Board Members

Board members representing the environmental sector, which includes non-profit environmental or conservation organizations:
Tom Franklin Senior Vice-President, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (site link)
Roger Sedjo Senior Fellow, Resources for the Future (site link)
Larry Selzer President and CEO, The Conservation Fund (site link)
Steven A. Williams President & CEO, Wildlife Management Institute (site link)
Mike Zagata President and CEO, Ruffed Grouse Society (site link)

Board members representing the social sector, which includes community or social interest groups such as universities, labor, professional loggers, family forest owners or government agencies:
Marvin Brown (Vice Chair) State Forester, Oregon Department of Forestry (site link)
Mary Motlow (Secretary/Treasurer) Representing family forest owners
Richard W. (Dick) Brinker Dean and Professor, School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, Auburn University (site link)
R. Thomas Buffenbarger International President, International Association of
Machinists and Aerospace Workers (site link)
Norm L. Christensen, Jr. Professor of Ecology & Past Dean,
Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University (site link)
Robert A. (Bob) Luoto Independent Professional Loggers and the American Logger Council

Board members representing the economic sector, which includes the forest, paper and wood products industry or other for-profit forest ownership or management entities:
Rick R. Holley (Chair) President & CEO, Plum Creek Timber Company, Inc. (site link)
Matthew Donegan Co-President, Forest Capital Partners, LLC (site link)
John Faraci Chairman & CEO, International Paper Company (site link)
Daniel S. Fulton President and CEO, Weyerhaeuser Company (site link)
Henry H. (Hank) Ketcham Chair of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer, West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd (site link)
Patrick J. Moore Chairman, President & CEO, Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation (site link)

Richard W. (Dick) Brinker
Dr. Richard W. (Dick) Brinker has been Dean and Professor in the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences at Auburn University since 1998. During this time, the school has become one of the most highly regarded and productive natural resource programs in the southern region of the United States.

From 1988 to 1998, Dr. Brinker held a joint extension and teaching appointment at Auburn, and was involved in coordinating extension education activities for professional loggers, foresters, and landowners. More than 2,700 logging contractors have completed a five-day Professional Logging Manager Course he began in 1992. He also taught undergraduate courses in Forest Surveying, Timber Harvesting and Geographic Information Systems, and continues to teach Forest Surveying at the Forestry Summer Practicum.

Dr. Brinker also served Auburn University’s Timber Harvesting Specialist for 10 years before his appointment as Dean. He has worked in forest industry for 12 years, with experience in land management, wood procurement, timber harvesting, and lumber mill management.

From 2002 to 2008, Dr. Brinker was a member of the SFI External Review Panel, an independent group of 18 distinguished volunteer experts who advise the SFI Inc. Board of Directors on ways to improve the SFI program. He chaired the panel for two years.

Dr. Brinker has a Bachelor of Science degree in forestry from Louisiana State University, an MBA from the University of Southern Mississippi, and a Ph.D. in forestry from Louisiana State University. A registered forester in Alabama and Mississippi, he is also a member of several professional organizations, including the Society of American Foresters (SAF), Forest Products Society, American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, and Council on Forest Engineering.

Dr. Brinker is a member of the Alabama Foresters Hall of Fame, and has won a number of awards, including Fellow, 2001 – Society of American Foresters; Technology Transfer and Extension Award, 2001 – Society of American Foresters; Extension Forester of the Year, 1997 – Forest Landowners Association, and Outreach Award for Excellence, 1997 - Auburn University.

He is the Past Chair of the Southeastern Society of American Foresters; Past Chair and Historian for the Alabama Division, SAF; Past Chair of the War Eagle Chapter, SAF; and Past Chair of the Southeastern Section of the Forest Products Society. Brinker serves on the Board of Directors, Forest Landowners Association, and is Chair of the Forestry Research Advisory Committee that provides recommendations of federal forestry research to the USDA Secretary of Agriculture. He is a Colonel (Ret.) in the U.S. Army Reserve, with 30 years of service.
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Marvin Brown
As the Oregon State Forester, Marvin Brown brings extensive experience in forest policymaking at the state, national and international levels to the SFI Board. He has worked extensively as a professional forester in both the private and public sectors.

Brown holds a bachelor's degree in forestry from the University of Missouri, and a master's degree in forestry from Southern Illinois University. He lives in Salem, Ore., with his wife, Pamela.
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R. Thomas Buffenbarger
The son of an International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) member, Tom Buffenbarger assumed his first IAM leadership post in 1970, at age 20, when he was elected steward of his apprenticeship group at the General Electric jet engine group, IAM LL912, Evendale, Ohio.

Seven years later, Buffenbarger was elected as a business representative for IAM District 34, Cincinnati. In 1980, he was appointed as an IAM special representative for the Great Lakes Territory and three years later became administrative assistant to the general vice-president for that territory.

Buffenbarger came to IAM headquarters in 1986 to work in the organizing department and two years later was appointed executive assistant to the international president. He served in that position under International Presidents William Winpisinger and George Kourpias.
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Matthew Donegan
Matt Donegan is co-founder and co-president of Forest Capital Partners, a private landowner and manager of over two million acres (800,000 hectares) of working forests in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Louisiana, Texas and Minnesota.

Donegan is a professional forester who studied forestry at the University of Florida before earning an MBA with concentrations in forest industries management and finance from the University of Tennessee. Earlier in his career, he worked as a forester and investment analyst at Georgia-Pacific Corporation, and as a portfolio officer at the Hancock Timber Resource Group.

Donegan also serves on the boards of the National Alliance of Forest Owners, Oregon Business Council, Oregon Forest Resources Institute, Oregon Innovation Council, Big Brothers Big Sisters Columbia Northwest, and on the National Council of the National Park Conservation Association. In 2008, he was appointed by Governor Ted Kulongoski to the Oregon Global Warming Commission.
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Norm Christensen
Vice-Chairman
Norm Christensen is professor of ecology and dean emeritus at the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University. He is an authority on the management of forests, shrub lands, and wetlands.

Christensen has served on more than 25 national and regional panels and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is currently vice-president of the Ecological Society of America and chairman of the National Commission on Science for Sustainable Forestry. He resides in Chapel Hill, N.C.
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John Faraci
John Faraci is chairman and chief executive officer of International Paper, the world's largest paper and forest products company with 2002 revenue of $25 billion and a rank of 64th among Fortune 500 companies.

Faraci joined International Paper in 1974 and has held various financial, product management, planning and general management positions in the company's industrial packaging, consumer packaging, wood products and forest resources businesses. In 1995, he became chief executive officer and managing director of Carter Holt Harvey, a New Zealand forest products company that is majority-owned by International Paper.

In 1999, Faraci returned from New Zealand to assume the corporate-level position of senior vice-president and chief financial officer. He was appointed executive vice-president and chief financial officer in 2001, promoted to president in February 2003 and appointed to his current position in November 2003.
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Tom Franklin
Tom Franklin is senior vice-president of the non-profit Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, a coalition of organizations and grassroots partners dedicated to the foresighted stewardship of America’s landscape.

Franklin worked as a wildlife biologist with the Urban Wildlife Research Center from 1973 to 1978, when he was promoted to executive director. In 1983, he joined The Wildlife Society, the association of professional wildlife biologists and managers, as field director, and in 1991, became wildlife policy director, leading the society’s government relations program.

In 1994, Franklin established a wild bird and nature retail store, The Wildlife Authority Inc., in Ellicott City, Md. He served as acting executive director of The Wildlife Society from 2004 to 2005, and in June 2005, he was named Izaak Walton League’s conservation director, leading the government affairs and education programs.

Franklin earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in natural resource conservation and wildlife management from the University of Maryland in 1972, and a Master of Science degree in administrative science from Johns Hopkins University in 1988.

He has authored many articles and made presentations addressing urban/suburban wildlife management, association leadership and natural resource policy. He received the Daniel L. Leedy Urban Wildlife Conservation Award; Professional of the Year, Maryland/Delaware Chapter of The Wildlife Society; President’s Award, The Wildlife Society; Special Recognition Service Award, The Wildlife Society; and Special Award of Appreciation for 20 Years of Outstanding Service to The Wildlife Society.

Franklin serves on the executive committee of the American Wildlife Conservation Partners; steering committee of Teaming With Wildlife Coalition; and he is chair of the Wildlife Diversity Advisory Committee for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the Membership Committee of the Washington Biologists’ Field Club. He is an avid outdoorsman and especially enjoys hunting, fishing, birding and managing the family farm for fish and wildlife.
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Daniel S. Fulton
Daniel S. Fulton has been president of Weyerhaeuser Company since January 2008, and was also elected chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors in April 2008. From May 2001 to March 2008 he was president and chief executive officer of Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Company, a wholly owned subsidiary, and in January 2004 was named to Weyerhaeuser Company’s senior management team.

Fulton joined Weyerhaeuser’s investment evaluation department in 1976. He transferred to Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Company in 1978 where he was planning manager and held various leadership positions before becoming president and chief executive officer of Weyerhaeuser Realty Investors and Weyerhaeuser Venture Company from 1998 to 2000.

Fulton graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Miami University (Ohio) in 1970. He received an MBA in finance from the University of Washington in 1976, and he completed the Stanford University Executive Program in 2001.
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Rick R. Holley
Chair
Rick Holley was elected president and chief executive officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Plum Creek in 1994. Prior to assuming this role, he served as vice-president and chief financial officer since 1985.

Holley began his career at General Electric Company in 1974, where he served in a variety of financial management positions. In 1983, he joined Burlington Northern Inc. where he worked as assistant vice-president, corporate audit. He held that position until joining Plum Creek in 1985.

He received a Bachelor of Science in accounting and business administration from San Jose State University, and has also completed an advanced education program at Northwestern University.

Holley serves on several other private and not-for-profit boards, including the National Alliance of Forest Lands, Blethen Corporation and the Seattle Times. He is a member of the 12th District Federal Reserve Bank’s Economic Advisory Council and the Visiting Committee of the University of Washington School of Medicine.
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Henry H. (Hank) Ketcham
Hank Ketcham is chair of the board, president and chief executive office of West Fraser Timber Co Ltd., a North American forest products company that employs approximately 9,000 people in western Canada and the southern United States.

Ketcham started with West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. in 1973, and worked in mill level and management positions. In 1985, he was elected president and CEO, and in 1996 he took on the additional position of chairman of the board.

Ketcham serves on various boards including the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) and American Forest and Paper Association (AF&PA). He is a former chair of the Council of Forest Industries and is a founding member of the Forest Alliance of British Columbia. Ketcham is also a director of the Toronto Dominion Bank.
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Robert A. (Bob) Luoto
Bob Luoto has worked in the forest sector for 34 years, and represents logging professionals and the American Loggers Council (ALC) on the SFI Inc. Board. Luoto has been with the ALC, which represents 27 states and more than 53,000 loggers, since it was created in 1994. He was council president in 2002.

Luoto has also been involved with Associated Oregon Loggers (AOL) for more than 30 years, serving as board president in 1995 and 1996. He was president of the AOL when Oregon joined the Log a Load for Kids program in support of children’s hospitals. In 2001, Luoto was named AOL Logger of the year for his active role in both his community and the timber industry. His wife Betsy is also active in AOL, and was named its 1997 Woman of the Year. Luoto and his wife have two children.

Luoto earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Washington State University, then helped establish a family-owned logging company, Luoto Logging Inc. He founded Crown & Cross Inc. in 1998 after his father retired. Earlier in his career, Luoto was directly involved in a job that protected a number of streams and water systems within the logging unit and won Luoto Logging the Northwest Oregon Area Operator of the Year award. His commitment to safety was recognized in 1990 when he was appointed to Oregon’s State Advisory Board for Occupational Safety and Health.
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Patrick J. Moore
Patrick J. Moore is chairman, president and chief executive officer of Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation.

Moore joined the former Jefferson Smurfit Corporation in 1987 as assistant treasurer and was appointed treasurer in 1990. He was promoted to vice-president and treasurer in 1993. In 1994, Moore was named vice-president and general manager of the company's Industrial Packaging division. He was promoted to vice-president and chief financial officer of Jefferson Smurfit Corporation in October 1996, and continued in that capacity when Smurfit-Stone was formed in November 1998.

In January 2002, Moore was named president and chief executive officer of Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation. He was elected to the additional post of chairman on May 8, 2003. Prior to joining the company, Moore served 12 years at Continental Bank in Chicago in various corporate lending, international banking, and administrative positions.

Moore serves on the boards of American Forest & Paper Association, JP Morgan's National Advisory Board, International Corrugated Case Association, Metropolitan YMCA of St. Louis, Boys Hope/Girls Hope, Big Shoulders (Chicago), and Archer Daniels Midland; and also serves on the NASDAQ CEO Council and Washington University John M. Olin School of Business National Council. He participates in numerous associations including Civic Progress (St. Louis) and The Commercial Club of Chicago. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from DePaul University, with a concentration in finance. He lives in St. Louis with his wife, Beth, and three children.
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Mary Motlow
Secretary/Treasurer
Mary Motlow is vice-president and chief operations officer for Cumberland Springs Land Company Inc., a family-owned forest and agricultural company engaged in sustainable forestry practices, agribusiness and wildlife management. She is also the managing partner of Cedar Tree Enterprises, a forest land and wildlife management area.

Motlow is a member of the Alabama Forestry Association, a legislative committee member of the Tennessee Forestry Association, Forest Landowners Association, National Wild Turkey Federation, Quality Deer Management Association, The Tennessee Bankers Association, and the Motlow State Community College Development Executive Board.

She is a Tennessee State certified tree farmer and a master logger. She lives on her farm in Lynchburg, Tenn., and raises registered Angus and Gelbvieh cattle.
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Roger Sedjo
Roger Sedjo is senior fellow and director of the forest economics and policy program for Resources for the Future, a non-profit and non-partisan organization that conducts independent research – rooted primarily in economics and other social sciences – on environmental, energy, and natural resource issues.

His research interests include forests and global environmental problems; climate change and biodiversity; public lands issues; long-term sustainability of forests; industrial forestry and demand; timber supply modeling; international forestry; global forest trade; forest biotechnology; and land use change. He has written or edited 14 books related to forestry and natural resources.

Sedjo has served on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Committee of Scientists, and has cochaired the committee of authors who wrote the chapter on biological sinks for the International Panel on Climate Change's Third Assessment Report on climate change mitigation through forestry and other land use measures.

Sedjo also has been a consultant to the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, and other international organizations in more than a dozen countries, including Argentina, Chile, Indonesia, New Zealand, Russia, Romania, Estonia, and Thailand.
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Larry Selzer
Larry Selzer is president and chief executive officer of The Conservation Fund.

Through land acquisition, community and economic development, and leadership training, The Fund and its partners demonstrate sustainable conservation solutions emphasizing the integration of economic and environmental goals. Working with public and private partners, the Fund has protected more than six million acres of America’s land legacy since its founding in 1985.

Selzer currently serves on the boards of the American Bird Conservancy and the Wildlife Habitat Council. He served on the SFI Inc. Board of Directors from 2000 to 2006, and in 2004 became the first member of the board’s environmental chamber to be appointed chair.

Selzer holds an MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia and a Bachelor of Science in environmental studies from Wesleyan University.
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Steve Williams
Steve Williams is the president of the Wildlife Management Institute, a non-profit scientific and educational organization dedicated to providing leadership to conserve, restore, and enhance North American wildlife and their habitat.

Prior to serving in this role, Williams was the director of the Fish and Wildlife Service within the U.S. Department of the Interior. He has also held the positions of secretary of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, deputy executive director of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, and assistant director for Wildlife and Deer Project Leader for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.

Williams holds a doctorate in forest resources from Pennsylvania State University, a Master of Science in Biology from the University of North Dakota and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Resource Management from Pennsylvania State University. He and his wife, Beth, reside in McLean, Va, and Gardners, Pa.
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Mike Zagata
Mike Zagata is president and CEO of the Ruffed Grouse Society, which was established in 1961 and is the one international wildlife conservation organization dedicated to promoting conditions suitable for ruffed grouse, American woodcock and related wildlife to sustain our hunting tradition and outdoor heritage.

Before joining the Ruffed Grouse Society, Zagata was commissioner (CEO) of New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation where he oversaw 4,000 employees and an operating budget in excess of $300 million. Zagata was inducted into the Offshore Energy Industry’s Hall of Fame for pioneering the Wetland Mitigation Banking and Rigs to Reefs programs, and was also recently inducted into the New York State Outdoorsman’s Hall of Fame.

Zagata has also served as field director for The Wildlife Society, director of federal relations for the National Audubon Society and program development officer for the National Research Council’s Committee on Agriculture. In addition, he was director of environment, health and safety (EH&S) for Tenneco and vice-president of EH&S for Transco Energy, and in these capacities was awarded the National Wildlife Federation’s Whooping Crane award and the Conservation Fund’s Alexander Calder award.

Born and raised in up-state New York, Zagata earned a doctorate in wildlife ecology from Iowa State University. He has taught and conducted research on the impact of forest harvesting on wildlife while in the School of Forest Resources at the University of Maine, Orono.
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