Ken Arney is the Regional Forester for the Southern Region of the USDA Forest Service, where he has responsibility for the management of 13 million acres of forestland, as well as a State and Private Forestry program that works with all 13 State Forestry Agencies in the programs of Fire, Forest Health, and Cooperative Forestry. Ken previously served as the State Forester for Tennessee from 1994 to 2001and as Deputy Regional Forester for the USDA Forest Service State and Private Forestry for 17 years. Ken is a member of the Society of American Foresters, Past Chairman of the Southern Group of State Foresters, and Past President of Brentwood/Nashville Rotary Club.

Ethan Breitling serves as the National Alliance of Forest Owner's Vice President for Communications and Creative. He began his career running a sawmill and teaching forestry and ecology at a 100-year-old Boy Scout summer camp in the Adirondack Park. The camp owned and operated its own working forest, which not only provided him with hands-on experience in forest management but also taught him the foundations of strategic communications—convincing 11-year-olds that the Forestry Merit Badge is exciting. In Washington, DC, Ethan has built his career by specializing in communicating complex scientific and policy concepts to diverse audiences. He previously served as NAFO’s Communications and Creative Director. Before joining NAFO, Ethan worked at Bay Armoury Consulting, where he managed several fundraising communications campaigns for federal, state, and local races, all aimed at promoting moderation in politics. He earned his degree in Political Science from Western Connecticut State University.

Kendall DeLyser manages American Forests’ forest climate science projects and serves as the organization’s technical expert on forests, carbon and climate change. DeLyser is currently leading research partnerships focused on climate-smart forestry and wood utilization, forest soil carbon, and the role of forests as natural climate solutions. She supports state natural resource agency partners in applying climate-smart forestry research to inform policy development and forest management planning. Before joining American Forests, DeLyser worked on carbon offset project research and policy recommendations for climate-smart land use and also researched successful forest restoration techniques in Costa Rica. DeLyser holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental policy from Colorado College, as well as master’s degrees in environmental management and forestry from Duke University.

Dr. Steve Prisley is a Principal Research Scientist at the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement (NCASI). Steve conducts and leads research and technical support in the areas of forest biometrics and economics, currently focused on forest carbon measurement, monitoring, and reporting. Prior to joining NCASI, Steve was Professor of Forest Inventory and GIS at the Virginia Tech Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation, and directed the Center for Natural Resources Assessment and Decision Support. Steve has over 13 years of experience in the forest products industry. For several decades, Steve has worked closely with data and scientists from the US Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program, using their data in forest carbon assessments and inventory projections.

Dr. Chris Swanston is the USDA Forest Service Climate Advisor and Director for the Office of Sustainability and Climate. Chris spent 10+ years leading the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science (NIACS), a partnership designed to provide climate adaptation services to all land managers. He also served as director of the USDA Northern Forests Climate Hub and led the Climate, Fire, and Carbon Cycle Sciences research group. Chris enjoys fat biking and mug collecting.