Gary is the Executive Director of The Forest School at the Yale School of the Environment.  The Forest School is a “School within a School” focused on connecting people, forests, and forestry for a sustainable future.  He is also Executive Director of The Forests Dialogue (TFD), an organization based at Yale University in New Haven, CT, USA. TFD was created in 2000 to provide global forest leaders with a neutral, multi-stakeholder dialogue (MSD) platform and process focused on developing mutual trust and a shared understanding while working towards collaborative solutions to the challenges in achieving sustainable forest management and forest conservation around the world.

Gary has been working on forest related issues for over 30 years and leading MSD’s since 1995.  Gary was the founding Executive Director of the Yale University’s Global Institute of Sustainable of Forestry in 2000 and helped to develop and lead the Yale Forest Forum from1996-2000. He was also the National Roundtable Coordinator for the Seventh American Forest Congress and the US Liaison to the World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development. Gary was a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya where he taught agroforestry and forest extension techniques at the Kenya Forestry College.  He holds a Master’s of Forestry degree from the Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and a Bachelor’s degree in Geography and NR Management from Humboldt State University.