James Gray Email & Phone Number

I am the founder and principal consulting forester at Natural Capital Forestry, LLC. My company provides integrated forestry services to private and public landowners in Michigan, nationwide and worldwide.

Great Lakes Sustainability Solutions offers consulting services to organizations seeking to measure and track their greenhouse gas emissions, manage reduction initiatives and report to voluntary and mandatory carbon registries. For organizations seeking to become carbon neutral, we are able to offer a great deal of expertise due to our experience with carbon offset projects in both the energy and land-use sectors. In this role I completed greenhouse gas inventories - for 2010, 2011, 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018 - for the Gateway Technical College district, consisting of three main campus complexes and four other facilities spread out across three counties in Southeast Wisconsin.

I was recently appointed as Regional Coordinator, Southern Lower Peninsula at the Michigan Tree Farm Committee, the state affiliate of the American Tree Farm System. Administered by the American Forest Foundation, Tree Farm showcases good forest management on private forest land. This is a part-time, volunteer position. Besides being a certified Tree Farm inspecting forester, I am responsible for inspections by 36 inspecting foresters and other activities in my region. I also translated the official American Tree Farm System 2015-2020 Standards of Sustainability from English to Spanish: https://www.treefarmsystem.org/view-standards.

East Lansing, Mi, Us

My former positions at Michigan State were: -Research Manager at the Global Observatory for Ecosystem Services (GOES) in Michigan State University's Department of Forestry. -Fiscal & Administrative Officer for the Agrifood Youth Opportunity Lab Project (Ag Youth Lab), funded by the MasterCard Foundation. At GOES, we focused on measuring ecosystem services using earth observations, ground measurements and models. Our primary focus was on forests and agroforestry with a special attention to carbon management and carbon markets. With financial support from NASA, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Governors Climate & Forest (GCF) Task Force/Fund and other sources, we perform research and analysis and build tools to enable forest management that also mitigates and adapts to climate change. My role as Research Manager at GOES was a combination of research administration (pre- and post-award) and program management. My role as Fiscal & Administrative Officer at the Ag Youth Lab involved the setup and management of the project. This was a five-year, $13 million collaboration between Michigan State University and The MasterCard Foundation working to help 15,000 young people access employment and entrepreneurship opportunities in the fast-growing horticulture, aquaculture, poultry, cassava and oilseed sectors in Tanzania and Nigeria.

Carbondale, Il, Us

I previously served Program Manager for the NSF Community of Problem Solvers and NSF S-STEM Green Scholarships programs at Southern Illinois University. The National Science Foundation-funded initiative, a Robert Noyce Master Teacher Fellowship Program, is designed to cultivate a community of dynamic science and math teachers and is centered around solving real-life problems at the Cache River Wetland - one of the most beautiful and complex natural areas in Southern Illinois - and at other local sites conducive to science and mathematics exploration and investigation. I help to mentor teachers in 4th-8th grades in rural Illinois to integrate local, real-world science and math experiences into their classrooms.

Kenosha, Wi , Us

I managed a sustainability demonstration center at Gateway Technical College. My role was to connect students and the community to connect with this useful resource in order to help the college reach its goals related to sustainability and environmental education.

I gathered business intelligence for a Swiss technology firm that is contemplating entry into markets in the Americas.

Kenosha, Wi, Us

Managed programming, facilities, strategic planning and budget for two environmental education centers in Racine and Kenosha, Wisconsin serving 3000+ people annually.Taught courses to teachers on teaching about climate change, Great Lakes place-based education and general environmental education.Brought stakeholders together to begin work on campus sustainability planDeveloped and implemented a broad range of educational outreach programs, service learning and citizen science programming - all related to the environment and sustainability - for youth and adults.Developed program to engage middle- and high-school students about weather, climate and climate change.Managed and developed sustainability-related demonstration projects, e.g. rain gardens, prairie restoration, green bikes program, etc.

Atlanta, Ga, Us

Helped to design a REDD forestry project in the Western Highlands Region of the Guatemala that follows the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) and Climate, Community & Biodiversity (CCB) standards.Interfaced with communities to evaluate and prepare their forests for inclusion in forest carbon project.Developed and delivered series of workshops to help leaders of indigenous Mayan communities learn about carbon markets, payments for environmental services, REDD projects, etc.Supported CARE Guatemala to develop nationwide forest carbon strategy Collaborated with Guatemala-based team solely in Spanish.

After 7 years as a staff writer, I continue to write numerous articles for Linux Journal, the oldest and most established publication dedicated to the Linux operating system and open-source computing. In addition to writing the monthly round-up of new products, I write periodic features on a range of topics, such as green computing, open-source GIS, prominent figures in IT and more.

Kc, Mo, Us

I served as board member of this youth development organization that worked with 400 at-risk youth in a public housing development in Oakland, California. The program is inclusive and affirming towards all youth and has a strong emphasis on environmental/outdoor education. As board member at Camp Fire Oakland East Bay Council, I have been involved in strategic planning, decision-making and development of financial resources.

I managed affairs for local English-language publication, including editorial strategy, content management, advertising sales, advertiser relations, graphic design, magazine layout & accounting I also interacted with 60+ advertisers exclusively in Spanish and manage one employee and numerous contributors.During my tenure I acquired over 20 new advertising clients and led a 15% increase in size of magazine in 6 months due to advertising success.I also performed a complete Website overhaul using the application WordPress.

Arlington, Va, Us

Performed hundreds of hours of pro bono service to the Michigan Chapter of The Nature Conservancy in Lansing, Michigan. During my tenure I:Researched and presented weekly digest of relevant international initiatives to development staffSupported project to inventory species of Lake Michigan ShorelinePresented The Nature Conservancy message to local groups (volunteer speaker's bureau)

San Francisco, Ca, Us

Developed market-entry plan into German-speaking countries for the Web's pioneer computer publication

Nürnberg, De

I established SUSE Linux Inc. the U.S.-based subsidiary of Germany's SUSE Linux AG, one of Europe's most dynamic IT companies. I set up the office, hired and managed a staff of 8 and localized German products and developed others for sale in the Americas and Asia. I was mainly responsible for marketing, sales and product development. I helped to localize three boxed products for sale in the U.S. and Asia markets. My efforts were instrumental in the development of the firm so that it later could be sold to Novell, Inc.

M.S., Forestry, International Development Studies

In Progress, Certificate In Sustainable Enterprise Management

Greenhouse Gas Accounting & Management

Cities & Climate Action Leadership Course

Course: Negotiating Environmental Agreements

B.A., Government, German

Education record