non-profit conservation organizations and sportsmen groups on natural resources issues.
Prior to moving back to the private sector in 2007, David served as the Associate Director for Natural Resource, Energy, and Science for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) where he developed budgets for 8 federal organizations, including the EPA and the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior. At OMB, he worked with Congress to develop the Conservation Title in the 2007 Farm Bill, among other issues.
Prior to OMB, in 2005, David assumed the role Senior Policy Advisor to the Secretary of Commerce with responsibility for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) portfolio. From August 2001 to May 2005, David was the Associate Director for Natural Resources for the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
Prior to government service, David was the Senior Council and Director of Federal Affairs for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and also was a Partner with the law firm Wiley, Rein & Fielding in Washington, DC. David has a JD from Harvard Law School and a BS from Duke University.
Estakio Beltran
Partnerships Advisor (IPA), Office of Strategic Partnerships
Office of the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior
His extensive public policy experience, including impactful work at the local, state, and federal level, has been instrumental in co-creating community-centered strategies that enhance economic vitality across Tribal Nations and rural landscapes.
Ross Bernet
Program Manager, Carbon Removal
Microsoft
Ross Bernet is a Carbon Removal Buyer on Microsoft’s Carbon Removal Team, where he leads diligence and negotiates offtake deals for high-quality credits from reforestation and Improved Forest Management (IFM) projects. In 2025 he led two IFM-based offtake agreements for Microsoft. Before Microsoft, Ross worked across the non-profit and private sectors at the intersection of nature and technology. He holds a Master’s in Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, where he focused on remote sensing and geospatial technology. His current focus is shaping the voluntary carbon market to channel funding toward high-quality Nature-Based Projects, with a particular interest in scaling IFM to support timberland owners, local environments, and the climate.
Connie Best
Co-Founder and Senior Strategic Advisor
Pacific Forest Trust
Connie Best is co-founder of Pacific Trust and is currently serving as Senior Strategic Advisor. Prior to PFT, Connie transformed what we drink by creating and marketing America’s first all-natural soda, leading to an explosion in healthy beverage choices. That same entrepreneurial vision and grit has helped PFT make major impacts for forests by marrying conservation and commerce to bring added value for stewardship for climate, biodiversity and water security. When she isn’t working with forest owners and rural communities, she’s “forest bathing” in the old growth red fir stands of Mt. Shasta with her vizsla and family.
Tabi Bolton
Area Supervisor
Campbell Global, a J.P. Morgan Company
Tabi is the Area Supervisor for Campbell Global in Flagstaff, Arizona. He manages forest operations under The Nature Conservancy’s Master Stewardship Agreement with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). The treatments being implemented in Arizona were developed by the Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI) collaborative and are designed to reduce catastrophic forest fires while protecting wildlife and considering values important to the 4FRI collaborative. The USFS honored Tabi for his contributions with the “4FRI Modernization and Efficiencies” award in 2019. He was also part of the team that received the “2019 Outstanding Conservation Achievement Award” from The Nature Conservancy in Arizona. Additionally, Tabi was the recipient of the “2023 Operator Award” from the Council on Forest Engineering.
Tabi is a California Registered Professional Forester and has deep experience in Fish and Wildlife Biology, Botany, Forest Certification (FSC & SFI), Safe Harbor agreements, land use agreements, and long-term planning. He also has extensive training in facilitation, archaeology, tribal relations, protocols for botanical surveys, and negotiating effective environmental agreements. Tabi has experience in working cooperatively with various entities including federal, state (CA, WA, AZ), county, city, NGOs, industrial, tribal, and private organizations.
Robert Bonnie
Distinguished Scholar, Stone Center for Environmental Stewardship
University of California, Berkeley
Robert Bonnie is a Distinguished Scholar at the Stone Center for Environmental Stewardship at University of California, Berkeley. Prior to that, Bonnie was Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation at the US Department of Agriculture and oversaw farm, climate and conservation programs. From 2017-2020, Bonnie was at Duke University as a Rubenstein Fellow working on conservation and environmental issues in rural America. Bonnie was Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment at USDA from 2013 to 2017. Prior to joining USDA, Robert was vice president for land conservation at Environmental Defense Fund where he focused on developing incentives to reward stewardship on private lands. Robert lives with his wife, Julie in Loudoun County, Virginia.
Dr. Letty Brown
Director, Forest Science
Carbon Direct
Dr. Brown holds cross-sector expertise in ecosystem restoration, vegetation ecology, conservation planning, carbon measurement, and natural climate solutions. Before joining Carbon Direct, she worked extensively in natural resources management, and led research teams in a variety of capacities, including mapping and helping designate conservation targets in the northern Brazilian Atlantic Forest and developing oak woodland restoration plans in coastal California. She has worked on land-based carbon projects in the forests of Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Cambodia, Indonesia, Kenya, Tanzania and the United States.
Dr. Brown holds a Ph.D. from the Environmental Science, Policy, and Management (ESPM) Department at UC Berkeley and conducted post-doctoral work in Brazil. Her graduate work was supported by a 5-year grant from the USDA-Forest Service. Dr. Brown currently teaches at UC Berkeley. She is also a Fulbright Scholar.
MaryKate Bullen
Managing Director, Head of Business Development and Sustainability
Forest Investment Associates
MaryKate Bullen leads FIA’s Business Development and Sustainability Team, responsible for the firm’s business development functions, including capital raising, product development, institutional market engagement, and strategic communications and marketing as well as FIA’s sustainability and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) programs. MaryKate is a member of the Executive and Investment Committees and is Chair of the ESG Committee. She was previously Director of Sustainability and ESG for FIA from 2021 through 2023, during which time she developed and implemented a strategic roadmap for FIA’s sustainability programs and led the collaborative publication of FIA’s ESG Principles.
Bodie Cabiyo
Director, Interdisciplinary Science
Carbon Direct
Dr. Cabiyo uses interdisciplinary approaches to investigate nature-based solutions to climate change. He completed his PhD in the Energy and Resources Group at UC Berkeley, where he studied how policy and innovative technology can enable carbon-beneficial forest management. His academic work bridges industrial ecology, forest economics, and forest ecology. It has been published in top-tier academic journals, including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and Environmental Research Letters. Dr. Cabiyo also holds an academic appointment as a Research Scientist at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment in the Doerr School of Sustainability.
Dr. Cabiyo’s work at Carbon Direct has focused on publishing methods, guidelines, and insights for the emerging CDR industry. He believes that guidance like the Criteria for High-Quality CDR and A Buyer’s Guide to Sustainable Biomass Sourcing for CDR can help a nascent industry avoid pitfalls before durable policy frameworks are established. He is particularly dedicated to safeguarding the development of the biomass-based CDR industry, which is simultaneously one of the most promising and most fraught climate solutions.
Caitlin Clarke
Director of Policy and External Affairs
BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group
Caitlin leads TIG’s work on policy initiatives focused on the role of responsible forestry in delivering positive outcomes for people and nature. She is responsible for managing the firm’s participation in external standard-setting processes and related forums and advising on environmental policy and performance. Caitlin previously worked as a senior fellow at The Nature Conservancy, working on the development and delivery of nature-based solutions strategies. Prior to TNC she led Western Hemisphere operations for Singapore-based consulting, auditing, and technology firm Double Helix Tracking Technologies. In that role and prior to it at the World Resources Institute, she developed technology and strategy in public-private partnerships to address illegal logging and associated trade. She has served as a technical expert on a number of working groups and advisory committees related to land use, carbon accounting, forest management, forest certification, and deforestation-related commodity sourcing.
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 oversight. Carter found his way to Chinook through a path of timberland investment experiences that took form when he 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.
Carter previously worked in positions that afforded him unique insights into the world of timberland investment, 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 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.
Eric Cooperström
Managing Director, Impact Investing and Natural Climate Solutions
Manulife Investment Management, Timberland and Agriculture
Eric Cooperström, Managing Director, Impact Investing and Natural Climate Solutions, is responsible for developing timberland and agriculture products that deliver on Manulife Investment Management’s sustainability and responsible investing priorities. In this role, he leads Manulife IM’s forest carbon and climate investment strategy, supports new business development and provides market intelligence and leadership. Prior to joining Manulife IM in 2021, Eric was a Senior Director with NatureVest, the impact investing arm of The Nature Conservancy, where he led asset management and led investment committee review of new transactions. Before joining TNC in 2016, Eric was a Principal with The Skoll Foundation, a private foundation focused on social entrepreneurship, where he led program related and follow-on investments. Eric holds an MA in International Economics and International Relations from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University and a BS in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Prab Dahal
Vice President, Transactions
Eastwood Forests
Prab has over 17 years of experience in forestland operations and forestland investment management in all major forestry investment regions globally. As Vice President of Transactions, Prab is responsible for leading acquisition and disposition of forestlands for Eastwood Forests. Prior to Eastwood, Prab was the Director of Valuation at Manulife Investment Management responsible for the valuation of acquisition and disposition projects, management of the third-party appraisal program, and review and approval of management plans. Prab started his industry career at Temple Inland as Decision Support Analyst, later transitioning to the Campbell Group prior to joining Hancock Forest Management (now Manulife) as a Resource Planning Manager.
Prab holds a BS degree in Agriculture from the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Sciences in Nepal, MS in Forest Economics and Policy from the University of Arkansas, and MBA in Finance from Wake Forest University, North Carolina.
Stephen Eddins
Managing Director, Technical Services
American Forest Management
Stephen has over 20 years of experience serving in various technological roles at American Forest Management (AFM). He oversees four service lines: Data Management, GIS/Technology, Information Technology, and Systems Development. He currently serves on AFM’s Management Committee and Board of Directors.
He began his career working in AFM’s data management group. This afforded him opportunities to collaborate with many clients, colleagues, field service providers and software vendors to customize solutions based on client needs. These experiences laid a strong foundation for his expertise in data-driven, client-focused solutions.
Stephen earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry and his Master of Science degree in Forestry with an emphasis on GIS/GPS from Clemson University. He lives in Charlotte, NC, with his wife and two sons.
Robert Flynn
International Timberland and Wood Products Advisor
Robert Flynn has spent more than 45 years in the forest products industry, including 10 years as a forester in Roseburg and 35+ years consulting on international trade of woodchips, logs and other forest products, timber supply and demand issues and global timberland investment. He has authored numerous multiclient studies on such topics as, a global study of plantation forestry economics, a database of global private forest ownership, international trade in woodchips, and many studies on the forest resources and industry of China, Latin America, India, Southeast Asia and Russia. Robert retired as Director, International Timber, for Fastmarkets RISI in October 2019, and continues to work on selected projects for various international clients, primarily having to do with the international woodchip markets. He continues to speak at international conferences, including presentations in Singapore, New York City and Vancouver over the past year.
Tom Fox
Vice President, Productivity and Sustainability
Rayonier
Tom Fox is Vice-President at Rayonier. He coordinates Rayonier’s’ research and technology transfer programs in silviculture and tree improvement. Prior to joining Rayonier, Tom was the Honorable Garland Gray Distinguished Professor of Forestry at Virginia Tech. He was also the Co-Director of the Forest Productivity Cooperative and the Site Director for the NSF Center for Advanced Forestry Systems. Dr. Fox was a Fulbright Scholar at Pontificia Universdad Catolica de Chile in Santiago, Chile. Tom received a B.S. in Forestry and a Certificate of Advanced Study in Pulp and Paper Science from the University of Maine, a M.S. in Forest Soils from Virginia Tech and a Ph.D. in Soil Science from the University of Florida. He is a Registered Professional Forester in Georgia and a SAF Certified Forester. He received the Stephen Spurr Award for Research and the Barrington Moore Award for Research from the Society of American Foresters. He served on the Board of Directors for the Virginia Forestry Association, NCASI Foundation, and SAF. He is a Fellow in the Soil Science Society of America and the Society of American Foresters.
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.
Andrew Gobin
Treaty Rights Manager
Tulalip Tribes
A lifelong resident of the Tulalip Indian reservation, Andrew was raised in the traditions of his people. The teachings and values instilled since birth have guided him in his work to protect the rights and resources of his people and for future generations – ensuring the continuation of his culture. Currently Andrew is the Treaty Rights Manager for the Tulalip Tribes where he and his team work to protect the inherent rights reserved by his people through the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott – the right of taking fish at all usual and accustomed places, and to hunt and gather on open and unclaimed land. Co-management is a key element of treaty rights as a unique authority held by treaty tribes. Through work in treaty rights, Andrew brings tribal sovereignty to the fore as he works to incorporate traditional knowledge and management into modern plans and strategies in order to protect and preserve the natural resources across the lands and waters.
Julia Kertz Grant
Director of Policy, Partnerships and Sustainability
Green Diamond Resource Company
Julia has over twenty years of experience leading environmental, business, and community initiatives across the West. She excels at fostering collaboration among diverse and unlikely partners for lasting results. At Green Diamond Resource Company, she heads the public affairs team, focusing on natural resource policy, stakeholder relations, forest certification, community giving, and sustainability strategy. Before joining Green Diamond, she served in leadership capacities with Manulife Timberland and Agriculture, Micron Technology, and the City of Boise. Additionally, she has co-founded several initiatives including the Idaho Coalition of Land Trusts, the Boise River Wildlife Linkage Project, and, most recently, the Boise Nice Project. Julia holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Missouri, a dual master’s in forestry and environmental management from Duke University and a badge from Boise State University’s Venture College (entrepreneurial program). She, her husband and their four “free range” children have called Idaho home for 25 years.
Bettina von Hagen
Founder and CEO
EFM Investments & Advisory
Bettina helped launch EFM and joined the company as CEO in 2008. Bettina has spent the past 30 years working to promote economic viability, social equity, and environmental health in the Pacific Northwest with a particular focus on forestry. A former vice president of Ecotrust’s Natural Capital Fund and commercial banker, Bettina has over 30 years of experience in banking, impact investing, and fund management. She also has significant expertise in ecosystem service markets, particularly the forest carbon market, where she is involved in developing protocols for forest carbon projects at the state and federal levels. Previously, Bettina was Vice President at Ecotrust for forestry programs and for the Natural Capital Fund, a fund which invests in key businesses and initiatives in the conservation economy. Prior to joining Ecotrust in 1993, she was a vice president and commercial lender at First Interstate Bank of Oregon. Bettina has an MBA from the University of Chicago.
Troy Harris
Managing Director, Timberland and Innovative Wood Products
Jamestown
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.
Aleksandra Holmlund
CEO
Qarlbo Biodiversity
Based in Stockholm, Aleksandra Holmlund is CEO of Qarlbo Biodiversity, a nature-positive forestry investment firm backed by the family office of Conni Jonsson (EQT).
A forester by training with more than 30 years of experience managing timberland across Europe and the Americas, Aleksandra leads Qarlbo’s investment strategy and the deployment of its Nature+® Forest Management framework—an approach that integrates sustainable wood production with biodiversity regeneration and carbon sequestration.
She played a key role in developing the methodology behind the Global Biocredit Standard, which underpins the first voluntary biodiversity credit transactions in Europe and the U.S. Aleksandra began her career in forestry operations, later holding senior roles at GreenGold and IKEA Group, and continues to serve as a Task Force member of the UN-affiliated Biodiversity Credit Alliance.
She holds degrees an MSc in forestry and a Licentiate of philosophy from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and an MBA from the Stockholm School of Economics.
Jeremy Hunt
Forest Management Inventory and Planning Forester
Colville Confederated Tribes
Jeremy has over twenty years of experience in forestry operations, most of that time in Indian Country. He has several degrees, including an Associates of Science from Northwest College, Powell Wyoming, Bachelor’s Degree in Forest Resources from the University of Idaho, and a Masters of Natural Resources from Utah State University.
Jeremy started his career with the Forest Service in Wyoming as a presales technician in 1998. Since that time he has worked in a variety of positions including wildland fire with the Forest Service in New Mexico, presales technician and silviculture and planning forester for the Colville Tribe, Forest Planner for the BLM in Western Oregon, Silviculture and Planning for the Colville Agency BIA and most recently as the Inventory and Planning Forester for the Northwest Region Bureau of Indian Affairs. He has extensive experience in timber sales, silviculture and forest inventory. He is also active in wildland fire.
In his spare time, Jeremy snowboards, rock climbs, plays guitar, fishes, hangs out on his ski boat and spends time with his family.
Paul Jannke
Principal, Lumber
Forest Economic Advisors
Paul Jannke is a founder and Principal of Forest Economic Advisors LLC, the premier source for North American wood products analysis and information.
Paul’s main area of expertise is North American lumber markets. Having spent more than 30 years’ analyzing lumber markets and providing reliable, insightful forecasts, Paul is the industry’s top economic analyst.
Paul is the author of FEA’s Lumber Advisor, Lumber Quarterly Forecasting Service, and Global Log and Lumber Service publications. These publications are the industry’s leading sources for ongoing forecasts and analysis of the Global and North American lumber markets. In addition, Paul has co-authored numerous studies on the international lumber, engineered lumber, timber, bioenergy, and panel industries.
Paul has presented at many international conferences on the markets for lumber, engineered wood products and structural panels and he is recognized as a leading expert in these areas.
Trip Jobe
Vice President of Sales, Forest Value Chain, North America
ResourceWise
As ResourceWise’s VP Sales, Forest Value Chain, Trip helps clients in the Forest Value Chain maximize their growth and strategic objectives through our market intelligence platforms and consulting practice. These capabilities enable us to assist clients in the timber, pulp, paper and packaging markets in making both daily operational and longer-term strategic investment decisions.
Trip leads our North American team’s focus on the growing market opportunities within the forest products sector. Throughout his career, he has led breakthrough sustainability initiatives including early adoption of FSC certification, Green Energy and decarbonization programs. He is a frequent speaker at industry events such as TappiCon, Tissue World, Sustainable Aviation Conference and International Biomass Conferences.
Prior to joining ResourceWise, Trip was the Chief Commercial Officer for Rand Inc., a strategic marketing and analytics firm. He began his 25-year forest products career at International Paper, before joining Kimberly-Clark. Trip was leading the Marketing organization when Neenah Paper was spun-off from KCC. He helped drive growth and reshape the Fine and Technical Products businesses over the next 9 years through various acquisitions, deals and new market entries.
Charlotte Kaiser
Head, 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.
Alexia Kelly
Managing Director, Carbon Policy and Markets Initiative
Hightide Foundation
Alexia Kelly has worked for more than 18 years at the intersection of policy and finance to address the climate crisis. Alexia is the Managing Director of the Carbon Policy and Markets Initiative (CPMI) at High Tide Foundation. The CPMI accelerates ambitious climate action and capital mobilization through robust rules and guidance for voluntary corporate action and disclosures, and building the next generation of high-integrity carbon and environmental services markets. She currently serves on the Board of the Integrity Council for Voluntary Carbon Markets (IC VCM) and the Board of the Advanced and Indirect Mitigation Initiative, as well as on the Expert Advisory Group of the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI).
Prior to joining High Tide Foundation, she served as Director of Net Zero + Nature at Netflix, where she led the company’s inaugural greenhouse gas inventory, renewable energy strategy, Science Based Target and global carbon credit portfolio. Previously, she worked at the U.S. Department of State, where she served as lead negotiator to the UNFCCC on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. She has also held senior roles at the World Resources Institute, The David and Lucille Packard Foundation, The Climate Trust, and in private equity.
Ryota Kosugi
Consul
Economy, Culture and Sister City Exchange Consulate-General of Japan in Seattle
Ryota Kosugi is a Consul at the Consulate-General of Japan in Seattle. He began his career at the Forestry Agency of Japan in 2015, where he was responsible for managing the government’s forestry budget, introducing advanced “smart forestry” practices, and representing Japan at the 18th session of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF18) held in 2023. He also managed national forests in the Shikoku region of southern Japan for three years. He was posted to Seattle in 2024 as a diplomat with Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He holds a master’s degree forest resources from Hokkaido University.
Greg Latta
Research Associate Professor, Forest Economics and Director, Policy Analysis Group
University of Idaho
Dr. Latta is a Research Associate Professor of Forest Economics and Director of the Policy Analysis Group at the University of Idaho. Dr. Latta’s research focuses on the application of economic optimization models for policy analysis, with extensive experience in the forestry, land use, bioenergy, and climate policy domains. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara, a master’s degree in forest resources from Oregon State University and a Ph.D. in forest and resource economics from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences.
Stephen Levesque
Managing Director, 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.
Shauna Matkovich
Founding Director
The ForestLink
Shauna Matkovich is a Forester and sustainability expert with more than 20 years working in sustainable forest management, forest investment management, business development and ESG and impact management. Shauna is the Founding Director of The ForestLink, a consultancy and advisor – helping timberland investment managers and those new to the asset class to roll out ESG and impact integrated forest investment strategies. She is passionate about the power of private investment to improve forest management and develop sustainable forest industries in tropical forest geographies and to challenge the status quo in developed markets. Shauna has a double Master of Science in Tropical Forest Management and Agricultural Development from the University of Copenhagen, and a Bachelor of Science in Forestry from the University of British Columbia. Learn more about The ForestLink. Shauna is also the host of the Forest Invest Podcast.
Peter McHale
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
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 two early stage autonomous vehicle startups, Argo AI and May Mobility, both of which grew to be worth over $1B. 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, while scaling the data needed to access new forestry markets.
Greg Meade
Director, Cumberland Forest Project
The Nature Conservancy
Greg Meade directs the 253,000-acre Cumberland Forest Project in Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Greg provides oversite to the operations, protection efforts, financial returns, and community programs. Greg joined TNC in 2007 and previously held the Clinch Valley Conservation Forestry Program Director position. He brings over 30 years of professional forestry experience across private industry, state government and non-profit sector. Greg has been involved in the forest carbon space since 2012 and led the development and marketing of The Nature Conservancy’s first U.S. based Improved Forest Management projects, that would go onto become the organizations first regulatory forest carbon projects registered in California’s Cap and Trade program. Greg serves on The Nature Conservancy’s Carbon Project Review Committee, and was a key contributor to the internal carbon standards policy. Greg holds a B.S. and M.S. in Forestry from Virginia Tech and the Certified Forester designation from the Society of American Foresters.
Gary Myers
Principal
Timberlink
Gary, along with his partner Tracy Evens, owns TimberLink LLC. His firm has served a diverse group of clients in North America, Europe, and the Southern Hemisphere since 2002, collectively representing over US$10 billion committed to global timber investments. As an experienced advisor to institutional investors, Gary brings a unique and conflict-free perspective to the complexities of the asset class. In short, his firm’s primary goal is to help investors achieve their timberland investment objectives through independent advice.
Focus areas include forestry operations and marketing, portfolio risk assessments, acquisitions and joint ventures, conservation easements, wood supply agreements, wood products manufacturing, and valuation reviews. Gary has nearly 30 years of experience in key positions with integrated forest products corporations such as Georgia Pacific, Weyerhaeuser, and Jefferson-Smurfit where he developed a philosophy that timberland’s value proposition is best understood as a stand alone enterprise. Gary has served institutional investors through TimberLink for the past 20 years. He earned a Master’s Degree in Forestry from Duke University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Finance from Stetson University.
Toshiro Nishioka
Senior Expert Advsior, Business Development & Advisory Department
Japan Real Estate Institute
Toshiro Nishioka is Senior Expert Advisor, Business Development & Advisory Department, Japan Real Estate Institute (JREI). Toshiro is responsible for developing their research and consulting business for the agriculture, timber and infrastructure markets. He re-joined JREI in July 2017 from the Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Research Institute where he has provided a research service on the Japanese real estate investment markets as well as the timber investment markets with the asset managers, the investors and the banks. Prior to this, he worked for Investment Property Databank (currently MSCI) as Managing Director of its operation in Japan to establish the IPD Japan Property Index and the benchmarking service. His work career started at JREI in 1988. He has Master degrees from University of Reading and Tokyo Metropolitan University and is a Certified Real Estate Appraiser.
Thiago Picolo
Chief Executive Officer
Re.Green
Thiago is CEO of re.green, Brazil’s leading ecological restoration company, and has led multiple private-equity backed companies in Brazil. Previously served as CEO of Hortifruti Natural da Terra, Brazil´s largest fresh food retailer, Grupo Technos, the country’s largest watch manufacturer, and Submarino Finance, an early fintech directed towards consumer finance. Thiago started his carreer in finance, at Morgan Stanley and GP Investimentos, and holds a B.A. in Economics from Harvard University and OPM from Harvard Business School.
Phil Rigdon
Superintendent of Natural Resources Department
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation
Phil Rigdon is an enrolled member of the Yakama Nation and grew up on the Yakama Reservation in Southcentral Washington State. Phil has been the Superintendent of Yakama Nation’s Natural Resources Department since May 2005 and has worked for the Tribe since June 1989. He represents the Yakama Nation on the Intertribal Timber Council (ITC), Yakima Basin Integrated Plan Executive Committee, the Washington State’s Columbia River Policy Advisory Group, Sustainable Forest Initiative Board of Directors, the University of Washington EarthLab, Hanford Natural Resource Trustee Council, and is currently serving on the Yale School of Environment Alumni Board. Phil is the Vice-President of ITC and also served as President of for five years. Phil obtained a BS in Forest Management from the University of Washington in 1996 and a Master of Forestry from Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in 2002.
Joe Sambataro
Conservation Advisor, Natural and Cultural Resources Department
Tulalip Tribes
At the Tulalip Tribes of Washington, Joe Sambataro serves as Conservation Advisor in the Restoration, Acquisition, and Stewardship Program of the Natural and Cultural Resources Department. As a seasoned professional with 20 years of experience in conservation transactions and financing, Joe manages acquisitions of forestland and floodplain to protect Treaty-retained resources. In the last two years, we employed $10M in grant funds to conserve 568 acres of floodplain and estuary lands, and I had the privilege of managing the acquisition process of Project Skyline: bəlkʷtxʷ ti swatixʷtəd (Return the Land), securing 17,790 acres of forestland for future generations of the Tulalip Tribes. On and off reservation, Tulalip now owns and manages approximately 29,000 acres of forest land for timber harvest, fish and wildlife, tribal member access, cultural uses, and carbon sequestration.
Shannon Smith
Chief Commercial Officer
Chestnut Carbon
Shannon Smith is Chestnut Carbon’s Chief Commercial Officer. She leads the commercial organization responsible for all GTM activities including credit sales, landowner enrollment and content development, for the Chestnut brand as well as their forest conservation membership program Forest Carbon Works. She brings 20 years of experience leading sales and marketing across a variety of industries including clean tech, fin tech and consumer goods. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from the Kellog Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. She currently resides in NYC.
Geoff Staneff
Vice President, Products and Systems
Earth Force Technologies
Dr. Staneff leads Product and Operations at Earth Force Technologies, a forestry startup providing technology to support project execution and the administration of large-scale forestry projects. Earth Force equips harvesting and mastication machines with operator guidance based on real-time sensing capabilities that support virtual boundaries, bulk prescription measurement, and shortens the feedback loop between execution and approval – helping operators quickly correct mistakes and stakeholders avoid discovering incidents after several months and hundreds of acres are impacted. Machine collected proof of work builds trust across stakeholders and reduces uncertainty for operators by showing the work as it is done reducing the QA burden that often delays approval and invoicing. This has the potential to dramatically change project workflows and makes clear and obvious what opportunities exist to achieve better outcomes through the course of the project.
Geoff has a BSc in Ceramic Engineering from the University of Washington, a PhD in Materials Science from the California Institute of Technology, and 20-years in software development, large scale data systems, and Industrial IoT spread between Microsoft and early stage Greentech startups.
Rebecca Strange
Head, Project Management
Skylab
Rebecca Strange originally comes from Oxford in England, but works for the Germans and has been living in Italy for the past 18 years. She speaks five languages fluently and is Head of Project Management at SKYLAB, bringing the benefits of remote-sensing and AI to forestry companies around the world. She has three children with her Italian husband, and her biggest passion is the sport of Parkour!
Her career path was not a typical one. She holds a university degree in foreign languages, but has always worked in technical companies, with most of her career being spent in the carbon-reduction sector, starting in the chemical industry and moving into forestry. From there she focussed on remote-sensing in a forestry context and has been working at SKYLAB for 9 years.
Eric Sweet
Director of Wildfire and Fuels
Sierra Pacific Industries
Eric Sweet is the Director of Wildfire and Fuels at Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) based in Anderson, CA. He has over 21 years of experience with forest management and fire on industrial timberlands in California, 18 of those with SPI. Eric received his Bachelor’s Degree in Forestry from the University of Montana in 2003 and began his forestry career in California in 2004. In 2007 he achieved his Registered Professional Forester license and worked preparing and administering harvesting operations and conducting thousands of acres of control burns a year. He moved on to manage a timberland district of 150,000 acres in 2015 and then then as a Regional Timberland Manager in 2023 where he oversaw the management of 400,000 acres of SPI’s California timberland. In 2022, SPI created a Director of Wildfire and Fuels position to aid in the protection of the timberland assets from catastrophic wildfire. For the past two fire seasons, Eric has served in this role for SPI, where he assists SPI’s timberland managers in California, Oregon and Washington in fuels reduction and wildfire response. He is currently managing multiple Forest Service Agreements to jointly construct cross-boundary fuel breaks on Forest Service lands.
Dave Tenny
President and Chief Executive Officer
National Alliance of Forest Owners
Dave Tenny is the founding President and CEO of NAFO, where he expanded the organization from 14 members in 2008 to 48 companies managing 46 million acres of private forests. Under his leadership, NAFO has become a leading advocate for sustainable forestry policies. Previously, Dave was Vice President for Forestry and Wood Products at the American Forest and Paper Association and Deputy Undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment at the USDA. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University and a law degree from George Washington University.
Paul Young
Chief Executive Officer
Conservation Resources
Paul is CEO and Co-Founder of Conservation Resources, an impact real asset group focused on timberland, agricultural, and associated value chain investments. Paul started his career in the space in 1995 with the Hancock Timber Resources Group and then Prudential Timber Investments, before co-founding CR in 2004. Paul serves on a number of boards and committees in the industry. He loves hanging with his family and friends, coaching soccer, playing guitar, and occasionally having a beer or two.