Nicole Schwab is Co-Director of the Platform to Accelerate Nature-Based Solutions and Director of 1t.org at the World Economic Forum. With a scientific and public policy background, she started her career working on health policy in the Andes for the Government of Bolivia and the World Bank, before returning to Europe to become Founding Director of the Forum of Young Global Leaders – which she currently chairs. In 2009, she co-founded EDGE Certified Foundation, a business certification standard for gender equality in the workplace, which today works with over 250 multinational companies across 40 countries. She then served as a consultant and strategic advisor to non-profit organizations at the intersection of environment and gender, including National Geographic Society’s Campaign for Nature. Her writing includes an award-winning novel, The Heart of the Labyrinth.

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.

Amanda Eyrich Daly serves as the Senior Director of Girl Scout Experience at Girl Scouts of the USA.  Amanda is a strategic leader with national expertise in environmental and STEM education, with a focus on access and equity. Amanda previously served as an Assistant Dean at the City University of New York and focused on equity in STEM through the administration of college readiness programs. Amanda has held leadership positions at national non-profits, institutes of higher education and community-based organizations. She developed her passion for environmental education during her time at the United Nations, Wildlife Conservation Society and as a Peace Corps volunteer. Amanda holds an M.A. from New York University in Environmental Conservation Education and a B.S. from Richard Stockton University in Environmental Studies.

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.

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.

Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz leads Washington state’s wildfire fighting force and manages nearly 6 million acres of public lands – from coastal waters and aquatic reserves, to working forests and farms, commercial developments, and unparalleled recreation areas.

Commissioner Franz is committed to ensuring our public lands are healthy and productive, both today and for future generations. She has led efforts to protect our communities and environment from the impacts of a changing climate, increased development, and wildfire.

Franz has also prioritized supporting local communities, both urban and rural. The lands she manages sustainably generate hundreds of millions of dollars for schools and public services, like libraries and hospitals. And she has allocated millions of dollars to spark economic opportunities in struggling rural communities. She knows that our working lands – and the communities that depend on them for family-wage jobs – are integral to our success as a state, and she is investing in their success.

Since taking office in 2017, Franz has:

• Secured a historic $500 million investment from the state Legislature to prevent and fight wildfires, fund forest restoration, and build community resilience. This bipartisan legislation – supported by a wide-ranging coalition of firefighters, fire chiefs, tribes, environmentalists, and public health advocates – passed unanimously.

• Developed a 20-year Forest Health Strategic Planto restore wildfire resilience in our forests. This plan will make more than 1 million acres of forest healthier and more resistant to wildfires – at a scale and pace that is unprecedented. Already, DNR has conducted forest restoration work on hundreds of thousands of acres to increase forest and watershed resilience.

• Developed the agency’s first-ever Plan for Climate Resilience, which lays out a course of action to combat the threat of climate change. Commissioner Franz works with a coalition of science, policy, and business leaders to recommend and implement climate resilience in Washington state.

• Worked with the Legislature protect nearly 40,000 additional acres of state lands, including the preservation of Blanchard Mountain, adding them to the 800,000 acres of DNR lands already managed for conservation.

Ordered the shutdown and removal of a salmon farm in Port Angeles following the unauthorized release of hundreds of thousands of non-native Atlantic salmon. She was also a central part of the successful effort to halt federal plans for offshore drilling near the Olympic Peninsula.

Introduced a sweeping proposal to “Keep Washington Evergreen” by protecting 1 million acres of forest from deforestation and replanting 1 million acres of forest by 2040.

Under Commissioner Franz’s leadership, DNR has built a robust clean-energy program to help combat the climate crisis and create clean energy jobs. For the first time in Washington state history, the agency has leased state trust lands for solar power projects. Franz has also expanded DNR’s wind power program, with wind turbines on state trust lands that can generate 200 megawatts of power, which raise millions to build public schools and universities.

Franz is a third-generation farmer and small forest landowner, and has three boys who she raised on a farm. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Smith College and a juris doctor from Northeastern University Law School.

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!

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.

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

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.

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.

Bill is currently the Chief Operating Officer for One Tree Planted, a global tree planting and reforestation non-profit that has planted over 90M trees since 2014 in 74 countries in partnership with hundreds of planting and community partners around the globe. Bill brings his experience in urban forestry and large-scale forest restoration to help support the One Tree Planted team and increase the pace and scale of the work. Bill has worked for over 30 years for non-profit conservation organizations including The Nature Conservancy, The Trust for Public Land, the Highstead Foundation and Maine Farmland Trust. Bill holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Fairfield University and a master’s degree in Soil Science and Ecology from North Carolina State University and a SEA semester alumni.

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.

Homer Wilkes, Ph.D., a native of Port Gibson, Mississippi, currently serves as Under Secretary for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Natural Resources and the Environment, where he oversees the work of the U.S. Forest Service. He previously served as Director for the Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem Restoration Team, where he was responsible for overseeing the rebuilding of the Ecosystem of the Gulf of Mexico after the BP Oil Spill of 2010. He has also served as the Acting Associate Chief of USDA/Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Washington, D.C.

Wilkes’ tenure with the USDA spans over 42 years. During his tenure he has served as State Conservationist for Mississippi; Chief Financial Officer for NRCS in Washington, D.C.; and as Deputy State Conservationist for Mississippi.

Wilkes proudly served as Naval Supply Officer in the United States Navy Reserves from November 1984 – April 2007.

He received his bachelor’s degree, MBA, and Ph.D. in urban higher education from Jackson State University. Also, he successfully completed the USDA Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program (SES CDP) through American University’s Key Executive Leadership Certificate in Public Policy.

Wilkes and his wife, Kim, currently reside in Ridgeland, Miss. They have three sons: Justin, Austin, and Harrison. He enjoys restoring classic automobiles in his spare time.