Board

Scott Fogarty, Executive Director, Friends of Trees

Riyad Abu-Sharr is the Chief Financial Officer for Star Marketing Group. Prior to that, he was CFO for Matthews Media Group (MMG), a health communications firm developing campaigns with “messages that matter” to reach special populations distinguished by age, gender, ethnicity, race, and geography. He has more than 20 years of experience in all areas of finance for growing companies and start-up ventures. Since 1999, he has managed the financials for ACT, which he describes as doing because he “enjoys applying finance my skills to something I really believe in.” Prior to MMG, Riyad worked as a CPA/Chartered accountant with Price Waterhouse in London and Washington, DC; Controller of Federal Data; a government contractor; CFO/COO of Optima Direct, an Omnicom Direct Marketing Company; and CFO of an international start-up Internet company.

Scott Jamieson
Secretary
Scott Jamieson is the Vice President of Corporate Partnerships and National Recruiting at Bartlett Tree Experts in Northbrook, IL.  Before taking that position in September 2008, Mr. Jamieson was the President and Chief Executive Officer of The Care of Trees, the second largest commercial and residential tree preservation firm in the world.  He worked his way up through the organization from an entry-level position in 1989 to become President in 1998 when sales were $25 million with 250 employees and 16 office locations.  In 2002, Mr. Jamieson was promoted to CEO.  During the nine years as President & CEO, overall company sales more than doubled to a level of $53 million with over 500 employees in 23 business units.  This 112% increase in revenue was accomplished through organic growth and three strategic acquisitions. During this time, the geographic footprint of the company was expanded into two crucial new markets, Philadelphia and San Francisco. Mr. Jamieson's Board service includes the National Safety Council Board, Openlands of Chicago (a regional conservation organization), and the Tree Care Industry Association (the trade association of the tree care industry). Mr. Jamieson has a BS from Purdue University, an MS from Michigan State University, and an MBA from DePaul University's Kellstadt School of Business.  He is married and has two children.

Burnell C. Fischer, Ph.D.
Board Member
Burnell “Burney” Fischer is currently Clinical Professor and Director, Undergraduate Programs, School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA), Indiana University - Bloomington (IUB).  SPEA is the #2 ranked public policy school in the US (US News and World Report) and the undergraduate program has over 1500 students majoring in one of 4 degree programs.  At SPEA he annually teaches Urban Forest Management to seniors and masters students (30+ students) for which is has been awarded teaching grants as well as recognitions for teaching success.  Dr. Fischer grew up in the Chicago area and witnessed the Dutch Elm disease disaster of the 1960’s.  He was the State Forester and Director of the Indiana Division of Forestry from 1990-2005 and has been active in urban forestry since the 1990’s when he became chair of the National Association of State Foresters Urban Forestry Committee and then represented NASF as a member of NUCFAC for a three year term.  He is vice president of the Indiana Urban Forest Council, the Indiana statewide urban forestry nonprofit.  He is a member of the Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree Campus USA Advisory Committee. 

Scott Fogarty has been an advocate for environmental protection, conservation, stewardship and remediation for over fifteen years working on issues ranging from water quality to coal mining to wilderness protection. He has worked both within federal and state government agencies as well as for non-profit advocacy and action organizations.

Scott's personal best achievements were founding a non-profit grassroots organization in his home state of West Virginia that is thriving today and helping to clean the Deckers Creek watershed of solid waste, water pollution and acid mine drainage. Additionally, he was part of a legal team that sued and stopped coal mining pollution in the Cheat River watershed. Since moving to Oregon and while Executive Director for Friends of Opal Creek, Scott helped finalize and pass the Opal Creek Wilderness and Scenic Recreation Area Act effectively protecting 35,000 acres of pristine ancient forest habitat.

Scott currently serves as Executive Director for Friends of Trees, a community building and stewardship organization with a mission of maintaining and expanding the urban canopy and natural areas in the Portland metropolitan area. He serves on the boards of Willamette Riverkeeper where he is legal chair, Orlo - an environmental art non- profit where he is development chair and with Oregon Community Trees, which is Oregon's state urban forest council.

Parks & People Foundation is Baltimore’s leading nonprofit organization providing creative solutions for recreation, parks, and natural resources. Guy is responsible for a staff of ten and manages several partnership programs aimed at improving the health of Baltimore’s ecosystem including the Revitalizing Baltimore Initiative and Watershed 263 Project- a model urban forest management and watershed restoration initiative, Green Communities and Partnership for Parks Programs, Gwynns Falls Trail Council, Urban Resources Initiative as well as actively participating in the Urban Ecology Collaboration, an east coast, multi-city watershed forestry initiative.

Guy W. Hager was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and attended public schools in California, Michigan, Hawaii, and Washington states. He graduated from Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, in 1967 earning a B.A. in political science with minors in economics and history and served as an elected Student-Legislator in 1966-67. Guy completed a Masters in Public Administration in Urban Affairs with an Urban Planning concentration from American University in Washington, DC in 1974 and served in the U.S. Naval Reserve retiring as a Lieutenant after service in Vietnam. Guy’s career includes experience as an urban planner, policy analyst, project manager, public administrator, and executive director.

Greg Levine
Board Member
Greg Levine planted his first tree, a purple leafed Japanese maple, when he was just five years of age. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Georgia. In 1995 he left an L.A. firm where much of his time was spent on tree removal plans, to happily go to work for the National Arboretum in Washington, DC. Following his time there, he was hired as Volunteer Coordinator for Trees Atlanta. Now a certified arborist and Program Director, Greg has had the opportunity to create and develop several programs including NeighborWoods, Forest Restoration, Neighborhood Arboreta, the BeltLine Arboretum and many education programs. He helped to write Trees Atlanta’ Forest Restoration Manual and was recently selected as one of Atlanta Homes magazine’s “Emerging Talent - Twenty Under Forty.” 

Maitreyi Roy
Board Member
Maitreyi Roy serves as Vice President for Programs at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS), overseeing its nationally recognized urban greening program, Philadelphia Green, its education programs and its state and national greening initiatives. Maitreyi oversees PHS’s efforts in utilizing horticulture to build community and improve the quality of life in Philadelphia’s neighborhoods and downtown public spaces. Key programs and initiatives include: Philadelphia Green’s vacant land management initiative that is funded by the City of Philadelphia and is now recognized as a national model; City Harvest a unique collaboration that joins community gardeners, food cupboards and inmates at the Philadelphia Prison and provides low income families with access to fruits and vegetables; tree planting initiatives in the city and region as part of TreeVitalize; stormwater landscapes with the Philadelphia Water Department; and the Parks Revitalization Project which is a citywide effort conducted in partnership with the Department of Parks and Recreation to take back neighborhood parks from decades of neglect and abuse and transform them into treasured assets that serve the larger community.

Maitreyi is a landscape architect by training and was selected as a 2007 Eisenhower Fellow to travel to urban centers in Spain, Germany, Belgium, France and Ireland in spring 2007 to study best practices in urban open space policies, planning standards and landscape design.