Our Mission:
To simultaneously maximize environmental, social, and financial outcomes by driving large-scale investment through public-private partnerships, new market development, and by advancing policies that support market-based solutions. TEP targets and scales ecological restoration and conservation projects to improve water quality, mitigate carbon emissions through sequestration, and build resiliency to the impacts of a changing climate.
Our Approach:
The Earth Partners develops scalable new markets and investment opportunities through the development of large-scale land restoration projects. We bring multiple revenue streams to a single acre, including agriculture, forestry, water, mitigation, and environmental credits. At the same time, we work with multiple landowners in a single watershed or ecosystem to create meaningful ecological improvements. Taking this holistic approach allows us to scale sustainable land management strategies across entire landscapes while generating attractive returns for both landowners and investors.
Our Team:
Our combined decades of experience in finance, project development, project management, policy advocacy, and sales ensure The Earth Partners’ projects generate strong returns for our investors, our partners, and the natural world.
David Tepper
As CEO, David has spent more than a decade 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 policies to create value for ecosystem services. 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.
David Groves
David directs TEP’s business development, where he identifies opportunities across a range of land restoration strategies, including mitigation and 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.
Chelsea Smith
Chelsea leads the sales and marketing functions for TEP’s mitigation bank portfolio and permittee-responsible mitigation sites, working directly with clients to help them meet their compensatory mitigation requirements. Chelsea also helps direct TEP’s investments in mitigation assets through market canvassing and analysis. Previously, Chelsea spent five years managing mitigation credit sales for a successful portfolio of 19 mitigation banks, 13 of which are located in Texas. Chelsea holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Oklahoma.
Krystyn Krafka
Krystyn oversees operations for TEP’s mitigation banking portfolio, including compliance, monitoring and maintenance, and the permitting of new mitigation assets. Krystyn previously managed the Harris County Flood Control District’s mitigation banks. Krystyn holds a B.S. in Ecological Restoration from Texas A&M University and is pursuing an M.S. in Environmental Management from the University of Houston, Clear Lake.
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.
Chas Taylor
Chas is a co-founder of The Earth Partners and currently serves as a board member. He supports strategy on corporate partnership development and expansion into new markets. 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 and previously worked for Bank of America Merrill Lynch and McKinsey & Company.
Emily McGlynn
Emily advises The Earth Partners on policy, regulation, and strategy. Currently a PhD student at the University of California Davis’s Agriculture and Resource Economics Department, Emily previously served as Deputy Associate Director for Energy and Climate Change in President Obama’s White House Council on Environmental Quality. 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.
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 manages a biomass program on the 2 million acre Lax Kw’alaams First Nation-owned forest estate in British Columbia. Chris serves as business development manager at the Brinkman Group, an operating partner and co-founder of The Earth Partners. From 1995 to 2005, he managed silvicultural forestry operations in Western Canada.