James B. Hull, C.F. is state forester and director of the Texas Forest Service, an agency of The Texas A&M University System. He has held this position since 1996 when he was named Texas' seventh State Forester and Associate Vice Chancellor for the Agriculture Program by The Texas A&M Board of Regents. Hull holds a Bachelor of Science degree in forestry from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. He is a certified forester, and in 1988 was elected as a Fellow in the Society of American Foresters. He has extensive experience in all areas of forestry, particularly forest management, policy, wildfire protection and administration.

Under Hull's leadership, the Texas Forest Service has gained prominence as a state and national leader in all risk incident management as evidenced by its lead role in the Space Shuttle Columbia recovery effort and several hurricane recovery events. Under Hull's direction and encouragement, and for the first time in the history of the agency, forest inventory and analysis is a statewide effort. Through his efforts the Texas Forest Service is championing the development of ecosystem services and sustainable forestry.

Steve McKeand is Professor of Forestry and Environmental Resources at NC State University where he is Co-Director of the Cooperative Tree Improvement Program. Steve has worked with the Cooperative in southern tree improvement for almost 30 years. He leads a team of scientists, staff, and students in managing one of the largest tree genetics and breeding programs in the world. The Cooperative is supported by forest products companies, forest landowners, and state forestry agencies throughout the southeastern US.

In 2006, Steve was the first recipient of the NC State University CNR-CALS Award for Service to Environment and Society, an award that reflects the success of the Cooperative Tree Improvement Program over the years.

Brad St.Clair is a Research Geneticist and Team Leader of the Forest Genetics Team of the Pacific Northwest Research Station. His research interests are primarily concerned with trying to understand how plants are adapted to their environments and implications for management including tree improvement, restoration, gene conservation, and responses to climate change. Brad received his B.S. from the University of California, Berkeley (1980), his M.S. from University of Wisconsin, Madison (1984), and his Ph.D. from Oregon State University (1989).

Clark S. Binkley, Ph.D., is Managing Director of International Forestry Investment Advisors (IFIA), a firm he founded to develop and implement innovative, socially responsible timberland investment strategies for sophisticated investors. IFIA’s current work focuses on emerging markets, forestry technologies and capital-market arbitrage.

Prior to founding IFIA, he was Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of the Hancock Timber Resource Group, the world’s largest timberland investment advisory firm serving private-equity clients. During the six full years of his tenure at Hancock, he was responsible for the investment strategies that produced 300 bps/yr of annual out performance versus the industry benchmark, and lead efforts to raise over $2 billion in equity capital.

Before joining Hancock, Clark was Dean of the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia. From 1978-90, he was a member of the faculty at Yale University where, in 1990, he was named the Frederick K. Weyerhaeuser Professor of Forest Resource Management. He serves on the boards of directors of two publicly traded forest products companies—West Fraser Timber, Ltd. and TimberWest Forests—as well as Cellfor, the world’s leading forest biotechnology company. In the past 30 years, he has consulted to numerous forest products companies, governmental agencies and conservation groups. Clark has written more than 100 books and articles on forest economics, and is known worldwide for his research on timberland investments. He holds degrees in Applied Mathematics and Engineering from Harvard University and in Forestry and Environmental Studies from Yale University.