David Tepper
David brings three decades in the financial sector to managing global environmental challenges. As CEO, David has spent the last 8 years growing The Earth Partners platform into a portfolio of operating companies supporting land restoration across the U.S. He is also a senior executive at Forest Trends, a Washington DC-based NGO that uses markets and policy to value ecosystem services, where he works to bring private sector investment to low-carbon land use strategies. David previously served as Head of Markets for Climate Change Capital in London, raising the largest private sector environmental market fund to date and investing over $800 million in carbon-reducing projects. He also served as Executive Chairman of the Consodata Group, a 600-person Paris Stock Exchange-listed company that he successfully restructured and sold in 2004. David oversaw $20 billion of financing transactions as a Director of Investment Banking at Merrill Lynch in London and New York from 1987-1999.
Bill Goodrum
Bill has over 35 years of experience developing and managing mitigation assets, generating revenue streams from diverse agriculture and forestry markets. At The Earth Partners, Bill manages mitigation banks and credit sales, overseeing land restoration activities across forestry, water assets, conservation banking, and carbon. He also identifies emerging markets and opportunities for portfolio expansion. Bill previously served as Vice President of Water and Mitigation Assets at Forestar/Temple Inland, which he originally joined in 1981, and where his responsibilities included mitigation, conservation, recreation, and natural resource management on Temple Inland’s 2.1 million acres across Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia. He holds a Bachelor degree from Texas A&M and a Master’s degree from Stephen F. Austin State University. Before joining Temple Inland he worked for the Natural Resource Conservation Service.
Neil Boitnott
As a project manager for The Earth Partners, Neil is responsible for ensuring USACE compliance, overseeing monitoring, construction activities, sales, and business development on mitigation projects. Neil has 10 years of experience in business and environmental disciplines. As office manager for the Tyler Office of RS&H, he was responsible for general operations, project management, business development, and staff development of an environmental office of a nationwide engineering firm. He has been involved with wetland and stream mitigation projects totaling over 10,000 acres in Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas. He has provided environmental consulting services for over 500 projects in the southeastern US.
Brendan McCarthy
Brendan serves as the investment manager for The Earth Partners. He focuses on underwriting and structuring new investments, deal negotiations and supporting the operations of the current portfolio. Previously, Brendan worked for The Gladstone Companies as an Acquisitions Associate in the real estate investment group. Brendan also worked for Wells Fargo Bank’s Real Estate Group, making commercial real estate loans and monitoring the loan portfolio, and in the Special Situations Group in Charlotte, NC, restructuring distressed debt. Brendan holds a B.A. in Economics from Kenyon College and an M.B.A. from UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.
Stan Meador
Stan Meador is The Earth Partners’ manager of two mitigation banks (one permitted and one under development) along the Texas coast in its growing portfolio of wetland and stream banks. Stan oversees ongoing operations, permitting, compliance, and investor relations for these two mitigation banks while also filling a role in TEP management and general operations. He has 20 years’ experience in land and natural resource conservation and business operations, including key leadership positions in developing TEP’s landowner outreach strategy for its projects endeavoring to create private markets in support of large-scale conservation efforts. Stan is actively involved in the management of his family’s fifth-generation ranch near Eldorado, TX, is the founder and owner of X Bar Ranch Nature Retreat, a nature/eco-tourism enterprise, and he has a strong track record in civic involvement.
Mike Petter
Mike serves as farm operations manager for The Earth Partners’ Texas-based mitigation portfolio, ensuring robust agricultural management and regulatory compliance. Mike has over thirty years of experience managing and consulting with landowners in the U.S. Gulf region through his company, Resource and Land Management, Inc. Mike previously served as Land Transactions Director for the Texas Agricultural Land Trust. Through his work, Mike has been awarded the Presidential Field Forester of the Year (2010) by the Society of American Foresters, the Golden Quail Award by Quail Unlimited (2009), and Man of the Year in Texas Agriculture (2010) by the Texas County Agricultural Agents Association. Mike is a Certified Forester, as well as a Texas licensed Real Estate Broker focusing on ranch brokerage. He holds a B.S. from Texas A&M University in Forest Management, and his early career included procurement and harvesting management of the Hercules PINEX program, using whole tree harvesting technologies.
Jason Dawkins
Jason manages The Earth Partners’ Bioeconomy Capital division, overseeing pellet production, bioproduct marketing, and new opportunities for bioeconomy expansion. Jason previously worked as VP of Finance for MDC Holdings (Richmond American Homes) and CFO for Blue Creek Energy before entering the biofuels market as the CFO of Confluence Energy. Jason began his career in public accounting, working for both Arthur Andersen and KPMG before leaving as manager.
David Groves
David directs TEP’s business development, where he identifies opportunities to put the capital that TEP manages to work across a range of land restoration strategies, including mitigation banking, conservation banking, forest restoration, and storm water management. David previously served as Senior Policy Advisor in President Obama’s White House Council on Environmental Quality, where he advanced federal policies that create the enabling conditions necessary for environmental markets to establish and scale. Previously, David founded a nonprofit organization focused on developing an innovative financial vehicle – the forest resilience bond – to increase public and private investment in forest restoration.
Chris Norman
Chris advises The Earth Partners on biomass procurement, supply chains, and land management. His expertise includes harvesting techniques and the management of large-scale biomass removals in complex environments. Chris is experienced in the Canadian forest waste wood biomass sector and manages Brinkman’s biomass program on the 2 million acre Lax Kw’alaams First Nation-owned forest estate in BC. Chris serves as business development manager at Brinkman, an operating partner and co-founder of The Earth Partners, since 2005. From 1995 to 2005, he managed silvicultural forestry operations in Western Canada.
Emily McGlynn
Emily advises The Earth Partners on policy, regulation, and strategy. Currently a PhD student in the University of California Davis’s Agriculture and Resource Economics department, Emily previously served as Deputy Associate Director for Energy and Climate Change in the White House. Emily also served as Senior Adviser to the Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern at the U.S. Department of State, leading on high priority international initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. She has a background in biology and economics from Bryn Mawr College and Johns Hopkins University.
Chas Taylor
Chas is a co-founder of The Earth Partners and currently serves as a board member. He supports strategy on business development, commodity contracting and sales, corporate partnership development, and expansion into new markets. With a background in finance, real estate, agriculture, and natural resource development, Chas is also on the board of Drylands Natural Resource Centre, an agro-forestry and environmental organization in Kenya. Chas has consulted for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation within their agricultural development group, where he worked on input supply chain development and financing issues. A graduate of the University of Virginia, he tries to spend as much time as possible on his farm in Rapidan, Virginia. Chas has previously worked for Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York and McKinsey & Company.
Lisa Tep
Lisa is The Earth Partner’s Controller, overseeing corporate finance, budgeting, contract management, and office administration. Lisa has over 10 years of experience in supporting the growth of entrepreneurial businesses. She previously served as CFO at Technomics, an Arlington-based defense consulting firm, overseeing 100% growth in a matter of years.