Team Member Group: Board of Directors

Josh was born in Madison County, N.C., and went to school at UNC Asheville, earning a degree in biology. He then worked for the Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition, where he focused on identifying remnant old-growth forests on public land, and at WildLaw, where he worked to promote ecological restoration as the new paradigm of National Forest management. Josh has also helped the Forest Service conduct rare plant surveys and save hemlocks from hemlock woolly adelgid. At MountainTrue, Josh monitors logging and development issues on public land and provide site-specific, scientific information to promote ecological restoration and oppose ecologically damaging management. “We live in a time when the human footprint on the planet is bigger than ever and our need to come together to solve environmental problems is urgent. Public lands comprise the largest and highest quality natural areas in this great country and are truly priceless. The most rewarding work I have done has involved helping to steer Forest Service management towards a paradigm where we as a society give back to the land, rather than just take”, says Josh.

Jay is a Key Account Director with Interface, the world’s leading commercial flooring manufacturer and a globally-recognized pioneer in the field of industrial sustainability. He serves on the boards of The National Wildlife Federation, Muddy Sneakers, EcoForesters, the NextGen committee of the Ray C. Anderson foundation and the Southern Environmental Law Center’s Next30 committee. Jay is passionate about continuing the legacy of his grandfather, Ray Anderson, the founder of Interface, who dedicated his career to demonstrating the business logic of sustainability. Originally from Atlanta, he now lives in Asheville, NC with his wife, son and birddog. Jay graduated from Wake Forest University in 2005 with a BA in English and is an avid fly angler, outdoorsman and naturalist.

Rob founded EcoForesters in 2015 out of a desire to increase the large scale restoration of degraded Appalachian forests through the use of positive impact forestry. As co-founder and Executive Director of Forest Stewards at Western Carolina University from 2006 to 2014, Rob worked on thousands of acres and with hundreds of landowners, seeing the urgent need to restore ecological resilience to our forests first hand. In addition to the Appalachian region, he has also worked for forestry and conservation organizations in Ecuador, Colorado, and New England. When he doesn’t have his head in the trees professionally, Rob enjoys getting out in the woods with his three kids and playing music with friends. Rob’s love for forests goes back to a childhood with a lot of time spent escaping the urban confines of Atlanta and backpacking in the southern Appalachians, culminating in his 2001 thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail.