Robert Falls, PhD, RPBio, Chief Executive Officer. Robert Falls, CEO for ERA, is a resource management scientist with an academic history in photosynthesis and carbon sequestration, and a business background in the energy and environment industries. Robert has a strong history in the field of climate change, developing and managing projects in China and domestically for corporate clients. He founded & chaired the Greenhouse Emissions Management Consortium (Gemco), and the Sustainable Development Council for Canada's largest integrated gas company. In 2004, Robert was appointed an Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia's Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability, and is a Senior Advisor to the GLOBE Foundation of Canada.
Bart Simmons, B.AP Sc, MEng, Chief Operating Officer. Bart Simmons, C.O.O. for ERA, brings over 30 years of experience in restoring temperate forest ecosystems in British Columbia. He has become a recognized expert in forest regeneration, restoration of riparian ecosystems, urban watershed restoration, biodiversity enhancement, wetland creation and bioengineering in BC. Bart has implemented riparian restoration projects on 15 watersheds within coastal BC as well as prescriptions on over 40 watersheds throughout BC. Mr. Simmons has been involved in over 50 ecosystem restoration projects in urban watersheds, mostly in the Lower Mainland, and has overseen the planting of over 100 million trees.
John Block, BSc, Director of Operations. Prior to starting with ERA in 2008, most of John’s working career was with the BC provincial government. Positions he held during that time included Manager of Operations and Facility Development and Director, BC Parks and Protected Areas Branch; Senior Policy Advisor with the Green Economy Secretariat; and, Director, Strategic Initiatives with the Ministry of Environment. John has a BSc in Biology from the University of Victoria and did graduate level studies in the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia.
John Kendall, RPF, Senior Forester, International .John is ERA's Company Forester providing project/program planning, prescription and operational support/coordination, as well as offset methodological development. John has worked extensively with First Nation communities in Canada on a wide spectrum of resource management issues and has pioneered afforestation, reforestation and avoided deforestation projects in Central Africa and South America.
Jeff Calvert, P.Eng., MBA, CFO & Director of HR. Jeff Calvert is the Chief Financial Officer and the Director of Human Resources for ERA Ecosystem Restoration Associates. He has 15 years experience in progressively more senior roles in sales, marketing and business development with international Fortune 500 companies and smaller, technology driven clean tech firms. Jeff joined ERA from Borealis Carbon Offsets, where he was founder and managing director. He holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Western Ontario and an MBA with specialisation in management consulting from Royal Roads University in Victoria, British Columbia. Jeff is a regular expert panellist in the forestry carbon space and a professional engineer licensed in Ontario.
Rosita Morandin, Senior Manager - Finance. Rosita is the Senior Manager of Finance at ERA. She manages the accounting, finance and human resources functions. Rosita fell in love with accounting while working on her Bachelor of Business Administration at Capilano College. She continued her studies through UBC and the Certified General Accountants Association of BC. She first gained experience at PricewaterhouseCoopers and then moved into the private sector helping various small businesses develop their accounting and human resource departments as they grew. She has become an expert in setting up control and reporting systems for small fast-growing companies.
Tristan Jordan, BSc, Assistant Forester (FIT), GIS Technician. Tristan is the GIS Analyst for CERP projects and has been involved in project development including compiling biometrics, and sequestration reporting. Tristan also is involved in developing planting prescriptions and hazard tree assessments with respected Professional Foresters and Professional Biologists. Tristan is a graduate from the UBC Forest Resources Management program, prior to which he had three years field experience as a Timber Cruiser.
Jane Boles, BA, REDD Manager, International Projects. Jane works with ERA’s partners and project stakeholders in Africa to develop projects that enhance not only climate stability, but whole ecosystem health, as well as rural livelihoods, forest governance capacity, and biodiversity. Prior to starting with ERA, Jane worked in the governmental and non-profit sectors as a research analyst and educator on several forest governance and climate change initiatives in Central Africa and Canada. Jane holds a degree in political Science and Environmental Geography from Concordia University in Montreal, speaks French and English and has personally planted over 1 million trees.
Rob Friberg, MA, RPF - Senior Forester, the Americas. Rob has 20 years of forest management experience in Canada and Latin America. He has worked extensively with the development of forest resource plans to meet a wide range of ecological challenges and local stakeholder interests. Rob has provided leadership to forest certification programs, supervised reforestation projects of more than two million trees annually, and from 2006 – 2009 supported participatory forest governance projects in Chile and Cuba. He has a bachelor’s degree in Forest Resources Management from the University of British Columbia, a master’s degree in Environment and Management from Royal Roads University, and certificates in tropical forest management from CATIE in Costa Rica. Rob has good communication skills in Spanish.
Kornelia Zukowska, MSc, Project Developer, International Projects. Kornelia is a project developer for ERA’s international A/R and REDD activities. She is involved in project planning, coordination and development, from project inception through to registration and validation, with a geographical focus on Eastern Africa and South America. She makes sure that all projects are designed to mitigate climate change, enhance and protect biodiversity, and offer strong community co-benefits. Prior to joining ERA, Kornelia worked in Germany as a developer and manager of carbon projects for the compliance market. She is a Fulbright scholar, holds an MSc in Environmental Change and Management from the University of Oxford and speaks Polish, English, German and some Portuguese.
