Conference Speakers
Dr. Patrick Moore
Chair and Chief Scientist of Greenspirit Strategies, a consultancy focusing on environmental policy and communications in forestry, agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture, mining, biodiversity, energy and climate change
Dr. Moore, co-founder and former director of Greenpeace, and nine-year president of Greenpeace Canada, has been an international environmental leader for more than 30 years. A longtime environment advisor to the British Columbian government, he focuses on sustainability and consensus building, with emphasis on forestry, geothermal heating, and climate change. His book Green Spirit: Trees are the Answer (2000) provides new insight into how forests work and how they can help solve many of our environmental problems.
_______________________________________ ^ go up
Larry Selzer
President and CEO of the Conservation Fund, a non-profit organization that protects land and water resources in partnership with other non-profits, public agencies, foundations, corporations, and individuals
Mr. Selzer, previously the Fund’s senior vice president of sustainable programs and director of marine research programs out of Woods Hole, has been responsible for the American Greenways Program, the Freshwater Institute, Conservation Leadership Network, the Civil War Battlefield Campaign and sustainable forestry. He is the chair of the Sustainable Forestry Board, vice chair of the Wildlife Habitat Council, and director of the National Resources Council of America.
_______________________________________ ^ go up
Dr. Peter Ince
Research Forester, Economics and Statistics Research, USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin
Dr. Ince specializes in analysis and economic modeling of forest product markets and wood utilization trends, including development of economic models used for long-range forest assessment studies by the USDA Forest Service. He also analyzes effects, direct and indirect, of technological change and market developments in the forest product sector. Author of numerous technical papers and journal articles, he holds a law degree and a Ph.D. in Forestry from the University of Wisconsin.
_______________________________________ ^ go up
Rick Merdan
Manager Marketing Strategy–Environmental for NewPage Corporation
Mr. Merdan has 23-years experience in the paper industry with various roles within the mill, as well as divisional and corporate organizations. Recently he has been involved in the development and marketing of chain-of-custody products and the development and marketing of the first tri-certified products (SFI, PEFC, and FSC chains of custody). He holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota and will receive his MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in December.
_______________________________________ ^ go up
Lynn Wilson
General Manager of Plum Creek Timber Company, Lake States Region
Ms. Wilson, a director of Trees for Tomorrow and member of the Wisconsin DNR’s Forestry Best Practices Management Advisory Committee, among others, oversees land management for all Plum Creek holdings in Wisconsin and Michigan. Her duties include sustainable forest management, road building, mapping, inventory and environmental compliance. She has served as a company logging superintendent, log merchandising superintendent, resource manager, senior resource manager and now general manager.
_______________________________________ ^ go up
Paul J. Young
Co-founder of Conservation Forestry, LLC, an investment entity that aligns private equity with conservation capital to acquire and manage working forests
Mr. Young, with over a decade in timber investment management with the Hancock Timber Resource Group and Prudential Timber Investments, now partners with conservation groups seeking to remove development value from timberland real estate. Conservation Forestry focuses on creating mutually beneficial structures that leverage the goals of both its investors and its conservation partners.
_______________________________________ ^ go up
Catherine M. Mater
President - Mater Engineering, Ltd., a forest productions engineering firm, Corvallis, Oregon; Senior Fellow - The Pinchot Institute for Conservation
Ms. Mater has over 30 years of research and design experience working to evaluate value-added product development potential from woody biomass and residual fiber. She works in sustainable forest policy development throughout the world; has served on two Presidential panels to evaluate forest industry harvest and manufacturing options, and economic ramifications; and has been appointed to the US Forestry Research Advisory Council.
_______________________________________ ^ go up
Mark Holsten
Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
Mr. Holsten, a former six-term Minnesota State Representative, has served as DNR Deputy Commissioner, chair of the Environment and Natural Resources Finance Committee, manager of Fish and Wildlife, and was responsible for working with Minnesota’s federal congressional delegation. During recent tight budgets his focus has been on the DNR’s conservation mission and the competitiveness of the primary forest products industry.
_______________________________________ ^ go up
Kevin Korpi
Trade Association Executive Director for the Michigan Forest Products Council
Mr. Korpi, former Director of Government Relations for the Michigan Chamber, Vice President for Public Affairs for the Grand Rapids Area Chamber, and Legislative Director for Rep. Ken Sikkema, has been ranked one of the most effective lobbyists in Lansing by Inside Michigan Politics. He holds a master’s degree in labor and industrial relations from Michigan State University and has served in a variety of senior level political positions.
_______________________________________ ^ go up
Fred Souba, Jr.
Vice President of Wood Supply and Sustainability for NewPage Corporation.
Mr. Souba, formerly Stora Enso’s vice president of Wood Supply U.S. and Fiber, is currently responsible for wood requirements, sustainability efforts and procurement best practices for all NewPage mills. He is chair of the Wisconsin Council of Forestry, trustee and vice-chair of the Great Lakes Forest Alliance, and on board of the Forest Resources Association, an organization that speaks for all three segments of wood fiber supply: landowner, wood supplier, and wood consumer.
_______________________________________ ^ go up
Bill Kissick
Director, Forest Sector Competitiveness Secretariat, Forests Division, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
Mr. Kissick is a former manager of Forest Business and Economics in Ontario’s Industry Relations Branch and has held a number of positions with the Ministry of Natural Resources in forests, resource stewardship and fire management. His office is charged with coordinating the province of Ontario’s response to the significant challenges confronting the forest sector and engaging ministries and departments across both senior levels of government.
_______________________________________ ^ go up
Doug Freeman
Investment and IT Manager, NewPage Corporation
Mr. Freeman, a chemical engineer, has held positions in operations, technical, engineering and maintenance fields and worked in energy generation, pulp, and paper production at several StoraEnso paper mills, where he has been at the forefront of new technologies. This background has given him an extensive knowledge of the design, construction and facilities operation in the process industry and how to make mills economically competitive.
_______________________________________ ^ go up
Libby Ogard
President and Principal of Prime Focus LLC
Ms. Ogard spent 17 years with Burlington Northern Railroad and Conrail and several years at Schneider National Carriers where she was Retail Division General Manager. Prime Focus LLC was established in 2001 as a freight transportation consulting firm specializing in economic analysis, freight transportation research, freight policy issues, transportation facility feasibility studies and public outreach. She is actively involved in Transportation Research Forum, Transportation Research Board, among other professional organizations.
_______________________________________ ^ go up
William Ginn
Director of Conservation Markets and Finance, The Nature Conservancy
Mr. Ginn, former executive director of the Maine Audubon Society, and founder/ president of Resource Conservation Services, Inc., is a businessman-turned-conservation practitioner who has spent nearly 25 years doing award-winning work for conservation organizations or environmental business. He has used his expertise in forest conservation and conservation finance to help The Nature Conservancy protect over 2 million acres of forestland through dozens of innovative deals in the South Pacific and elsewhere.
_______________________________________ ^ go up
Sarah Hines
Presidential Management Fellow, USDA Forest Service (Northeastern Area State & Private Forestry and Northern Research Station)
Ms. Hines has worked in Ford’s Sustainable Business Strategies Office, on Base-of-the-Pyramid initiatives with SC Johnson in Ghana, and on sustainable ranching and farming issues with the Rural Landscape Institute in Bozeman, Montana. In her current position she has focused on issues related to climate change mitigation and adaptation, and the potential for private landowners to engage in emerging carbon markets and greenhouse gas registries.
_______________________________________ ^ go up
Adrian Miller
President, Menominee Tribal Enterprise
Mr. Miller, former president of the Education Board of the Native American Fish and Wildlife Society, and instructor of resource management at NAES College, has had a long, hands-on career in conservation, education and environmental protection on Menominee tribal lands. He is a graduate of the Federal Law Enforcement School and has a BS degree in education from St. Norbert College.
_______________________________________ ^ go up
Jason Koivisto
Forest Bioeconomy Coordinator, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.
Mr. Koivisto, prior to his current appointment, held several positions with the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines including Northern Development Advisor and Senior Policy Advisor to the Corporate Policy Secretariat. He developed the key elements of their strategy to support the growth and development of a Northern bioeconomy, and has been an active member of Ontario’s inter-ministry working group on the bioeconomy.
_______________________________________ ^ go up
Dr. Jim Bowyer
Director of Sustainable Materials Program, Dovetail Partners, Inc.
Dr. Bowyer is an elected fellow of the International Academy of Wood Science; chairman of the Tropical Forest Foundation; member of the Governance Board and chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Temperate Forest Foundation; member of the Blandin Foundation Vital Forests/Vital Communities Board of Advisors; and Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering. He has published widely about wood science and technology, bioenergy, and a wide range of environmental matters.
_______________________________________ ^ go up
Dr. Daniel E. Keathley
Professor of Forest Genetics; Chair, Department of Forestry at Michigan State University; Chair, Great Lakes Forest Alliance, Inc.;
Chair, Great Lakes Forest Alliance
Dr. Keathley’s research focuses on the use of molecular genetics to quantify genetic variation in natural populations of trees and on the development of genetically improved lines of commercially important tree species. He also serves on the board of the Michigan Forest Resource Alliance, on the Michigan Forest Management Advisory Council and is a member of the Michigan Forest Products Council.
_______________________________________ ^ go up
Paul DeLong
Administrator of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resource’s Division of Forestry and Wisconsin’s Chief State Forester
Mr. DeLong has been the State Lands Specialist for Forestry, chief of the Forestry Program Support Section and Deputy Chief State Forester. Before joining the DNR he worked as a mediator for the RESOLVE Center for Environmental Dispute Resolution, and subsequently as a senior program officer for World Wildlife Fund. He holds a BS in forestry and a master’s in natural resource policy from the University of Michigan.
_______________________________________ ^ go up
Ryan Church
Management Consultant, Management Analysis & Development, Minnesota Department of Administration
Mr. Church has been a longtime manager in Minnesota state government, advisor to agency commissioners and the governor. Formerly the Director of Community Health Services at the Minnesota Department of Health, he has facilitated a variety of executive bodies including legislative and governor’s commissions related to the environment and natural resources conservation. He holds a master’s in public administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
_______________________________________ ^ go up
Peter H. Connor
President, Nicolet Hardwoods Corp., Pine River Hardwoods and W•D Flooring
Mr. Connor, a fifth generation lumberman, sustainably manages privately owned industrial forestland and his family’s vertically integrated lumber company. Since 1902 their mill has processed over a billion board feet of lumber and over 800-million square feet of flooring, yet there is more standing timber on the Connor lands today than when it was built. The Connors also instituted best management practices later adopted by the State of Wisconsin and established Wisconsin’s first school forest program.
_______________________________________ ^ go up
Tom Duffus
Upper Midwest Director, The Conservation Fund
Mr. Duffus, former program director of The Nature Conservancy’s Northeast Minnesota Office, has worked in land conservation for over 23 years in Wyoming, Canada and the Adirondacks. He has worked extensively with forestland owners including timber investors, families and natural resource agencies, and is an experienced conservation easement practitioner. With The Conservation Fund his focus is to promote a market-driven approach to forestland conservation in the upper Great Lakes and upper Mississippi River watersheds.
_______________________________________ ^ go up
Wayne Brandt
Executive Vice President, Minnesota Forest Industries and Minnesota Timber Producers Association
Mr. Brandt, formerly president of the Iron Mining Association of Minnesota, has managed two re-election campaigns for Minnesota Congressman Jim Oberstar, served as a field representative for Seafarers International Union and has been on numerous forestry and natural resource committees in the public and private sectors. He is currently a gubernatorial appointee to the Minnesota Forest Resources Council and the chair of the Forest Industries Association Council.
_______________________________________ ^ go up
Richard Greenwood
Director, Forest Management Branch, Forests Division, Ontario Ministry of Natural
Resources
Mr. Greenwood started in the forest industry in Canada and Australia before joining
the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources as a field forester in 1978. There he has
been responsible for forest science and technology development and for Ontario?s
first environmental assessment for forests. As director of the Forest Management Branch of OMNR, he is responsible for the legislation, policy, program direction and practices necessary for the sustainable management of 70 million hectares of public forests.
_______________________________________ ^ go up
Dr. Jiaxin Chen
Impacts and Adaptation Research Scientist, Ontario Forest Research Institute, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
Dr. Chen joined the Climate Change Research Group at Ontario Forest Research Institute, OMNR, in 2003, where he and his colleagues adapted the US national forest carbon budget model (FORCARB-ON) and assessed the carbon storage in Ontario’s managed forests and wood products. Previously he was a visiting scientist at Aalborg University, in Denmark, and on the faculties of Central South University, in China, and Ontario’s Lakehead University Faculty of Forestry and Forest Environment, where he focused on forest growth and carbon modeling.
_______________________________________ ^ go up
