Attendees at World Forestry Center’s virtual Who Will Own the Forest conference are invited to join intimate breakout sessions hosted by some of Timberland investing’s biggest names.
Meet the Breakout Session hosts below.
Episode 1 Breakouts
Episode 2 Breakouts
Episode 3 Breakouts
Episode 4 Breakouts
Episode 1 Breakouts
30 x 30 Implications for Private Forest Owners:
Opportunity or Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing?
Jimmy Bullock
Resource Management Service
Jimmy oversees sustainable forestry and environmental policy and programs and advocacy on forestry issues for RMS-managed timberlands in the United States. He also has responsibility for forest certification and audit programs and leads environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives for RMS-managed timberlands globally. Jimmy earned his B.S. degree in Forestry from Mississippi State University in 1980 and his M.S. degree in Wildlife Ecology from Mississippi State in 1982. A Certified Wildlife Biologist, Mississippi Registered Forester and Society of American Foresters Certified Forester, Jimmy is on the Board of Directors for the National Conservation Leadership Institute, the Catch-A-Dream Foundation, the Mississippi Wildlife Federation, the Forest Landowner’s Association and the Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy. Jimmy is a Professional Member of the Boone and Crockett Club. In 1994, Jimmy was presented the prestigious American Forest and Paper Association’s Forest Stewardship Award for his leadership role in conservation of the Louisiana Black Bear. In 2017 Jimmy was honored as recipient of the Quality Deer Management Association’s Joe Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award and the Wildlife Management Institute’s George Bird Grinnell Award for Distinguished Service to Natural Resources Conservation, both of which are the highest individual honors bestowed by the respective organizations.
Victoria Lockhart
Resource Management Service
Victoria Lockhart is the ESG Strategy Manager for Resource Management Service, LLC; a global timberland investment firm. In this role, Victoria works closely with internal teams and external partners to develop and implement strategic initiatives to further RMS’ Environmental, Social, and Governance, and forest sustainability goals. Previously, Victoria responsibilities at RMS included Forest Planning for forest assets in the U.S. and Silvicultural Operations for assets in North Carolina. Prior to joining RMS, Victoria led third-party certification efforts for the American Tree Farm System at the American Forest Foundation. Victoria is a registered forester in Alabama and North Carolina, and is a graduate of the University of Virginia and Yale University.
Forestry Opportunities for Climate Impact
Eric Cooperström
Hancock Natural Resource Group
As Managing Director, Impact Investing and Natural Climate Solutions, Cooperström is responsible for developing timberland and agriculture products that deliver on HNRG’s sustainability and responsible investing priorities. In this role, he is directly involved in developing HNRG’s carbon and climate investment strategy, supporting new business development and providing market intelligence and leadership. Prior to joining HNRG 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.
How Much Exposure Do Your Timberland Investments Have to China?
Chung-Hong Fu
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.
Impacts of 2020 Oregon Wildfires on Future Timber Supply
Roger Lord
Mason, Bruce & Girard
Lord is President of Mason, Bruce & Girard, a 110-person natural resource consulting firm headquartered in Portland, Oregon. The firm is proud to be celebrating its 100th year in business in 2021. Lord is a professional forester with more than 35 years of experience in the areas of forest economics, planning, timberland appraisal, and acquisition & divestiture due diligence. He is a state certified appraiser and specializes in the appraisal of investment grade timberland and conservation properties. Before joining MB&G in 2004, Lord held forest economist/planner positions with Boise Cascade Corporation (1995-2004), and the Texas Forest Service (1985-1995). Roger received a B.S. in Forest Science and an M.S. in Forest Resources and Operations Research from The Pennsylvania State University. He is a Member of the Association of Consulting Foresters, member of the Society of American Foresters, and a Practicing Affiliate of the Appraisal Institute.
Rocky Goodnow
Forest Economic Advisors
Rocky Goodnow is Vice President of North American Timber Service at Forest Economic Advisors LLC. In this role, Rocky is responsible for FEA’s outlook on the North American timber markets. Rocky leads the development of FEA’s timber econometric models, which are used in the analysis of future demand on wood fiber resources, regional timber supplies and timber values. Rocky has been analyzing the North American timber markets since 2002. He is the primary author of FEA’s Timber Quarterly Forecasting Service publications and is a contributor to other FEA publications. He has also co-authored numerous studies on a wide range of timber-related topics including timber supply, regional pulpwood markets, and international softwood log and lumber markets. In addition, Rocky has led numerous single-client projects analyzing timber markets in North America and abroad. Rocky holds a Master’s degree in Forest Economics and Management and a B.S. in Forestry, both from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Forest AI – Promises, Possibilities and Problems
Albrecht von Ruffer
SKYLAB
Albrecht von Ruffer is a Biologist and technology entrepreneur with over 20 years’ experience in developing and applying new technologies in environmental markets. He founded SKYLAB in 2016 to help digitalise forestry and maximise the benefits of remote sensing data to forest management.
Previously Albrecht founded nserve, implementing and managing climate change projects under the Kyoto Protocol, achieving 30m tonnes of CO2 emission reductions in 30 projects worldwide.
During his career Albrecht has lived in Berlin, London, Tokyo and Los Angeles, before settling in Hamburg, where he lives with his wife and four kids. He enjoys surfing, running and skiing.
Rebecca Cardani-Strange
SKYLAB
Rebecca Cardani-Strange is very English but lives in Italy and works for the Germans! She speaks five languages and manages SKYLAB’s International Projects team, bringing the benefits of ForestAI and aerial data analytics to forestry companies from the US to New Zealand, and everything in between. A passionate Parkour athlete and musician, she also has three young children to keep her on her toes!
Episode 2 Breakouts
Forest Management Practices and Costs of Private Timberland Owners
Dr. Shawn Baker
Forisk Consulting
Dr. Shawn Baker is the Vice President of Research at Forisk Consulting, where he leads Forisk’s research portfolio in addition to continuing his forest operations research in the US and Canada. He oversees Forisk’s silviculture benchmarking research, stumpage price forecasting, and logging and delivered wood cost projections for a quarterly publication, the Forisk Research Quarterly, and for custom timber market studies. Shawn has over 15 years of forestry and operations research experience. Prior to joining Forisk, Shawn conducted and coordinated forest operations research at the Center for Forest Business at the University of Georgia. Shawn earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in forestry from Virginia Tech and a PhD from the University of Georgia.
The Carbon Effect:
Property Valuations Across Regions and Acres
Zack Parisa
NCX
Zack Parisa is the co-founder and CEO of NCX (formerly SilviaTerra). Over the last decade, he has developed and pioneered precision forestry tools that are revolutionizing the way that forests can be measured, valued, and managed. Using satellites, cloud computing, and machine learning, NCX worked with Microsoft to create “Basemap,” the first high-resolution forest inventory of the United States. It is now using this data to build new markets for forest values beyond timber, such as carbon, wildlife habitat, and fire risk. Zack is a forester and biometrician by training and earned an MFS from Yale University, and a BS in Forestry from Mississippi State University. He is a 2021 candidate for Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award.
Dr. Brooks Mendell
Forisk Consulting
Dr. Brooks Mendell has three decades of consulting, operating, and research experience in the forest products and timber industries. His experience includes roles in harvest operations and procurement with Weyerhaeuser, in management consulting with Accenture, and as a faculty member in forestry and finance at the University of Georgia. A Fulbright Scholar in Uruguay, Dr. Mendell founded Forisk in 2004. He has broad domestic and international experience supporting small businesses, Fortune 500 corporations and public organizations. An inductee in the Georgia Foresters Hall of Fame, he earned B.S. and M.S. degrees at MIT, an MBA at the University of California at Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in Forest Finance at UGA.
Agroforestry and Carbon Markets
John Pierce
Perkins Coie
Focused on the structuring, development and financing of energy and infrastructure projects, Partner John Pierce represents clients in connection with power generation projects fueled by an array of traditional, renewable, and unconventional energy sources. John also works with carbon mitigating credits, offsets and trading structures, the creation of carbon trading protocols and markets, carbon sequestration, other environmental attributes and related market-based means to add value to certain energy projects. John has worked on projects throughout Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America, South and Southeast Asia, China, Africa, and the Middle East. His recent project counsel includes the development of utility-scale solar projects in the United States, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, and Northeast Asia, including advising on the development and sale of an seawater air conditioning system in Hawaii and the Bahamas, on the procurement and sale of LNG for sale in China, working with a major Jones Act shipper on LNG procurement and supply for fleets serving Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico from Washington and Florida, counseling on the procurement of more than 15 mmt of U.S.-originated LNG for consumption in Asia, advising on the development and financing of a 400 MW wind farm in West Texas, various wind and solar project elsewhere in Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas, primary counsel on a 1,000 MW offshore wind farm in Morro Bay, California, a 700+ MW offshore wind farm in Hawaii, similar offshore wind farm projects in Japan, Taiwan, Korea, and the Caribbean, a variety of PV solar and battery storage systems, the development of utility-scale solar thermal for steam injection projects in oil production fields, pump storage projects in California, Hawaii, Montana and Washington, as well as electric vehicle infrastructure and renewable hydrogen production technologies.
Riding the Value Wave:
Impacts on Value from Changing Investment Horizons
Chris Singleton
American Forest Management
From Backwoods to Boardrooms:
The Rise of Institutional Investment in Timberland
Daowei Zhang
Auburn University
Daowei Zhang is George Peake Professor and Associate Dean for Research at School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, Auburn University. He worked at the Ministry of Forestry and China Development Bank and served on the Board of Directors of the Pinchot Institute for Conservation and as Senior Forestry Officer and Team Leader for Climate Change and Resilience at Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. He is a recipient of IUFRO’s Scientific Achievement Award and Society of American Foresters’ (SAF) Award in Forest Science. He has authored more than 130 refereed articles, book chapters, and books and is a SAF Fellow.
Clark Binkley
International Forestry Investment Advisors
Clark S. Binkley, Ph.D. is an internationally recognized expert in forestry investment with investment on all continents except Antarctica. He served as the Chief Investment Officer both for GreenWood Resources, and for the Hancock Timber Resource Group. Between those assignments, he founded International Forestry Investment Advisors (IFIA) to develop and implement innovative, socially responsible high-return timberland investment strategies. Before joining the timberland investment business, he had a distinguished academic career as the Dean of the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia and at Yale University in the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies where he was the Frederick K. Weyerhaeuser Professor of Forest Resource Management. He has served the Boards of Directors of West Fraser Timber, Timberwest, Pacific Forest Products and Cellfor. Binkley holds degrees in Applied Mathematics and in Engineering from Harvard University and in Forestry and Environmental Studies from Yale University.
Peter Mertz
Global Forest Partners
Peter C. Mertz co-founded Global Forest Partners in 2003 and previously served as the firm’s CEO and Chief Investment Officer as well as a Senior Advisor to the firm. He currently serves as Chair of three of GFP’s private equity timberfund Boards. Prior to co-founding GFP, he served as Managing Director of UBS Timber Investors, the predecessor business to GFP where, since 1997, he directed the firm’s timberland investment capabilities. Mr. Mertz has over forty-five years of forest management and investment experience. Mr. Mertz is a Certified Forester and a member of the Society of American Foresters. He serves on the External Advisory Board for the School of Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan, and the Board of the Forest History Society. Previously, he has served as a member of the National Advisory Board for the Michigan Congenital Heart Center, and as a Trustee and member of the Investment Committee for the Montshire Museum of Science in Vermont.
Mark Wilde
Bank of Montreal
Mark Wilde is Bank of Montreal’s senior analyst on the North American Paper, Packaging & Forest Products sector. For more two decades, he has repeatedly been recognized as one of the sector’s best stock pickers and a frequently-quoted sector expert. He has been cited in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Barrons and other publications and appeared repeatedly on CNBC. He is a consistent member of the Institutional Investor All-America Research Team. Prior to joining Bank of Montreal, Dr. Wilde spent more than 25yrs at Deutsche Bank/Bankers Trust (a predecessor firm). At Bankers Trust, he served as Director of U.S. Equity Research and was a Partner in the firm. Earlier in his career, Mark was employed as a Senior Economist by Wharton Econometrics (WEFA Group) in Philadelphia. Mark & his family live in Princeton, NJ.
Tracy Buran Evens
Timberlink
Tracy, along with her partner Gary A. Myers, owns TimberLink LLC. Her 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 independent advisor to institutional investors, Tracy brings a unique and conflict-free perspective to the complexities of the asset class. In short, her firm’s primary goal is to help investors achieve their timberland investment objectives through independent advice. Tracy has over 27 years of industry experience including 7 years in key positions with Forest Investment Associates (FIA), one the first timberland investment management organizations (TIMOs). While at FIA, she was instrumental in the development of the NCREIF Timberland Index, a quarterly measure of timberland investment performance. She earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Georgia State University and B.A. in Economics from Wake Forest University.
Episode 3 Breakouts
The Performance of Private Equity Timberland Funds in the United States Over the Last Three Decades
Rafal Chudy
FOROS/Forest Business Analytics
Rafał Chudy has over 11 years of experience in forestry and forest industry businesses worldwide. As a Chief Forestry Officer at FOROS, Rafal manages a team of professionals with expertise in financial, biological, and geospatial modelling and day-to-day forest management skills. In this role, he is overseeing the development, implementation and maintenance of new and existing growth and yield models, harvest scheduling models, carbon models, and geospatial models for forestland and carbon investments and operations at the FOROS Green Invest platform. Rafal’s activities also focus on the coordination of economic and markets research needs and information flows across FOROS, as part of the development and execution of the annual corporate business agenda. Prior to this role, Rafal worked as a senior forestry consultant – evaluating more than EUR 1.5 billion of forest assets during the last 2 years – or as a forest economist for the U.S. and Australian TIMOs where he was responsible for ensuring that strong research and evidence-based insights underpin investment programs. In 2016, Rafal and his wife Karolina established a company – Forest Business Analytics (FBA) – that organizes biannually the International Forest Business Conference. In FBA, Rafal still oversees the development of the forest valuation department that is offering global forest appraisals and consultancy services. FBA’s global network allows the company to identify and analyze forest investment opportunities in the Asia-Pacific, Americas, Africa, and Europe, and help to raise capital for private-equity forest funds. Rafal’s research has appeared in peer-reviewed journals and presentations at the international forest and natural resource economics conferences. He has a Master of Science (Forestry) degree from Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Master of Science (Forestry and Environmental Resources) from North Carolina State University, Master of Science (Forest Management) from Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, and a PhD in Forest Economics (specialising in Forest Sector Modelling) from Norwegian University of Life Sciences. Rafal also has a post-graduate diploma in Financial Controlling in Capital Markets Groups from Warsaw School of Economics.
Shifting Softwood Log and Lumber Trade Flows and Impacts on Timber Markets
Rocky Goodnow
Forest Economic Advisors
Rocky Goodnow is Vice President of North American Timber Service at Forest Economic Advisors LLC. In this role, Rocky is responsible for FEA’s outlook on the North American timber markets. Rocky leads the development of FEA’s timber econometric models, which are used in the analysis of future demand on wood fiber resources, regional timber supplies and timber values. Rocky has been analyzing the North American timber markets since 2002. He is the primary author of FEA’s Timber Quarterly Forecasting Service publications and is a contributor to other FEA publications. He has also co-authored numerous studies on a wide range of timber-related topics including timber supply, regional pulpwood markets, and international softwood log and lumber markets. In addition, Rocky has led numerous single-client projects analyzing timber markets in North America and abroad. Rocky holds a Master’s degree in Forest Economics and Management and a B.S. in Forestry, both from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
You Get What You Pay For: A TIMO Perspective on Carbon Markets, Evolving Buyer & Stakeholder Expectations, and the Cost of Implementing Forest Management Strategies That Capture Additional Carbon
Jim Hourdequin
The Lyme Timber Company
Jim joined Lyme in 2005 and leads the Company’s investment and business strategies. Over the past 16 years, he has managed the acquisition of over 1.8 million acres of timberland throughout the US and Canada. With a background that combines forest ecology and small business, Jim has led Lyme’s focus on making timberland and supply chain investments that combine conservation and climate outcomes with sustainable timber harvesting. Prior to Lyme, Jim co-founded Long View Forest Inc., a logging and forestry services business based in Vermont, where he remains involved as an owner and member of the management team. He serves on the Board of the National Alliance of Forest Owners and the Finance Committee for the Montshire Museum of Science. He was a founding board member of the Center for Woodlands Education, publisher of Northern Woodlands. Jim earned an M.B.A. with Distinction from the Harvard Business School and a B.A. cum laude in Biology from Dartmouth College.
Analyzing Carbon Opportunities: A Financial Comparison of Traditional Timber Management Vs. Management for Carbon Sequestration Credits
Scott Howell
F&W Forestry Services
The Power of Integrated Information In Managing Forest Investments
Antonio Tatagiba
INFLOR
Bachelor in Information Systems and MBA in Business Management has over 18 years of experience in software engineering and development, on which the last 11 years focused on the forestry industry. Worked on the implementation of forest management systems and its integration with other platforms in large companies in Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Portugal, and China. Currently acting as head of the expansion process of INFLOR, a Brazilian company and Latin American Leader in forest management systems, for the North American market.
Episode 4 Breakouts
State of the Industry
– Global Trends Driving the Forest Products Industry
Joe Clark
Forest2Market
Joe Clark is Forest2Market’s Global Sales Manager. He is responsible for managing stumpage and delivered product sales throughout North America and Europe, where he works with clients to uncover supply chain inefficiencies through the application of Forest2Market reports and price databases. He previously worked in a variety of consultative sales and related roles, beginning in the US South as a Stumpage Forester where his responsibilities included: maintaining Forest2Market’s stumpage price database, producing price reports from Forest2Market’s proprietary databases, and creating custom analytical reports for clients across the industry to help them better understand market dynamics. Joe holds a M.S. in Forestry from Auburn University.
How the Biden Administration’s Proposed Tax Increases Will Affect Timber Owners and Investors
Korey Collins
RSM
Korey serves as the market tax leader for Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. He has extensive experience in the investment fund industry, with specific focus on real estate and alternative investment funds such as timber, agriculture and other natural resources. Korey serves clients with operations in all 50 states and multiple foreign countries, as well as investors from around the globe. He works extensively with multi-state and international tax issues. Korey also works with both private and public REITs and C corporations to prepare or review their income tax provisions on a quarterly and/or annual basis.
Clay Stoker
RSM
Clay is in the firm’s timberland and real estate investment practice. He serves as an advisor to domestic and international investment funds that hold alternative assets such as timberland and real estate. He assists fund managers in tailoring investment structures to accommodate their investors, advises on offering documents and LPAs and provides federal, state and international tax planning and compliance throughout the term of the investment. He has strong experience in structuring investments within a real estate investment trust (REIT) structure, advising fund managers on waterfall provisions in a LPA, tax issues such as unrelated business taxable income and effectively connected income and works closely with management on buy/sell transactions. Clay has significant experience with multi-state partnerships, public and private REITs and other blocker corporations that hold assets of institutional investors from around the globe.
Understanding the Value of Carbon as a Landowner
Tom Fox
Rayonier
Tom Fox is Vice President at Rayonier and leads the Research, Productivity, Sustainability Team. He coordinates Rayoniers’ research and technology transfer in silviculture and tree improvement, and oversees the forest certification programs. 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 Virginia Tech Site Director for the NSF Center for Advanced Forestry Systems. Dr. Fox was a Fulbright Scholar and Visiting Professor 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 Maine and Georgia, a SAF Certified Forester and a SSSA Certified Professional Soil Scientist. He received the Stephen Spurr Award for Research and the Barrington Moore Award for Research in Biological Sciences from the Society of American Foresters. He is a Fellow in the Soil Science Society of America and the Society of American Foresters.
Achieving Growth and Diversification in Competitive Timberland Markets for Family-Owned Businesses
Scott Griffin
Superior Pine Products Company
Scott Griffin is President and CEO of Superior Pine Products Company, who owns and manages timberland properties located in the South, that include working, sustainable forests as well as a commercial blueberry farm. Superior Pine Products Company is a multi-generational, family-owned business that focuses on increasing the value and profitability of the Company through operational excellence, innovation, and strategic, opportunistic transactions – always with an emphasis on sustainability. Scott has worked in the Timberland Investment Management Industry space for more than three decades. He joined Superior Pine Products Company in March 2019, after serving in various leadership capacities at Campbell Global and prior to that, Forest Systems, LLC, as well as Resource Management Service, earlier in his career. Scott graduated from the Mississippi State University’s College of Forest Resources with a bachelor’s degree in forest management, and in addition, is a graduate of the Command and General Staff College of the United States Army. Serving honorably for over 30 years in the Army National Guard, he participated in multiple deployments and retired in 2019. He and his wife, Hillery, enjoy traveling, have five grown children, and have successfully transitioned from the Portland, Oregon area to Fargo, Georgia. More information at superiorpine.com.
Projected Inflation and Interest Rates and How These and Other Key Economic Factors May Influence Future Timberland Asset Pricing in the United States
Richard Hall
Buckhead Resources
Hall serves as president of Buckhead Resources, Inc., a natural resource management and advisory firm based in Atlanta, GA. In addition to his position at Buckhead Resources, Inc., Hall serves as an instructor of various forest finance and pre-law courses at Auburn University’s School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences. Prior to founding Buckhead Resources, Inc., Hall worked at several firms including Forest Investment Associates and Bank of America. Hall received a B.S. in forestry from Auburn University and a J.D./M.B.A. from the University of Alabama. Hall is a registered forester, a licensed attorney and a member of the Society of American Foresters.