Speaker Bios
Dr. Joseph K. Berry
President, Berry & Associates Spatial Information Systems
Dr. Joseph Berry is a leading consultant and educator in the application of GIS technology. He is the principal of Berry and Associates // Spatial Information Systems (BASIS), consultants and software developers in geotechnology and the author of the "Beyond Mapping" column for GeoWorld magazine since 1989, several books and over 200 papers on GIS theory and applications. He conducted basic research and taught courses in GIS for twelve years at Yale University's Graduate School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and is currently the W. M. Keck Visiting Scholar in Geosciences at the University of Denver and an adjunct faculty member in natural resources at Colorado State University.
David Bouwman
Chief Technology Officer, DTS Agile
Dave Bouwman is the CTO of DTS, as consultancy specializing in cutting edge web and mobile solutions using the Esri software stack. Dave has been developing GIS software for the last 12 years with projects ranging from small web sites to state wide enterprise forest management systems. Dave leads a team of developers in the pursuit of great software built in a sane manner. The combination of Agile process with pragmatic development practices taken from extreme programming under Dave's leadership has led DTS to a highly optimized methodology of creating solid software.
David Buckley
VP of GIS Solutions, DTS Agile
David has more than 25 years' experience applying GIS technology to operational land management problems within the public and private sectors throughout the US and Canada. Much of this work has focused on the implementation, application and integration of GIS technologies into forestry and land management business practices.
David's GIS consulting experience is coupled with substantial expertise in the design and development of custom GIS applications to address specific requirements, such as wildfire risk assessment, fire protection planning, forest land management, hazard mitigation planning, and advanced landscape analysis and modeling.
His expertise evolved from more than 10 years as a senior software developer, applying Esri's line of GIS products to develop custom applications and commercial products, many of which focus on the integration of sophisticated third party models and software.
David and his GIS solutions team work closely with the DTS Agile software team to craft geo-web solutions that meets their client's business workflow requirements. As the leader of DTS' GIS analysis and modeling services, this provides an ideal complement to the delivery of premier geo-web applications.
Kaarsten Turner Dalby
Vice President – Ecological Services, The Forestland Group, LLC
Ms. Turner Dalby is Senior Director of Ecological Services. Her management responsibilities include oversight of the FSC certification program, and TFG's efforts to generate increased revenues from a diversity of ecological services including sales of carbon credits and working forest conservation easements, leasing of wind-energy rights and monetization on non-timber attributes associated with forestland ownership. In addition, Ms. Turner Dalby is involved in the development and implementation of forest management plans involving TFG's operational staff and non-affiliated forestry management consultants. Prior to her current role, Ms. Turner Dalby served as Director of Forest Information Systems with management responsibility for the design and implementation of TFG's Forest Information System. Previously, Ms. Turner Dalby served as a Forest Information Analyst and started her employment with TFG as an intern in July of 1998.
Prior to her employment with TFG in 1998, Ms. Turner Dalby consulted with a Boston-based TIMO where she identified and researched a diversity of parameters for agroforestry ventures with non-industrial private landowners in New Zealand. She has worked for a number of domestic and international conservation organizations on public and private land management issues.
Ms. Turner Dalby has a B.A. from Smith College and an M.S. from the University of Montana School of Forestry, and an M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler School of Business. She has professional affiliations with the Society of American Foresters and the Forest Stewards Guild.
Leslie Ann De Leon
Database Analyst, Esri
Leslie performs technical geodatabase analysis, schema design, development, and implementation for various clients in the natural resources management industry. She is also an ArcGIS Data Reviewer instructor within the Professional Services division at Esri in Redlands.
Peter Eredics
Forestry Manager, Esri
Peter leads Esri's marketing efforts for the global forest products industry, the largest geographic information system (GIS) software developer in the world. He has 19 years of leadership experience designing and developing GIS applications for government agencies, top-tier forestry companies and publicly funded research institutes around the world. An accomplished corporate strategist, Peter has significant experience working with senior decision makers to find solutions for complex business and land management challenges.
Prior to joining Esri, Peter worked in senior and executive management capacities for several enterprise software development and professional services firms. In these roles, he was responsible for corporate direction and the daily leadership of operations including P&L, planning, policy development, workflow prioritization, project management, and oversight of all software development projects. He has successfully managed projects with domestic and international staff, consultants and partner firms.
Peter has worked as a principal consultant in North America and throughout Asia, specializing in developing countries and countries in transition. In addition to his efforts with corporate clients and government agencies in dozens of countries, he spent almost 10 years consulting on knowledge transfer and capacity building projects with multi-lateral agencies including the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, and the United Nations. He also worked under contract for the Canadian International Development Agency in Cambodia for three years.
Peter has 10 years teaching GIS and habitat restoration courses at the post-secondary level, and is currently a member of the advisory council for California Polytechnic State University's Forestry Resources and Environmental Management department in San Luis Obispo.
Peter received his degree in natural resource management with a major in forestry from the British Columbia Institute of Technology. He is a member of the Society of American Foresters, the Canadian Institute of Forestry, and the International Forest Products Transportation Association.
Michael T. Goergen, Jr.
Executive Vice President, Society of American Foresters
Michael Goergen was appointed Executive Vice President of the 15,000 member Society of American Foresters on May 22, 2003. As the Chief Executive Officer, he leads the SAF team publishing the Journal of Forestry and the Forestry Source, is involved in outreach to local units of the organization, university accreditation, forester certification, and the annual convention of the SAF and several other continuing education programs. Michael is also involved in the organization's forest policy work and represents the professional society before Congress, the Executive Branch, state governments, and the United Nations articulating the profession's responses to USDA Forest Service and USDI Bureau of Land Management initiatives, and developing and coordinating position statements, briefing materials, Congressional testimony, and member involvement in policy development on a variety of natural resource issues. He is currently the Chair of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative's External review Panel and Chair of the Forest Carbon Standards Committee. Prior to joining the staff of the SAF in 1996, Michael worked at the State University of New York (SUNY) College of Environmental Science and Forestry, the USDA Forest Service, and briefly at the White House. Michael graduated from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Policy and Management and a Master of Science degree in Forest Resource Policy and Management.
Kees van Loo
Kees van Loo has a master's degree in Physical Geography from the University of Amsterdam. He has held several positions in the GIS community, working for Esri in The Netherlands, France and the UK. He spent 10 years at Esri's HQ in Redlands, CA, focusing on solution development for various industries. After moving to Esri Germany to head up the business development group, he was appointed CEO of Geocom Informatik in 2010. Geocom focuses on the integration of Operations Research and GIS, expanding the impact of spatial analysis to operations and optimization.
Tim McAbee
Director, Finite Carbon
Tim McAbee is Director of Project Development at Finite Carbon. Tim is a SAF Certified Forester and has extensive experience in carbon markets, carbon modeling, and natural resource systems planning. At Finite Carbon, he focuses on all aspects of the project development cycle. He joined Finite Carbon after developing LandMark Systems Eco-Markets business line, where he was responsible for the sourcing, evaluation, negotiation, and development of all forest carbon projects and also implemented LandMark's FSC FM/CoC certification. Under Tim's leadership, LandMark engaged in a range of domestic and international forest carbon initiatives including full development of a 100,000+ acre TIMO project under the Climate Action Reserve. He also co-developed a carbon finance tool, "CVal: a spreadsheet tool to evaluate the direct benefits and costs of carbon sequestration contracts for managed forests", which was published by the USDA Forest Service. Tim graduated summa cum laude from the SUNY ESF with a B.S. in Forest Resources Management and summa cum laude from SUNY ESF Ranger School with an A.A.S. in Forest Technology.
Mark Milligan
President, F4 Tech
Mark graduated from Louisiana State University in 1987 with a degree in Forest Management, and from Florida State University in 1994 with a Masters in Business Administration. He is currently co-founder and President, since 1998, of F4 Tech, previously known as LandMark Systems, of Tallahassee, Florida. His previous employment was with the Florida Division of Forestry as a Ranger/Forester, Forester and State Lands Management Coordinator over a ten year period.
F4 Tech is staffed with foresters leading innovation in the area of technology-based products and services for the forest and natural resources markets. F4 serves clients throughout the U.S. but most are located in the southeastern states. The products and services provided to its clients are specifically designed to help manage forests and other natural resources more effectively and efficiently. Mark's firm currently owns two patents and two patents-pending for forest technology applications.
Chris Ward
MScF, Business Development Forester, Government of New Brunswick, Canada
For over a decade, Mr. Ward's primary experience has been as a mensurationist and wood supply analyst for the private sector and government. His areas of expertise include growth and yield, wood supply planning, and other forest-level analysis.
He is a key member of the Wood Products Section in the New Brunswick, Canada Department of Natural Resources where his focus is on understanding the economics of provincial wood flows and optimizing the wood fiber value chain.
His work on forest management options and economics have help define New Brunswick forest management strategies and have been the subject of numerous presentations to industry, government, environmental stakeholders, academics, and the general public.
Chris Ward lives in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada with his wife Christie and son Jack.
