William 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. The book is to be published in 2023 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.
Marisa Bocci
Partner
K&L Gates
Marisa Bocci is a partner at K&L Gates LLP. She handles transactions involving the purchase, sale, leasing and financing of farmland, timberland and other natural resource assets. She also advises clients on corporate transactions and operational matters in the agribusiness sector. Many of her clients are family offices, pension funds, investment management organizations, and private equity firms. A significant number of her clients are involved in cross-border investment in U.S. farmland, timberland, and renewable energy assets; she advises on their AFIDA and state equivalent regulatory compliance. In addition, she also advises clients on agribusiness and real estate related policy matters. Marisa co-chairs the K&L Gates Agribusiness and Food/Beverage industry groups. She is on the board of directors of the American Agricultural Law Association. She is also on the Western Ag Industry Advisory Board for the National Agricultural Law Center
Theresa Bodner
Head of Nature-Based Solutions
Trove Research
Theresa Bodner is Trove’s Head of Nature-Based Solutions, covering established and emerging nature-based project types in the voluntary carbon market. She has in-depth knowledge of forest, soil and blue carbon, as well as corresponding methodologies, scientific research, and relevant market trends.
Theresa has obtained two MSc and a PhD in sustainable forest and nature management researching woodland expansion, agroforestry, and sustainable farming strategies. Prior to joining Theresa worked as a net-zero strategist for businesses, advising them on how to calculate, reduce and offset their carbon footprint. She also worked as a manager for a range of green tech related start-ups, as well as an interdisciplinary project by Max Planck Institute Germany to create content for a seminal new data visualisation software.
James Bullen
Senior Forestry Investment Manager
Climate Asset Management
James Bullen leads the Climate Asset Management global forestry investment program. James has over 25 years’ experience in investment and operational management of large-scale, certified forestry projects in developed and emerging economies. His background includes deep international experience through forestry operations and management roles in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Prior to leading the forestry practice at Climate Asset Management, James spent 13 years at New Forests Asset Management, where he held multiple regional director roles, including oversight of forestry businesses, assets, and carbon offset project portfolios. James has a Bachelor of Science in Forest Management from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.
MaryKate Bullen
Director of Sustainability & ESG
Forest Investment Associates
MaryKate Bullen leads Forest Investment Associates’ sustainability programs, identifying value creation opportunities for the company and its clients’ portfolios. MaryKate has specialized in sustainable forestry, conservation finance, and climate investments for 15 years with experience across North America, Australasia, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. MaryKate chairs FIA’s ESG Committee and is a member of its Investment Committee. She is active in industry developments for responsible investment in forestry and nature-based solutions, including serving on working groups and advisory roles related to carbon accounting, impact measurement, and private markets responsible investment. MaryKate currently serves on the steering committee of the Women’s Forest Congress and as an adviser to Upstream Tech. She has a bachelor’s degree in Anthropological Sciences and a master’s in Latin American Studies, both from Stanford University.
Caitlin Clarke
Director of Policy and External Affairs
BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group (TIG)
Caitlin represents TIG in civil society, multistakeholder, and industry initiatives focused on the role of responsible forestry in delivering climate-positive results. She is responsible for managing the firm’s participation in external standard-setting processes and related forums and advising on climate policy and performance. Caitlin previously worked as a senior fellow at The Nature Conservancy, working on the development and delivery of natural climate 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, certification, and deforestation-related commodity sourcing.
Phil Cottle
Head of Forestry
Specialty MGA UK
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 ‘Specialty MGA UK’. Phil has 35 years of 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 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. This review will be in terms of historic loss profile modelling and impact of climate scenario on success of the investment.
Jeffrey DeHaan
Vice President
Alliant Specialty
Jeff started his career in West Africa and then worked in the not for profit world as a development director and executive director for charitable organizations. In 1999, he made the jump to brokering insurance (had to pay tuition for a daughter and a son). Jeff concentrates on agribusiness and forest products insurance as a broker and consultant. Licensed in many states for property, casualty, health and life Insurance and licensed as a consultant. BA degree in Business and Psychology from Calvin University and an MS degree from the College of Agriculture, Michigan State University.
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.
Jennifer Garstka
Vice President of Timber and Agriculture
Devonshire Investors
Jennifer Garstka is the Vice President, Timber & Agriculture for Devonshire Investors, the private investment firm affiliated with Fidelity Investments. In this role, Jen maintains primary responsibility for new and existing investment opportunities in timber, agriculture and other land resources. Jen was previously Director of Portfolio Transactions for timberland investment management organization Forest Capital Partners, where she led the completion of more than $2 billion of timberland transactions and served on the firm’s senior management team overseeing investments in 2 million acres of sustainably management forestland. Jen holds an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Political Science from Yale University.
Victor Haley
Co-Head of Global Real Estate and Planning
Eversheds Sutherland
Victor Haley is co-head of Global Real Estate and Planning and leads the Eversheds Sutherland (US) Forestry & Climate Solutions group. He is recognized as a leading authority in timberland transactions, including acquisitions and dispositions, timberland financings, joint ventures, timber supply agreements and forestry carbon projects.
Victor was lead counsel representing the institutional buyers in the largest private land transaction ever, the acquisition of approximately five million acres of timberland from International Paper by a consortium of buyers. He also recently advised a joint venture of investors in one of the largest private forest carbon investments in US history, valued at approximately $1.8 billion.
Victor regularly handles transactions throughout the United States, the Americas, and around the globe, most recently in Brazil, Belize, Panama, Costa Rica, China, and Japan. Victor also sits on the Board of the World Forestry Center.
Ben Hesse
CFO for Asset and Wealth Management
JP Morgan
Benjamin (Ben) Hesse serves as the Chief Financial Officer and Head of Strategy & Business Development for J.P. Morgan’s Asset & wealth Management line of business. In this role, Ben is responsible for overseeing AWM’s financial reporting and planning,treasury office, business management, strategic initiatives, and
business development efforts. He is a member of the Asset & Wealth Management Operating Committee, the Asset Management Operating Committee, and the Global Private Bank Operating Committee.
Before being named Chief Financial Officer in May 2023, Ben held the role of AWM’s Chief Operating Officer. Previous to that, he was AWM’s Head of Strategy & Business Development. Earlier in his career at J.P. Morgan, he was a Portfolio Manager and Investment Team Head for the Global Alternatives business, where he specialized in the financial sector.
Prior to joining the firm in 2014, Ben spent nine years at Fidelity Management & Research in Boston, where he was a Portfolio Manager and Head of Global Financials Equity Research. At Fidelity, he managed a 15-person global research team and seven sector portfolios with more than $3 billion in assets. He also directed Fidelity’s overall positioning in global financials stocks. In this capacity, he represented one of J.P. Morgan’s largest institutional shareholders.
Ben is also very committed to JPMorgan’s Diversity & Inclusion efforts, serving as executive co-sponsor of the Hispanic Leadership Forum. He holds a Master of Business Administration from Columbia Business School, a Master of Economics from New York University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Finance from Michigan State University.
Vernon Hiott
Vice President of Business Development and Land Resources
Rayonier
Vernon Hiott is the Vice President of Business Development and Land Resources at Rayonier Inc., a pure-play timberland REIT owning more than 2.8 million acres in the U.S. and New Zealand with an annual sustainable yield of over 11 million tons. Vernon has over 18 years of experience in timberland management and currently leads a portfolio of businesses across Rayonier’s landbase including traditional non-timber income activities with a growing focus on Nature-Based Solutions. Additionally, Vernon leads the company’s log and chip export operations in the U.S. South and Pacific Northwest as well as developing strategic log and fiber supply arrangements for new and existing customers. Vernon holds a Bachelor of Science in Forestry from Clemson University and a Masters of Forest Economics from the University of Georgia
Tom Hoffmann
Senior Vice President of Building Materials Distribution
Boise Cascade
Tom joined Boise Cascade in 1981 and has held several leadership positions including Division Operations Manager, Pacific Region Manager, and Branch Manager. He was promoted to Vice President in 2016 and Senior Vice President in 2021. In his current role, he oversees the purchasing, transportation, and safety teams for the Company’s distribution division. Tom holds a bachelor’s degree in business with a dual major in management and marketing from the University of Idaho.
Andriy Hrytsyuk
Forestland Investments Manager
Ingka Group
Andriy Hrytsyuk is based in Leiden, the Netherlands and as the Forestland Investments Manager of Ingka Investments he leads Ingka Group investments in forestlands. On a day-to-day business, he leads the team that acquires new properties and manages the assets in a responsible way. The assignment is a great opportunity to work together with like-minded colleagues who share the same values, and utilize his financial and operational experience. Prior to joining Ingka Investments in 2014, Andriy worked four years in the Netherlands in the venture capital field focusing on biomass technologies, carbon trading, as well as spent six years at the largest plywood mill in Ukraine. He holds a hydraulic engineering degree and an MBA from Rotterdam School of Management, passed CFA exams.
Claire Huxtable
Paper & Forest Products Analyst
ERA Forest Products Research
Claire Huxtable is part of ERA’s equity research team, focused on North American paper and forest products producers. She previously worked in private equity with the Hancock Timber Resource Group, in Boston and Vancouver, Washington. Claire began her career with Western Forest Products on Vancouver Island. She holds an undergraduate degree in forestry from the University of British Columbia and Laval University, and an MBA from the University of British Columbia. She is a registered professional forester with the Association of British Columbia Forest Professionals and a CFA Charterholder.
Sameer Jinnah
Managing Director, Infrastructure & Renewable Resources
BCI
Sameer Jinnah is a Managing Director in the Infrastructure & Renewable Resources (“I&RR”) group with the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (“BCI”) in Victoria, BC Canada. BCI is one of Canada’s largest institutional investors and as of March 31, 2021 has more than C$233 billion in assets under management, C$22 billion of which is managed by the I&RR team. Sameer joined BCI in 2007 and is responsible for sourcing, executing and managing private investments in infrastructure with a focus on forestry, agriculture and infrastructure debt.
Sameer has over 15 years’ experience in finance and investments, including experience within infrastructure, renewable resources, private equity and private debt. Sameer holds an MBA from the Segal Graduate School of Business, a BBA from Wilfrid Laurier University, is a CFA charter holder, has completed the ICD Directors Education Program and completed executive training at INSEAD Business School.
Sameer presently serves on the boards of Caddo Sustainable Timberlands in the United States and Vista Hermosa in Chile and represents BCI on a number of Limited Partership Advisory Committees. Sameer has held past directorships at Mosaic Forest Corporation in Canada and Lumin in Uruguay.
Scott Jones
CEO
Forest Landowners Association
Scott Jones joined the Forest Landowners Association in 2003 and has a Bachelor of Science degree in forest resources from the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia and has been an SAF Certified Forester as well as a Georgia Registered Forester. Scott was recognized as a Distinguished Young Alumni of the Warnell School and was the first graduate of the program to receive the 40 under 40 award from the UGA Alumni Association. Scott brings a diverse background of forest land management, procurement, land ownership and advocacy at the state, national and international levels to FLA. Scott serves on the Standards Committee for the Sustainable Biomass Program based in Hamburg Germany and is a member of the Advisory Committee on Sustainable Forest-based Industries of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome Italy. With 20 years as the CEO of the Forest Landowners Association, Scott is well versed in advocating on issues of importance to private forest landowners that help them access markets and preserve property rights that will sustain the next generation of forest landowners.
Travis Joseph
President and CEO
American Forest Resource Council
Travis was born and raised in Springfield, Oregon but spent eight years in Washington D.C. working for the U.S. House of Representatives. He was a senior legislative aide to an Oregon congressman, a senior policy advisor on the House Natural Resources Committee, and the Director of Northwest Policy for the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
Travis returned to Oregon to pursue his passion for healthy public forestlands and creating economic opportunities in rural communities. As President and CEO, Travis manages the budget, staff, communications, government relations, and overall strategy of the Association.
Travis earned his bachelor degree in history and international studies from the University of Oregon and a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science in environment and development. When Travis is not in the office or traveling for work, he spends his time pursuing international adventures or exploring Oregon’s public lands. He tries to attend as many Oregon Ducks sporting events as possible (which is never enough).
Ben Kaiser
Owner and Principal
Kaiser Group and Path Architecture
Ben brings a unique perspective to urban development, informed by over 25 years of serving as the owner, developer, architect and general contractor on his projects.
Ben, and his team, were the first folks in the United States to start to work with mass-timber, at scale. The Carbon12 project, at 95′ tall, was the first building in the United States to break through the forever held 65′ height limit for wood buildings. This accomplishment has made mid to high-rise cross laminated timber buildings possible for the first time in the country.
His team has gone on to build precedent-setting office buildings, multifamily structures and now, together with the United States Forest Service, a mass-timber modular housing product, PathHouse, with the objective of solving our crushing housing deficit.
Karim Khalifa
Innovation Consultant
Designbox
Karim has spent his career in the design and construction world, most recently as the Director – Innovation Specialist for Buildings at Google. He has also led the global hotel innovation and design team at Marriott, where he launched the company’s first innovation lab/collaborative design space (The Underground). While at Marriott, he also led the LEED Volume Build program for hotels and launched Marriott’s global modular construction initiative.
Prior to joining Marriott, he managed Parsons Corporation’s South American engineering practice in Lima, Peru and earlier worked in Bechtel’s power and water resource group in the U.S. and overseas.
Karim served in the U.S. Peace Corps as the Western Regional engineer for The Honduran Ministry of Health working in sanitation and vaccine distribution. While he is not tinkering in his workshop, Karim can be found scoping out his next remote adventure.
Amanda Lang
Partner, COO and Vice President of Client Services, and Product Manager of Mill Capacity Database
Forisk Consulting
Amanda Lang is a Partner and, as COO and VP of Client Services, leads all of Forisk’s operating, project management and Forisk Subscriber Support activities. She leads Forisk’s forest industry capital investment research program and is the Product Manager for Forisk’s North American Forest Industry Capacity Database (Mill Database). She also teaches workshops and delivers presentations related to tracking and evaluating markets and forest industry capacity. Prior to working with Forisk, she interned with International Paper and conducted award-winning forestry operations research at the University of Georgia under Dr. Dale Greene. In 2016, she was named one of the UGA Alumni Association “Forty Under Forty”, and was named the Warnell “Young Alumni of the Year.” She serves on the Georgia Forestry Association Board of Directors. Ms. Lang received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Forest Resources from the University of Georgia.
Chris Larson
Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer
Alder Point Capital Management
Chris Larson is co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of Alder Point Capital Management LP. Alder Point Capital invests in farmland and timberland assets within select U.S. geographies where operational improvements drive financial performance alongside decarbonization, biodiversity, and rural prosperity outcomes. Chris is an investor and executive who has been managing impact investing portfolios since 2010, previously serving as Chief Investment Officer, CEO and Head of Real Assets at New Island Capital Management LLC. Earlier, Chris held investment research positions at Cambridge Associates and Imprint Capital. He was the Executive Director of the Mattole Restoration Council, a community-based watershed conservation NGO in rural northwestern California. He has an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a BS from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University. Chris, his wife and two small children live on and operate a small farm in northern California focused on organic vegetable and fruit production.
Stephen Logan
Chief Information Officer
F&W Forestry
Stephen Logan is responsible for F&W’s information technology and providing digital strategy for the company. In this role he oversees the continued advancement and integration of the company’s applications, data, infrastructure, and cybersecurity. With 25 years of experience in the quantitative and technical aspects of the forest consulting business, he ensures F&W is at the forefront of offerings for clients.
Flavia Marcilio Barbosa
Partner
DDSA
Flávia has concluded her MBA degree in 2021 with Fundação Getúlio Vargas. She has begun her professional life in PwC and worked as in-house counsel at a pulp and paper mill. Afterwards, Flavia has joined a big law firm in São Paulo, assisting several different industries in regulatory, environment and real estate matters. Currently, as partner of DDSA, she manages a multidisciplinary team with different expertise, assisting clients in environmental, agribusiness and timber investments, as well as natural resources projects.
Catherine Martini
Senior Program Manager of Carbon Removal
Microsoft
Catherine Martini has over 15 years in the sustainability field. She currently leads the Nature Based Solutions procurement and strategy for Microsoft’s Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) team as well as focuses on Environmental Justice and Policy for CDR. Over the last two decades she has worked for the World Resources Institute, NDC Partnership, Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, Greenhouse Gas Management Institute, and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). She has also been an expert reviewer for several Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports.
George McPherson
Managing Director
Criterion Africa Partners
George McPherson is a Managing Director at Criterion Africa Partners, an independent private equity firm investing in timber, agriculture, and natural climate solutions across Sub-Saharan Africa.
George has over 20 years of private equity experience in sustainable and impact investments. Prior to Criterion Africa Partners, he was the Managing Director leading business development and fund raising for Global Environment Fund where he raised over $1 billion for growth equity and buyout investments in the U.S and emerging markets including sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Prior to his private equity career, George was responsible for new business development and corporate ventures for Hewlett-Packard, and he began his career as an engineer in the aerospace industry. He holds a Master of Business Administration from George Washington University and Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Jeff Nuss
Managing Partner, Handprint Impact Partners
Founder and Former President & CEO, GreenWood Resources
Jeff Nuss is managing partner for Handprint Impact Partners and is senior advisor and impact investor focused on sustainable working landscapes, green products and materials, renewable energy and fuels, and built environment. Prior to Handprint, Jeff was Founder and President & CEO of GreenWood Resources, Inc. and its subsidiaries, a global timberland investment organization. He has over 28 years of business development, management and investment experience, and more than 20 years of experience in international business development. Under his leadership, GreenWood grew to over 150 professionals experienced in overseeing forestry assets and investments close to $2.0 billion in North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia (China) and managing approximately 741,000 acres (300,000 hectares) in forestry operations certify under third party certification programs. As CEO, he was directly responsible for the leadership and strategic direction of the company and overall management of the business. He served as Chair of GreenWood’s Executive and Investment Committees as well as Chaired various Boards related to specific investments made by GreenWood.
GreenWood became an affiliate of TIAA’s Asset Management business (Nuveen) when TIAA acquired an ownership in 2012 and was responsible for overseeing timberland investments made on behalf of TIAA’s General Account and other global third-party Institutional Investors seeking the diversification, climate impact, and risk adjusted return value that timberland investments provide to a portfolio.
Jeff currently serves on Port Blakely’s Board of Directors, Board of Directors for Heartwood Biomass, World Forestry Center Board of Directors and was recently the Board Chair, Sustainable Northwest Board of Directors, and Sustainable Northwest Woods (for-profit arm of SNW) Board of Directors, National Forest Foundation Board, World Tree Technologies Board, and California’s Board of Forestry’s Joint Institute on Wood Products Innovation Advisory Board. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the National Alliance of Forest Owners, past President and Board member of Agri-Business Council, and past President and Board Member of Western Hardwood Association.
He is a graduate of Oregon State University and holds a B.S. in Bio-Resources Engineering and an M.S. in Resource Management and Policy from Oregon State’s Civil Engineering Department. He also completed an Advanced Leadership Program from UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, Chapel Hill.
Asger Strange Olesen
Global Head of Climate, Biodiversity, and ESG
International Woodland Company AM+
Asger is Global Head of Climate, Biodiversity, and ESG at IWC AM+. He brings solid experience from climate and ecosystem management in Europe, Africa, and Latin America, and has worked in and for the European Commission on developing the current Forest and Climate Policy and Framework, including on technologies, EU taxonomy and GHG accounting. Asger was previously Chief Ecosystem Officer at FSC International and also worked as an advisor, EU official and carbon project developer. He is UNFCCC Revioewer and serves in a number of advisory boards and expert groups.
Arjun Patney
Low Carbon Originator
BP
Arjun Patney serves as Low Carbon Originator at bp, where he sources high quality offsets in compliance and voluntary markets. Across North America and Asia, his 25+ years of experience in the environmental field span business, technical, and policy spheres. Prior roles in the carbon market include sourcing voluntary credits at Natural Capital Partners, leading policy engagement at the American Carbon Registry, and establishing the U.S. carbon trading business at Cargill. He holds a B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, an M.S. in environmental management and policy from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
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 and minor in forest products. Throughout his 33-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, and sales & marketing functions.
Jonathan Prather
Partner
Perella Weinberg Partners
Mr. Prather is a Partner in Perella Weinberg Partners’ Advisory business. He focuses on advising clients in the Industrials sector.
Mr. Prather has over 20 years of investment banking experience assisting companies on a wide range of financial and strategic matters. During his tenure at Perella Weinberg Partners (“PWP”), he has advised on multiple transactions for clients across the global forestry, paper and packaging and building products sectors.
Prior to joining PWP in 2013, Mr. Prather worked at Goldman Sachs as a Managing Director responsible for paper, packaging and forest products industry client coverage. He was previously a Director at UBS Investment Bank.
Mr. Prather began his career at Simpson Investment Company, the parent of Green Diamond Resources based in Seattle, WA. At Simpson, he worked in corporate development and finance.
Over his career, Mr. Prather has advised on the sale of over $20 billion of timberland assets globally.
Mr. Prather earned a Bachelor of Arts with honors in history and international affairs from the University of Colorado and a Masters of Business Administration from Harvard Business School. He serves on the Board of the Forest History Society.
Bob Saul
Owner
Shearwell
Bob has enjoyed a twenty five-year career in agricultural and forestry investing for pension funds, endowments and insurance companies. He’s worked on investment projects all over the United States and Central America including plantation and natural forests, water right monetization, aquifer development, greenfield establishment of citrus, almonds, and maple syrup sugarbushes. He has also partnered with renewable energy firms to develop carbon and wind projects. His day job has supported his establishment of two hundred acres of Black walnut plantations in the Connecticut River Valley. He currently serves as a senior agricultural advisor for Fiera Capital, a Canadian-based agricultural investment manager, and as an advisor for the Grantham Foundation for the Environment. He also serves on several non-profit and municipal boards in his hometown of Amherst, Massachusetts. He recently completed a book, The Provision Problem: A Conversation About Food and Fiber Production in the Climate Emergency Era, published on the Harvard Forest website. The book is the product of his Bullard Fellowship at the Harvard Forest. The project distills thirty-five interviews with expert climate scientists, natural resource investors, venture capitalists, conservationists, environmental activists, farmers, and foresters, into an in-depth discussion regarding the role and responsibility of U.S. landowners in the generations ahead.
Hans-Joachim Seyfarth
Head of Illiquid Asset Forestry & Agriculture
MEAG MUNICH ERGO AssetManagement
Hans-Joachim Seyfarth is Head of Illiquid Assets Forestry & Agriculture at MEAG in Munich, the asset manager of Munich Re Group. He joined MEAG in 2006 and built up with his team since 2007 a global forestry and agriculture equity portfolio spanning five continents of today more than 2.0bn Euros for Munich Re Group.
Until 2018 he was in parallel responsible for Munich Re Group’s indirect real estate portfolio incl. office, retail, logistics, residential and health care. Prior to MEAG, Hans-Joachim worked for 10 years at then DaimlerChrysler Services in Stuttgart, Germany, initially structuring closed-end funds for retail clients investing into real estate, tram cars and aircrafts. Subsequently, he worked at DaimlerChrysler Services on a series of cross-border lease transactions involving US institutional investors and a variety of different public infrastructure assets in Germany.
His transaction structuring experience extends to the US, Australia, New Zealand and a variety of European jurisdictions. Hans-Joachim graduated in 1996 at the University of Hannover, Germany, with a diploma in mathmatics.
Tiffanie Starr
Managing Director of Acquisitions
Timberland Investment Resources
Tiffanie leads all aspects of TIR’s acquisition sourcing and management functions, matching clients’ investment objectives with appropriate opportunities and then directing purchase negotiations and closing logistics. Her responsibilities include evaluating and modeling acquisition opportunities, monitoring global transaction trends, conducting due diligence visits, managing transactional logistics, and building and maintaining working relationships with prospective land sellers. In addition, she serves as Vice Chair of TIR’s Investment Committee and maintains leadership roles within TIR’s public policy efforts. Among other things, she currently serves as Chair of the National Alliance of Forestland Owners (NAFO) Inclusion Council. She also serves on the Board of Trustees of The Georgia Forestry Foundation and on the Board of the World Forestry Center.
Prior to joining TIR, Tiffanie spent nine years with the Hancock Timber Resource Group (now Manulife Timberland Investment), where she had most recently served as Transaction Manager. This entailed overseeing strategic negotiations, developing tax-efficient purchase and holding structures, and directing due diligence activities. During this time, she helped the firm close more than $6 billion in domestic and international acquisitions. Tiffanie previously served the firm as a Portfolio Analyst. In that role, she analyzed potential acquisitions, evaluated their capacity to support leverage, studied exchange risk variables, participated in client relations initiatives, and conducted ongoing risk and hold-sell analyses for several portfolios that were collectively valued at more than $450 million. Tiffanie began her career at the Hancock Timber Resource Group as a Financial Research Consultant, which included designing and developing a model to analyze foreign investment risk, debt options and hedging opportunities. Tiffanie entered the timberland investment arena with Plum Creek and Weyerhaeuser, where she completed finance and forest operations internships. Her prior experience included serving on the development teams of The Conservation Fund and The Nature Conservancy. Tiffanie earned a BS in Environmental Science and Wildlife Management at Duke University. She also holds two master’s degrees from the University of Georgia: a MFR (Forest Resource Management) and an MBA with concentrations in real estate, marketing and operations.
Joe Taggart
President
LandVest
Joe Taggart is responsible for the overall management and accountability of LandVest. Joe joined LandVest in August of 2000 as the Managing Director of institutional transactions and consulting. As group head, Taggart oversaw the management and growth of the company’s timberland transaction and consulting business across North America. In 2012, Joe was elevated to LandVest’s senior management team and board of directors, serving as Executive Vice President of Timberlands. Since that time, he has led multiple corporate initiatives focusing on the efficient integration of the company’s various business units in order to deliver maximum value to LandVest clients.
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 is a licensed real estate salesperson in the state of New Hampshire and has served in multiple board positions including the New Hampshire Historical Society, the Congregational Church of Amherst, the Amherst Land Trust, and the Amherst Zoning Board of Adjustment.
Dave Tenny
Founding President and CEO
National Alliance of Forest Owners
Dave Tenny is the founding President and CEO of NAFO. Under his leadership, NAFO has grown from 14 initial members in 2008 to 48 member companies that own and manage 46 million acres of private working forests and 34 state and national associations that represent tens of millions of additional acres. Dave’s passion for building trust and pursuing solutions-based advocacy has helped NAFO become a leading national advocate committed to advancing federal policies that ensure our working forests provide clean air, clean water, wildlife habitat and jobs through sustainable practices and strong markets.
Dave previously served as Vice President for Forestry and Wood Products for the American Forest and Paper Association (AF&PA) and as Deputy Undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment at the United States Department of Agriculture where he had responsibility for the U.S. Forest Service. He got his start in the U.S. House of Representatives where he served as Counsel and Natural Resources Policy Advisor for the House Committee on Agriculture and as Counsel for U.S. Representative Wally Herger of California.
A native of Boise, Idaho, he earned a bachelor’s degree in American studies from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and a law degree from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
JF Thye
CFO, Deskpass Corporation
Board Member, The Cumberland Forest Project
After starting his career in marine engineering and private equity, JF began building and selling software companies that enhance commercial real estate efficiencies and lower tenant greenhouse gas emissions. He holds several patents in this sector.
JF is also an active member of a group of family members who make investments in positive social and environmental projects. Sectors include mitigation banking, sustainable forestry, regenerative agriculture, water technology, and mental health services.
Currently, JF serves as CFO at Deskpass Corporation and Board Member of The Cumberland Forest Project, a TNC managed 253,000 acre conservation investment partnership. JF is a Board Advisor of the Steinman Foundation in Lancaster, PA, and a Board Member of West Side Montessori School in New York.
JF holds a BS in engineering from Cornell University, an MBA from Yale School of Management, and an MEM from Yale School of the Environment.
Peter Tittmann
Associate Director
New Forests
Peter Tittmann leads the New Forests Investment Analytics group in the US. The Investment Analytics team is responsible for biological, operational and financial aspects of forest estate modeling supporting forest asset underwriting and strategic management. Peter has 20 years of experience in data science and modeling in the forestry, energy, and water sectors.
His doctoral work in Geography at the University of California, Davis employed aerial Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) in the task of individual tree detection and measurement. Prior to New Forests Peter worked at the Center for Forestry at UC Berkeley where he managed a program focused on wood products and wood-based bioenergy markets and technology.
Peter has a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz and a PhD in Geography from the University of California, Davis.
Amrita Vatsal
Managing Director of Business Development
EFM Investments & Advisory
Amrita joined EFM in 2011 and is a member of EFM’s management team. In this role, she shapes the company’s growth and impact investment strategies managing new product development, fund structuring and investor recruitment. Additionally, as a member of the investment committee, she contributes to property sourcing, transaction structuring, conservation finance, and carbon project development. Prior to EFM, Amrita was an Assistant Manager with Pricewaterhouse Coopers in Singapore for 5 years and she subsequently cultivated a passion for financing the growth of environmental business while working for Piper Jaffray’s clean-tech banking group. Her love for forests began during a stint in Indonesia where she helped develop a carbon project on 200,000 hectares of pristine tropical peat forest. Amrita is a Fellow of the Erb Institute and graduated from the University of Michigan with an MBA and an MS in Natural Resources.
Chris Wake
Vice President of Biomass Strategy
Drax Group
Chris is the Vice President of Biomass Strategy at Drax Group and is responsible for the development and delivery of the fibre strategy that underpins global BECCS projects.
Prior to joining Drax, Chris worked for 20 years in the upstream oil and gas sector with BP, BG Group and latterly as a consultant. His experience spans a variety of strategy, development and capital project roles across Europe, Scandinavia, North America, Africa and the South Caucasus region.
Chris is a Chartered Chemical Engineer.
Dave Walters
Vice President of 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.
Hardy Wentzel
CEO and Founder
Hardy Wentzel Consulting
Hardy Wentzel is a proven front-runner in the wood products industry, with nearly four decades of global, executive experience in Europe, the U.S. and Canada. He is passionate about bringing to market transformative wood building solutions.
Hardy is presently CEO and Founder of Hardy Wentzel Consulting Inc. He specializes in using his mass timber experience on the supply chain drivers, manufacturing, technical approval requirements, marketing and business development within the industry.
His experience includes Chief Executive Officer of Structurlam Mass Timber Corporation that was recently acquired by Mercer International. There, he led the company from a regional, British Columbia-based business to North American mass timber leader. This achievement was realized through revenue growth, greater market presence and expanding the company’s manufacturing footprint by establishing a state of the art plant in Arkansas. This expansion initiative was to serve the company’s growing customer base consisting of numerous high profile market-based developers and blue chip clients including Google, Microsoft and Walmart.
He has also served as Vice President, Sales, Marketing and Logistics for Tolko Industries., Vice President and General Manager of Weyerhaeuser – Canada, USA, Europe, and General Manager for Trus Joist European Operations.
Mark Wishnie
Chief Sustainability Officer and Head of Impact Investment Management
BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group (TIG)
Mark Wishnie is Chief Sustainability Officer and Head, Impact Investment Management at the BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group (TIG). Mark is responsible for sustainability across the firm’s ~3 million acre / $5.6 billion global timberland portfolio and leads the firm’s climate-focused investment practice. Mark joined BTG from global non-profit The Nature Conservancy, where he led the organization’s Global Forestry & Wood Products program. Previously, Mark served as head of portfolio management, analytics, and research at TIG, co-founded and served as Managing Director of Equator, LLC, a timberland and environmental commodity investment company, directed a joint research program of the Smithsonian Institution and Yale University focused on tropical forest restoration, and served as Program Director of the Yale Tropical Resources Institute. Mark’s research has been published in journals such as Sustainability, Forest Ecology and Management, Conservation Biology,and The Annual Review of Anthropology. Mark holds a BS in Forest Management from the University of Washington and a Master of Forest Science from Yale University.