Justin Adams has spent 25 years championing innovation and sustainability in both the private and public sectors to address the climate challenge. For the last decade, he has focused on accelerating Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) to create rural jobs and reverse biodiversity loss and climate breakdown. He joined The World Economic Forum at the end of 2018 to lead the Tropical Forest Alliance, which is the leading public private partnership focused on reducing commodity-driven deforestation. He launched the Trillion Trees Platform, 1t.org, at Davos 2020 to build a global movement for ecosystem restoration and is also now exploring how to unlock carbon finance to accelerate NBS deployment.

Jad Daley has been the president and chief executive officer of American Forests, the nation’s first and oldest forest conservation organization, since 2018. He leads the organization forward on climate change, social equity and other issues related to forests. He moved into that role after a year of serving as the organization’s vice president of conservation programs. He also is co-chair of the Forest-Climate Working Group, which he helped launch in 2007, and a member of the Forest Proud Board of Directors. Daley has a long record of leadership in the forest community. From 2008 to 2017, he was at The Trust for Public Land, where he led the Climate Conservation Program and eventually served as vice president for program development. He has played a lead role in authoring multiple pieces of federal legislation for forests, including the enabling language for the USDA Forest Service’s Community Forest Program and the Community Wood Energy Program, both enacted as part of the 2008 Farm Bill. He is a widely published writer on conservation topics and has an active presence on Medium.

Kesha Braunskill is the Urban and Community Forestry Coordinator for the Delaware Forest Service, overseeing a statewide grant program that has provided over $1.75 million in community tree projects and planted more than 13,000 trees. http://de.gov/treegrantdashboard

Braunskill also oversees several statewide community recognition programs including, Tree City USA and Delaware’s own Tree Friendly Community Program, which focus on honoring municipalities and homeowner associations that practice good tree management. Delaware’s urban program has also hosted an annual arborist and tree care seminar for the past ten years that focuses on providing training for arborists and tree care workers in the regional tree industry.

Braunskill is an ISA-certified arborist and has worked for the Delaware Forest Service for the past eight years. She is the current past Chair of the Northeast-Midwest State Foresters Alliance (NMSFA) urban and community forestry state coordinators committee. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland and a master’s degree from Delaware State University. She also pursued post-graduate research at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she studied ecology and plant and animal interactions.

Suzanne DiBianca leads Salesforce’s stakeholder strategy, driving positive social and environmental impact across the company, customers partners and community. She spearheads Salesforce’s sustainability efforts to address the urgency of climate change with bold leadership, champions workforce innovation to accelerate training and hiring of the military community, and closely collaborates with Salesforce Ventures to invest in diverse, world-class entrepreneurs who are solving some of the world’s greatest challenges across education and workforce development, equality, sustainability and the social sector through Salesforce’s Impact Fund.

DiBianca has worked at Salesforce for close to 20 years and leads through encouraging collaboration at all levels of the organization and across the community through innovative programs and dynamic partnerships.

Previously, DiBianca was co-founder and president of the Salesforce Foundation and Salesforce.org. Under DiBianca’s leadership, Salesforce pioneered the 1-1-1 model of integrated corporate philanthropy, which dedicates 1 percent of Salesforce’s equity, employee time or product back into the community. Today, Salesforce serves as a successful model for corporate social responsibility, with more than 10,000 companies adopting this model through Pledge 1%, which DiBianca is a founding board member.

DiBianca is a recognized leader in corporate philanthropy. She has been named one of Inside Philanthropy’s 50 Most Powerful Women in Philanthropy and is a member of the San Francisco Business Times’ Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business hall of fame. She currently serves as a board director and trustee at The Tides Foundation and Patrick J. McGovern Foundation. In addition, she serves on the advisory boards of Classy, Inc., Box.org, Twilio.org and the DocuSign Impact Fund.

Congresswoman Debbie Dingell represents Michigan’s 12th District in the U.S. House of Representatives, where she has made it a priority to be a voice for the Midwest on issues that matter most to working families.

A member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Debbie is a leader on efforts to grow manufacturing, improve access to quality affordable health care, support seniors and veterans and protect the Great Lakes. Recognized as one of the 25 hardest-working Members of Congress, Debbie is focused on forging bipartisan solutions that support Michigan’s families and economy, including improving long-term care and ushering in the future of the American auto industry.

Before being elected to Congress, Debbie worked in the auto industry for more than three decades, where she was President of the General Motors (GM) Foundation and a senior executive responsible for public affairs. She was also Chairman of the Wayne State University (WSU) Board of Governors, and continues to fight to make education more affordable and accessible in Congress.

As director of corporate sustainability at Weyerhaeuser, Ara Erickson is responsible for developing and executing the company’s overall sustainability strategy, including creating value and new opportunities related to a sustainable future. Her team also helps ensure a sustainable supply chain for Weyerhaeuser’s customers by maintaining the company’s forest and wood fiber certification programs.

A few of the challenges and opportunities that Erickson addresses in her role are climate change, forest carbon, social acceptance of sustainable forestry, benefits of wood products as alternatives to other building materials, and productive stakeholder engagement. She focuses on helping Weyerhaeuser — and the company’s many partners — navigate through barriers that keep good ideas moving forward, while listening and responding to divergent views on which path to follow.

Prior to Weyerhaeuser, Erickson directed a community-based, urban forest restoration program, managed research related to forest ownership and land use change, and worked as an environmental consultant. Erickson holds a Master’s of Science in Forest Resources from the University of Washington and a Bachelor’s of Science in Resource Management from the University of California, Berkeley. She was part of the 2018 Harvard Business School’s Young American Leadership Program, Weyerhaeuser’s NextGen Leadership Development Program, and the Ford Foundation’s Fellowship in Urban and Community Forestry.

She is a leader in the forest sector, and serves on the Board of American Forests, the Woodland Operating Committee of the American Forest Foundation, the Steering Committee for the inaugural Women’s Forest Congress, the Executive Council of the Green Seattle Partnership and volunteers regularly in her community. She is an avid supporter and admirer of trees, forests, and forestry and delights in coming across a tree growing in an unusual location or casting dappled shade in a particularly beautiful setting.

Governor Tony Evers was elected the 46th governor of the state of Wisconsin on November 6, 2018. Prior to his election, he served as the Wisconsin State Superintendent of Public Instruction winning statewide elections in 2009, 2013, and 2017. With over three decades of public education experience, Governor Evers has dedicated his life to fighting for Wisconsin’s kids and serving the people of Wisconsin.

Wisconsin has a long and proud history of environmental conservation and, as a former science teacher himself, the governor is continuing that tradition by embracing science and bringing people together to solve the problems facing the state and building a sustainable future for future generations. Since being elected, Governor Evers established the Office of Sustainability and Clean Energy and the Governor’s Task Force on Climate Change, as well as prioritizing investments in clean water and renewable energy.

He began his career in 1976 and has served Wisconsin students, parents, and citizens all over Wisconsin in Tomah, Oakfield, Verona, and Oshkosh. Born and raised in Plymouth, Wisconsin, Governor Evers graduated from Plymouth High School and earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree in educational administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is married to his high school sweetheart, Kathy, an educator. They are parents of three adult children, all public school graduates, and have nine grandchildren.

Karen Fang is Managing Director, Global Head of Sustainable Finance at Bank of America. Formerly, she was the Head of Global Fixed Income, Currencies & Commodities (FICC) Cross Asset Trading, and the Head of Americas FICC Sales & Solutions prior to that.  She is a member of the Bank of America Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) committee, the Sustainable Markets Committee, as well as the firm wide Asian Leadership Council.

Prior to joining Bank of America, Karen was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs where she was the Head of the Pension, Endowment and Foundation Cross Asset Solutions Group. Previously, she held senior positions in derivatives structuring, including at Merrill Lynch in Tokyo and Deutsche Bank in London.

Karen was named one of Fortune’s “40 under 40”and a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum (WEF). She was selected to be a member of the WEF Expert Network. Karen was a member of the Bank of America team recognized by American Banker as part of their “Most Powerful Women in Banking and Finance” feature and was called out as one of five leaders who has made a significant impact in a short amount of time. She served as a mentor for the Global Ambassadors program, a Bank of America partnership with Vital Voices and was honored by the Women’s Venture Fund for her work with female entrepreneurs. Karen was chosen by Investment Dealers’ Digest as one of the “40 under 40” bankers and she was also a recipient of the Women’s Bond Club of New York’s “Rising Star Award.” Karen holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Tokyo.

Jay Farrell was named executive director of the National Association of State Foresters (NASF) in 2007. He leads NASF as a national nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., representing the directors of forestry agencies from the 50 U.S. states, eight U.S. territories and freely associated states and the District of Columbia. Formerly, Farrell managed 34 North American implementation committees for the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI). He established the first Canadian and multi-state SFI implementation committees and ensured compliance with certification standards for landowner education, logger training and local partnerships. Farrell also worked as a policy manager on federal timber and forest science issues for the American Forest & Paper Association.

Prior to his work with nonprofit organizations, Farrell worked as a forester and wood procurement manager. He served as the first material acquisition manager for American Wood Fibers, Inc., sourcing wood waste to support the development of innovative products and new manufacturing facilities. He began his career working as a field forester, first as an intern with the U.S.Department of Agriculture Forest Service and then as a professional forester working for Westvaco Corporation in landowner assistance, wood procurement and logging supervision roles. He is a member of the Society of American Foresters and the American Society of Association Executives, and served as chair of the National Council of Forestry Association Executives.

Jerome Foster II is an environmental activist, voting rights advocate, and emerging technology engineer. He sits on President Biden’s White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. Based in New York City, but born and raised in Washington DC, he served as intern for the late Honorable John Lewis and served as Board Member for the DC State Board of Education. He now serves as Executive Director of OneMillionOfUs which educates and mobilizes young people to register and turn out to vote.

He studied International Environmental Governance, Policy, and Social Justice at Harvard University and was invited to speak at the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights. Jerome helped to pass the Clean Energy DC Act (one of the most comprehensive decarbonization bills being implemented in the nation). He is one of the lead organizers of the Fridays For Future youth climate strike movement holding weekly climate strikes in front of the White House and Harvard University for over 80 weeks. For the first climate strike in February, 2019, he mobilized 400 students from his school and took a citywide leadership role in organizing climate strikes and speaking out about climate justice issues in rallies and town halls. Later on, he began working alongside Jane Fonda to kickstart Fire Drill Fridays in front of the U.S. Capitol.

His experience in climate activism extends further via his work with National Geographic, where he journeyed across the island of Iceland as a Climatology Researcher and Virtual Reality Developer.

Before his time as an activist, he coded civic-based 3D Virtual Reality Environments. Later winning the World Series of Entrepreneurship for creating a civic-based virtual reality organization called TAU VR.

Taldi Harrison is REI’s community & government affairs manager. In this capacity she oversees REI’s federal government affairs work and policy related philanthropy. Her work focuses on fostering collaborative partnerships with a number of national non-profits and decision makers at the federal level to ensure access to and infrastructure for inspiring outdoor recreation opportunities. Taldi serves on the Board of Directors of the Washington Green Schools Alliance, Eastrail Partners and The Conservation Alliance. Raised in the Flathead Valley in Montana, Taldi is an avid outdoors woman who enjoys hiking, mountain biking, climbing, camping, mountaineering, and skiing.

Rita is currently serving as the Executive Vice President of External Relations and Policy at the American Forest Foundation. In this role she leads the Foundation’s positioning, external relationships, and public policy strategy. On January 1, 2022, Rita will assume the position of President and CEO of the American Forest Foundation.

In her 20-year career in forest conservation, Rita has staffed Congressional Leaders on the House Committee on Agriculture, built and curated coalitions and partnerships including the Forest Climate Working Group, the Women’s Forest Congress, and served as a nonprofit leader. In this myriad of roles, Rita has shaped strategy, programs and public policies that have unlocked billions in support for family forest stewardship and have had a significant impact on climate change, wildfire resilience, and forest sustainability across the United States. Rita finds energy in tackling difficult conservation challenges and bringing diverse teams, coalitions, resources, and strategy together to create market relevant solutions.

Born on a beef cattle farm in Upstate New York, Rita felt the call to champion natural resource conservation and the families that own and care for the land having grown up making hay, harvesting firewood, riding horses, and herding cattle with her family. Rita has never met a person she couldn’t build a relationship with and when not working, she’s likely chasing her three-year old son, listening to country music, gardening, or snuggling with her dogs, Tongass and Chugach, all 200 pounds of them!

Chris French is currently the Acting Deputy Undersecretary for Natural Resources and the Environment at the United States Department of Agriculture.  His permanent position is Deputy Chief of National Forest System for the U.S.D.A. Forest Service Washington D.C.  Chris accepted this appointment in July 2019 after serving as Acting Deputy Chief since October 2018.  In this role, Chris is responsible for policy, oversight and direction for the natural resource and public service delivery programs across the 193 million acres of National Forests and Grasslands that comprise the National Forest System.  He reports to the Chief of the agency and is a part of the agency’s Executive Leadership Team.

Prior to his current position, Chris served as Associate Deputy Chief of National Forest System, Director of the Ecosystem Management Coordination (EMC) Staff, Deputy Director of Forest Management, and Assistant Director for Planning.  In these positions he has led the agency’s implementation of forest management, range management, land management planning, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), administrative reviews, land management litigation, monitoring, timber sales, stewardship contracting, reforestation, and nursery programs.

Chris began his career in Arizona on the Coronado National Forest in 1991 and has worked in recreation, fire, fuels, wildlife, NEPA, forest planning, and wilderness.  He has served in a variety of leadership positions on agency districts, forests, and now at the national headquarters.

Kristina Kloberdanz is Mastercard’s first chief sustainability officer (CSO). A catalyst for change, she works with Mastercard’s Board of Directors and senior executives to advance sustainability and drive strategic growth. She is helping shape Mastercard’s business strategy through its commitment to Environmental, Social and Governance, which comes from the long-held belief that doing good for society helps Mastercard do well as a company. Kloberdanz believes that companies must use their infrastructure, technologies, capital and creativity in order to create scalable and sustainable solutions that benefit everyone — employees, citizens, customers, companies and governments.

As CSO, she collaborates with leadership across the business integrating Mastercard’s environmental sustainability strategy and initiatives to leverage the full scale and suite of their business activities, systems, partnerships and people to pioneer environmentally sustainable growth for all. Kloberdanz’s role at Mastercard rests on two decades of experience from her work at IBM leading its global corporate responsibility, as an inaugural member and facilitator of IBM’s Corporate Service Corps and managing IBM’s Global Sports and Entertainment Sponsorships, among other responsibilities.

Kloberdanz has served on a variety of nonprofit boards and advisory councils, from Outward Bound International to New York City Ballet’s School of American Ballet, lending her expertise in sustainability, marketing, strategic planning and fundraising. Kloberdanz was listed on Forbes: 46 Sustainability Leaders (Who Are Also Women) in July 2018.

Dr. Hadas Kushnir joined the Natural Climate Solutions Division in USAID’s Center for Environment, Energy and Infrastructure as Division Lead in 2021 with over ten years of experience at USAID in the Biodiversity Division, the Office of Economic Growth at USAID/Uganda, and the Africa Bureau’s Office of Sustainable Development. Her work at USAID has focused on the intersection between biodiversity conservation, natural resource management, agriculture, and climate change as well as natural resource corruption. Prior to her work at USAID, Dr. Kushnir completed her PhD in Conservation Biology at the University of Minnesota and worked for the New York City Parks Department on ecological restoration projects throughout New York City.

Dan Lambe is the president of the Arbor Day Foundation, an organization founded in 1972 that has grown to become the largest nonprofit membership organization dedicated to planting trees. During his 15 years with the Foundation, he has led the development of innovative programs that expand the organization’s global reach, including international forest restoration efforts and the most recent Tree Cities of the World program. In addition, Lambe spearheads the Arbor Day Foundation’s Evergreen Alliance — a strategic group of corporate leaders dedicated to helping the organization meet its recently announced Time for Trees initiative to plant 100 million trees and inspire 5 million tree planters by 2022.

Over the course of his tenure, Lambe has become a trusted resource for corporate sustainability leaders and the media alike. He has become influential in the sustainability and forestry space, regularly featured as a speaker at conferences hosted by the United Nations, Sustainable Brands, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 3BL and others. He sits on the steering committee for the Sustainable Urban Forests Coalition, serves as a board member for the Sustainable Forestry Initiative and is the recipient of the Chief’s Honor Award — the USDA Forest Service’s highest award. Lambe is also a frequent resource for publications such as CNN, NPR, Popular Science and Fast Company.

Kevin McCarthy proudly serves as Representative for California’s 23rd Congressional District and as the Republican Leader of the United States House of Representatives. A fourth-generation resident of Kern County, McCarthy is the son of a firefighter and the grandson of a cattle rancher. Raised in a working-class Bakersfield home, McCarthy learned the value of hard work at a young age. He fulfilled his dream of opening his own small business, Kevin O’s Deli. He learned firsthand that big government is an obstacle to success – a lesson that compelled him to enter public service.

McCarthy worked hard to grow his business, eventually selling the deli to pay his way through California State University Bakersfield, where he received undergraduate and graduate degrees in business. He married his high school sweetheart, Judy. They still live in the first house they bought together – the Bakersfield home where they raised their two children, Connor and Meghan.

There is a mantra in McCarthy’s office: have the wisdom to listen and the courage to lead. That mantra, together with his personal experiences as a California native, drive him to support organizations like 1t.org. California is home to some of the world’s most beautiful and bountiful forests, but improper management has made those forests susceptible to wildfire.  As a member of the 1t.org Stakeholder Council, McCarthy intends to learn more about properly managing the forests of his home state and lead others to create a cleaner, healthier, and safer environment.

Jennifer Merli is Vice President of Corporate Sustainability at Mastercard.  Having spent 18 years in product development and management at both Mastercard and various financial institutions, she now leads Mastercard’s environmental sustainability initiatives, including execution of our commitment to restore 100 million trees globally over the next 5 years through the Priceless Planet Coalition.

Since joining Mastercard in October 2009, Jennifer held various product management positions at the North America and global level.  Over more than a decade, she led the development and go-to-market execution of payment and data solutions across Mastercard’s small business, corporate travel and B2B payments businesses, working closely with banks, technology companies and corporates of all sizes to promote the growth of these segments across the globe.

Prior to MasterCard, she held roles in business development, marketing, and product management at Citi and GE.  Jennifer has a Bachelor’s degree in Geology and Environmental Studies from Binghamton University (SUNY) and an MBA in Marketing and Finance from Fordham Graduate School of Business.  She is based in Mastercard’s global headquarters in Purchase, New York.

Mary Mitsos joined the National Forest Foundation (NFF) in July 2001, and serves as president and chief executive officer. Prior to that, Mitsos was director of community-based forest stewardship at the Pinchot Institute for Conservation, where she provided leadership for the program in sustainable forestry and sustaining rural communities. She brings expertise in a range of topics relating to the protection and sustainable management of forest ecosystems and sustainable development. Her specialized interests are in collaborative stewardship, contracting mechanisms on public forestlands, conservation-based development and strengthening the working relationship between local communities and forestland managers.

Mitsos is currently a member of the Managing Partner team that provides assistance to nonprofits that are participating in The Ford Foundation Community-Based Forestry Demonstration Program. With more than two decades of experience in the natural resources field, Mitsos holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Business from the University of Colorado-Denver. In addition, she earned a Master of Science in Natural Resources, and a Master of Arts in Applied Economics, from the University of Michigan, where she completed her masters project on Sustainable Management of Common Property Resources. She served on the steering committee of the Seventh American Forest Congress Communities Committee, as a board member of the National Network of Forest Practitioners and serves on the advisory board for the W.A. Franke College of Forestry & Conservation at the University of Montana.

Kevin J. Patel has fought as an intersectional climate justice activist from Los Angeles, CA for the past ten years. Growing up with severe heart issues due to Los Angeles’s poor air quality, he is one of the millions of people across the world who are already victims of the climate crisis.  In 2019, Kevin founded OneUpAction International, an organization that supports and empowers marginalized youth by providing them with the resources they need to be changemakers. Through his work with OneUpAction, Kevin collaborated with the community to create the first-of-its-kind Youth Climate Commission in LA County to amplify youth voices on the climate crisis. Kevin is a UN Togetherband Ambassador for Goal 13 and 14, and he currently serves as a 2020 National Geographic Young Explorer. He also serves on the Youthtopia_World: Circle of Youth Council, the ClimatePower2020 Council, and the Intersectional Environmentalist Council. Kevin is currently pursuing his undergraduate degree in Political Science at Loyola Marymount University

Michelle Patron is director of sustainability policy at Microsoft where she leads the company’s policy efforts on sustainability and energy issues. She has two decades of unique experience forecasting energy markets for private investors and driving high impact energy, environmental and foreign policy.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Patron served as special assistant to the president and senior director for energy and climate on the National Security Council at the White House from 2013 to 2015. In that role, she led efforts to design and execute ground breaking energy and climate policy, including the historic climate deal with China. Prior to the White House, she was senior director at PIRA Energy Group, a private energy research firm in New York City. Earlier in her career, Patron worked at the Department of Energy, Deutsche Bank, the International Energy Agency and the Center for International Environmental Law, and served as energy attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. She has served as an expert commentator to CNBC, BBC, NPR, Fox, CBS, the Economist and the New York Times and written op-eds for Reuters, Foreign Affairs, the Financial Times and the Los Angeles Times. She has taught as an adjunct professor at New York University and is a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Alton Perry assists African American landowners in using their woodlands to increase family wealth and build a legacy. His work supports Roanoke Electric Cooperative’s mission to enhance the quality of life in the diverse communities it serves. All landowners owning at least one contiguous eight-acre parcel of woodland are eligible to participate. The project also engages youth and young adults in learning what they need to know to advance sustainable forestry on their family lands and provides role models, mentoring, and internship opportunities to begin cultivating future natural resource professionals. Perry serves on the boards of the North Carolina Tree Farm Program,  ForestHer NC, and the Conservation Trust of North Carolina, represents the SFLR Network on the Forest Climate Working Group, and is a member of the SFLR Network Leadership Team.

Raised by immigrant farmworkers in Somerton, Arizona, Regina is the youngest of six children and began breaking barriers early on as the first member of her family to vote and the first to graduate from college. She is a proud graduate of the University of Arizona and holds a post-graduate certificate from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

In 2007, Regina became the first woman to represent Tucson’s Ward 1 on the Tucson City Council. While on the Council, Regina helped lift Tucson out of the Great Recession to its most prosperous decade in recent history, helping spur the creation of thousands of high-wages, long-term jobs. She has proven herself to be a champion for issues such as acting boldly on climate change, affordable housing, infrastructure investment, immigrant and workers rights’, and access to a high-quality education.

In November 2019 Regina was elected Tucson Mayor, becoming the first woman and first Latina Mayor of Tucson, as well as the only Latina Mayor in the 50 largest U.S. cities. Regina is the proud mother of two bi-lingual, bi-cultural, and bi-adorable children, Emiliano and Luciana, and has been married to Ruben Reyes for 15 years.

Dr. Rajwant Singh is the founder and president of EcoSikh, a response from the Sikh community to the threats of climate change and the deterioration of the environment. EcoSikh operates chiefly in India and in many other countries worldwide with environmental outreach programs. EcoSikh has recently launched a massive drive to plant 1 million trees around the world in celebration of the 550^th birth-anniversary of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism. Over 150 forests have been planted by EcoSikh and it has initiated faith based plantation in many countries. Rajwant Singh is the co-founder and senior advisor to the National Sikh Campaign launching a major media initiative to educate Americans about Sikhs and Sikhism. Dr. Singh has worked with three different administrations on various faith-based, social justice, and environmental issues. Internationally, Dr. Singh has represented the Sikh perspective in numerous international forums and has been invited by the Vatican and Buckingham Palace to serve as a Sikh representative.

Dr. Rajwant Singh, is also the Chairman of the Sikh Council on Religion and Education (SCORE), Communications Director of the Sikh Human Development Foundation, and Secretary of the Guru Gobind Singh Foundation in Maryland. Dr. Singh has held the presidency of the Interfaith Council of Metropolitan Washington, which convenes 11 faith communities in Washington, D.C. for joint dialogue and joint work on critical issues facing society.

Peter Stein joined Lyme Timber Company (LTC) in 1990 and has led the firm’s conservation-oriented forestland investment strategies.

As of 2020, Lyme has raised more than $1 billion of private capital that has been, or will be, invested in high conservation value forests in the U.S. and Canada. Lyme’s conservation advisory business assists families and companies in the design and execution of conservation transactions, resulting in more than 900,000 acres of permanent land conservation in 12 states and the Province of Quebec.

Prior to his career with LTC Partners and Lyme, Stein was senior vice president of the Trust for Public Land (TPL), where he was one of the founding staff. He received the Kingsbury Browne Award from the Land Trust Alliance and Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in 2012.

Stein lectures frequently at graduate schools and professional conferences on conservation investment structures and strategies. He is the co-founder of the Conservation Finance Network and the International Land Conservation Network. Stein serves on the Investment Advisory Committee of Spring Point Partners, the Advisory Boards of Quantified Ventures and Rose Smart Growth Real Estate Fund and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Montshire Museum. He is a former board chair of the Land Trust Alliance and served as a founding commissioner of the Land Trust Accreditation Commission.

Dr. Chris Swanston is director of the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science, a partnership led by the USDA Forest Service and designed as a boundary-spanning organization providing climate adaptation and carbon stewardship services to land managers. He also serves as director of the USDA Northern Forests Climate Hub and project leader for the USFS Northern Research Station’s Climate, Fire, and Carbon Cycle Sciences research group. These service and research teams include adaptation professionals, carbon biogeochemists, landscape ecologists, foresters, meteorologists, soil scientists, fire and smoke behavior scientists, modelers, and communication specialists.

Swanston’s research background began with investigation into what makes carbon more or less stable in forests, and work to reveal the pathways that carbon follows as it moves through these ecosystems. His later work has shifted to research leadership and supporting the mainstreaming of climate-informed planning in urban, rural, and wildland ecosystem management.

Swanston received a BS degree from Humboldt State University in forest soils and ecology, and MS and PhD degrees from Oregon State University in forest science. Originally from California, Swanston is embracing the dynamic beauty of his home in the upper Midwest through snowshoeing and snowshoe running, trail running, fishing, and lake kayaking. These mostly involve moving to keep warm in the snow season or escape black flies in the non-snow season.

Bryan Van Stippen is Program Director for National Indian Carbon Coalition, an initiative of the Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF) that provides education, training and technical assistance to American Indian tribes, Alaska Native Villages & Corporations, Native Hawaiian organizations and First Nations in Canada on the development of carbon credit and renewable energy projects on tribal land. A member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, Van Stippen previously served for seven years as Tribal Attorney for the Ho-Chunk Nation Department of Justice in Wisconsin where he was responsible for land acquisition and other land-related issues. He earned a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration and a Masters in Computer Information Systems from Tarleton State University in Texas. Van Stippen is a graduate of the University of North Dakota School of Law (J.D.); the University of Tulsa College of Law (LL.M. in American Indian and Indigenous Law); and the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law (S.J.D in Indigenous Peoples Law & Policy). He lives with his wife and two children in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Bryan is a representative on the Voluntary Carbon Market Initiative Expert Advisory Group, a Legacy Member of the  Ecosystem Service Marketplace Consortium, and a representative on the Bipartisan Policy Center Farm and Forest Carbon Solutions Task Force.