Banner Photo: High elevation spruce stand in Central Vermont.
Key Staff
Peter R. Stein, Managing Director
Peter joined Lyme in 1990 and provides leadership in the development and structuring of conservation-oriented forestland and rural land purchases and dispositions. Peter also manages the Company’s conservation advisory business. Prior to joining Lyme, Peter was Senior Vice President of the Trust for Public Land (TPL) where he directed TPL's conservation real estate acquisitions in the Northeast and Midwest. Peter lectures extensively at graduate schools and professional conferences on conservation investment schemes and strategies. He is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Appalachian Mountain Club and serves on the Boards of Island Press and the Hubbard Brook Research Foundation. In addition, he is a former Board Chair of the Land Trust Alliance and a founding Commissioner of the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, and serves as a member of the Advisory Board of Rose Smart Growth Real Estate Fund No. 1. Peter earned a B.A. with Highest Honors from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1975 and was a Loeb Fellow and received a Certificate in Advanced Environmental Studies from Harvard University in 1981.
Thomas Morrow, Managing Director
Tom joined Lyme in 1983 and manages the Company’s forestland investment activities associated with the acquisition, operation, and disposition of forestland and conservation easements. Tom leads the Company’s negotiation of working forest conservation easements and has closed conservation transactions on over 600,000 acres of land. He has extensive experience purchasing and managing timber and rural land holdings throughout the Northeast, the Lake States, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Appalachia. Tom worked as a consulting forester prior to joining the Company and earned a B.S. Cum Laude from the SUNY School of Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse in 1977.
James W. Hourdequin, Managing Director
Jim joined Lyme in 2005 and manages the financing, investment and operating activities associated with the Company’s portfolio of timberland and wetland mitigation banking properties. He leads the Company’s investment focus on the acquisition and sustainable management of working forestlands that provide quality jobs and environmental benefits to rural communities. Hourdequin has expertise in New Markets Tax Credit (“NMTC”) financings and other structures that help to achieve conservation and economic development outcomes while meeting the Company’s financial return criteria. His past experience includes the founding and management of an employee-owned logging business in New Hampshire and Vermont. He serves on the board of the Center for Woodlands Education, publisher of Northern Woodlands magazine. Hourdequin earned an MBA with Distinction from the Harvard Business School in 2005 and a B.A. Cum Laude in Biology from Dartmouth College in 1998.
Sean Ross, Director of Forestry Operations
Sean joined Lyme in 2004 and serves as the Company’s Director of Forestry Operations. He is responsible for forest management and forest certification on the Company’s current holdings and oversees the day-to-day activities of third party forest managers engaged by the Company. In addition, Sean participates in acquisition and disposition due diligence with a focus on supervising forest inventory work conducted by third party consultants. Prior to joining Lyme, Sean worked as a consulting forester, directing forest inventory projects and managing timber harvesting operations, as well as purchasing standing timber and selling logs. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Empire State Forest Products Association, is a licensed New Hampshire Forester and a member of the Society of American Foresters. Sean earned a B.S. in Forestry from the University of Vermont in 1997.
Mary McBryde, Director of Conservation Strategies and Research
Mary joined Lyme in 2001. She focuses much of her time on the Company’s advisory business while also tracking conservation funding opportunities for Lyme’s investment activities. Through the advisory arm, Mary provides strategic advice to private foundations and philanthropic individuals on the design and implementation of land conservation initiatives that target high priority conservation lands and leverage philanthropic investments. She also assists private landowners with conservation-oriented real estate dispositions through a combination of fee and bargain sales and conservation easement transactions. Prior to joining Lyme, Mary worked for the Jackson Hole Land Trust where she negotiated conservation easement and fee transactions and coordinated the conservation buyer program. Mary earned a B.A. from Southern Methodist University in 1992 and a Master of Science in Forestry from the University of Washington in 1998. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Northern Forest Center and coauthored a chapter on revolving loan funds in the book, “From Wall Street to Walden: Frontiers of Conservation Finance” Island Press, 2005.
Thomas P. Yurkosky, CPA, Controller
Tom joined Lyme in 1999 and serves as Controller for the Company. He is responsible for financial reporting, budgeting, cash management, income tax compliance, and human resource functions. Prior to joining the Company, he was Vice President-Finance at Waitsfield Telecom in Waitsfield, Vermont, where he was responsible for the overall financial operations of these telecommunications companies. He served as Audit Manager at KPMG Peat Marwick in Boston, Massachusetts from 1987-91.Tom earned a B.S. Cum Laude from the University of Hartford in 1980.