James Castleberry
- RMS Leadership Team
- RMS Governing Board
RMS Leadership Team
Throughout our history, RMS has earned consistent accolades as a rewarding, yet challenging place to work. The current RMS Leadership Team has more than 260 years of combined forestry and investment experience.
-
Alex Hinson
President and CEO -
Charlie Cornish
Executive Vice President, Operations -
Charlie Pringle
Executive Vice President, Investments -
Dennis Dubose
Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer -
Jimmy Bullock
Senior Vice President, Forest Sustainability -
Mary Kay Greer
Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications -
Scott T. Mooney
Senior Vice President, Acquisitions -
Steven King
Senior Vice President, Business Development -
James Castleberry
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, RESOURCE PLANNING -
Paul Collins
Vice President, Information Technology And Information Systems IT/IS -
Chris Nicholson
Vice President, Investments
Alex Hinson
President and CEO
Alex was appointed as RMS’ fifth President and CEO on October 1, 2021. He previously led the firm’s Investment Team as Executive Vice President, Investments. In that role he directed portfolio management, investment strategy, client relations and investment research. He also supported RMS’ business development, product development, transaction management and business strategy initiatives. Prior to joining RMS, Alex worked at Plum Creek Timber Company, a forest real estate investment trust (REIT), where he held a variety of leadership and management roles of increasing responsibility. These included leading Plum Creek’s global market development efforts; overseeing its forest inventory and planning activities; analyzing timberland acquisitions and dispositions; initiating and managing retail land sales; and, supporting its companywide timber marketing and sales efforts. Earlier in his career, Alex worked as an investment analyst and appraiser for a large forestry consulting firm and managed his family’s farming operations in South Carolina, where he was raised. Alex has served on the RMS Investment Committee and Board of Managers for a number of years. He holds a BA from the University of Virginia; a MFR degree (Master of Forest Resources) from the University of Georgia’s Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources; and, an MBA from Vanderbilt University’s Owens Graduate School of Management.
Charlie Cornish
Executive Vice President, Operations
Charlie is responsible for RMS’s forest management and harvesting operations on over 2 million acres across the southern U.S. and Brazil. He works in close collaboration with the Resource Planning, Finance and Accounting, Investment Management, and Asset Acquisition and Disposition teams to meet all client objectives. Prior to his current role he led RMS’s Resource Planning group and is a member of the RMS Investment Committee and RMS Board of Managers. He is a resource professional with over 20 years of experience in the forest products industry including multiple roles in both operations and resource planning. Prior to joining RMS, he held positions of increasing responsibility for Plum Creek Timber Company including the responsibility of managing over 600,000 acres of southern timberland assets and leading Plum Creek’s Operations Support group supporting resource planning functions on over 6 million acres. Charlie holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Forest Management and a Masters of Agribusiness Management from Mississippi State University. He is also a Mississippi registered forester.
Charlie Pringle
Executive Vice President, Investments
Charlie serves on the RMS Board of Managers and Investment Committee and is responsible for directing investment strategy, portfolio management, acquisitions, and client relations. He assumed his current role as head of investment operations on October 1, 2021. Previously, he was Vice President of Investments for RMS, where he led portfolio management activities for all client investments, including forest assets in the United States, Australia, Brazil, China and New Zealand. Prior to joining RMS, Charlie served as Director of Acquisitions and Divestitures for Weyerhaeuser, the world’s largest publicly-traded forest real estate investment trust (REIT). In that role, his responsibilities included leading due diligence on strategic timberland acquisitions, evaluating the composition and performance of the company’s timberland portfolio, and directing large divestitures of both timberland and manufacturing assets. Earlier in his career, Charlie held positions of increasing responsibility at Rayonier where he worked in a variety of leadership roles in operations, acquisitions and market development. These included providing both operational and financial leadership for a team that oversaw an 800,000-acre timberland portfolio with assets located in six states. His professional experience also includes working to promote the sustainable management of forests in Costa Rica and Ecuador. Charlie began his career by working as an Economist for RTI International – a consulting firm that serves private and public-sector clients. He earned a BS degree in Economics and Natural Resources from Sewanee – The University of the South and holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.
Dennis Dubose
Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer
Dennis is responsible for the financial management of RMS, its subsidiaries and investment entities, and the accounting and reporting of client investments. He also assists the investment management team in developing effective strategies for global timberland investments. He serves on RMS’s Board of Managers and Investment Committee. Before joining RMS, Dennis was a senior partner in a public accounting firm specializing in services to Timberland Investment Management Organizations (TIMO). He has over 34 years of experience in accounting, finance, and taxation in the timberland investment industry. Dennis is a recognized expert in the timber industry and has provided services to timber clients ranging from consulting on specific projects to helping clients shape the growth and success of their companies. Dennis has assisted clients with the acquisition and disposition of several million acres of timberland through feasibility studies, financial modeling and assisting with the securing both acquisition and permanent financing. Dennis received his Bachelor of Science in accounting from the University of South Alabama.
Jimmy Bullock
Senior Vice President, Forest Sustainability
Jimmy oversees sustainable forestry and environmental policy and programs and advocacy on forestry issues for RMS-managed timberlands in the United States. He also has responsibility for forest certification and audit programs and leads environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives for RMS-managed timberlands globally. Jimmy earned his B.S. degree in Forestry from Mississippi State University in 1980 and his M.S. degree in Wildlife Ecology from Mississippi State in 1982. A Certified Wildlife Biologist, Mississippi Registered Forester and Society of American Foresters Certified Forester, Jimmy is on the Board of Directors for the National Conservation Leadership Institute, the Catch-A-Dream Foundation, the Mississippi Wildlife Federation, the Forest Landowner’s Association and the Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy. Jimmy is a Professional Member of the Boone and Crockett Club. In 1994, Jimmy was presented the prestigious American Forest and Paper Association’s Forest Stewardship Award for his leadership role in conservation of the Louisiana Black Bear. In 2017 Jimmy was honored as recipient of the Quality Deer Management Association’s Joe Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award and the Wildlife Management Institute’s George Bird Grinnell Award for Distinguished Service to Natural Resources Conservation, both of which are the highest individual honors bestowed by the respective organizations. Jimmy was recently honored as the 2019 College of Forest Resources Alumni Fellow at Mississippi State University.
Mary Kay Greer
Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications
Mary Kay leads RMS’ marketing and communications efforts, which entails overseeing media relations, public affairs, internal communications, philanthropic initiatives, academic and community relations and special events. She also directs the firm’s global corporate marketing and branding activities and manages its digital and social media platforms. Among her varied responsibilities, Mary Kay provides marketing communications support to the firm’s business development, client relations and forest sustainability teams. This entails contributing and developing both design and print collateral, thought leadership materials, educational and promotional videos and a variety of communications relating to RMS’ environmental, social and governance agenda including its annual global sustainability report. She also organizes the firm’s annual client meetings and oversees both the RMS “Forester of the Future Fund” program, which is operated in conjunction with North Carolina State University, as well as “The Craig Blair – RMS Forestry Scholarship”, through which the firm partners with other universities that offer forestry as a field of study. The two programs are key elements of RMS’ diversity, equity and inclusion initiative. They provide funding and paid internships to forestry students with a particular emphasis on members of demographic populations that historically have been under-represented in the profession. Mary Kay also manages RMS’ Community Roots program, including its partnership with Habitat for Humanity, which builds homes for families in need in areas where the company has operations. In this capacity, she manages RMS’ project-level funding commitments, organizes employee volunteers to help with home construction activities, and leads efforts to generate additional financial and in-kind donations through a variety of forestry partnerships. Prior to assuming her current role, Mary Kay directed RMS’ client relations, client servicing and investor communications functions. She has more than 26 years of progressive experience in institutional timberland investment client relations and marketing. Mary Kay is active in a number of local charities in the Birmingham, Alabama area and attended Auburn University of Montgomery.
Scott T. Mooney
Senior Vice President, Acquisitions
Scott is responsible for sourcing and closing acquisition opportunities for RMS’ clients. In this capacity, he also supports the firm’s broader business goals and works closely with RMS’ Investment, Forest Operations, Sustainability and Resource Planning Teams. In addition to focusing on the major timber-producing regions of the United States, the scope of Scott’s work also includes global timberland markets like Brazil, other parts of South America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Asia. Prior to joining RMS, Scott helped source and close a total of 75 forest transactions for institutional and high-net-worth investors. These encompassed nearly 2.8 million acres valued at more than $3.3 billion. Scott brought more than 25 years of progressive experience to RMS. He served as Managing Director of Conservation Resource Partners from 2019 to 2022, where he oversaw the management of four forest investment funds with assets valued at approximately $800 million. In this capacity, he directed all operations and transactional activities and had fund-level profit and loss responsibilities. As a member of the firm’s executive team, he also played a key role in its client relations efforts and helped set strategic direction for the business. He joined Conservation Resources in 2007 and served as vice president of Acquisitions and Disposition from then until 2019. Earlier in his career, he held similar titles and had similar responsibilities with Plum Creek Timber and Forest Investment Associates. He began his career as a timberland investment analyst with Canal Forest Resources (Now American Forest Management) and as a resource forester with Union Camp. He is a graduate of the University of Georgia’s Warnell School of Forest Resources, where he earned both a Master’s of Forest Business Management and a Bachelor of Science degree in Forest Resources. Scott currently serves on the boards of the Forest Landowners Association and the Harley Langdale Jr. Center for Forest Business at the University of Georgia.
Steven King
Senior Vice President, Business Development
Steven is responsible for developing and supporting the firm’s business development initiatives. With more than two decades of global timberland experience, he has broad experience developing timberland investment strategies, acquiring timberland, and managing portfolios. Prior to joining RMS, Steven was Managing Director, Global Strategies at Campbell Global, where he played a key role in the successful launch of that firm’s first global timberland fund. Prior to that Steven held positions at RMS, Rayonier, James W. Sewall Company, and Jaakko Pöyry Consulting. Steven received his M.S. in Forest Resources from the University of Georgia and a B.S. in Forest Resources and Conservation from the University of Florida.
James Castleberry
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, RESOURCE PLANNING
James serves on the RMS Senior Management Team and is responsible for forest planning and optimization, inventory/growth & yield data collection and management, GIS and land management systems, and due diligence and analytical support for timberland acquisitions and dispositions. He assumed his current role as the head of Resource Planning on July 31, 2023. Prior to joining RMS, James served as the Director of Planning and Inventory, Southern Timberlands for Weyerhaeuser, the world’s largest publicly traded forest real estate investment trust (REIT). His responsibilities in that role included leading forest planning and optimization, inventory management, land management activity reporting, and due diligence and analytical support for timberland acquisitions and dispositions. Earlier in his career, James held positions of increasing responsibility at Plum Creek and MeadWestvaco where he worked in a variety of leadership positions in operations, resource planning and sawmill manufacturing. These roles included providing new business startup support as the Regional Manager for Plum Creek’s Virginia operation, Area Manager for their East Mississippi ownership and harvest scheduling support as a biometrician for both companies’ southern ownership. James earned a BS degree in Timber Management and an MS in Biometrics from the University of Georgia.
Paul Collins
Vice President, Information Technology And Information Systems IT/IS
Paul leads all information technology and systems (IT/IS) related functions for RMS. This includes enterprise systems and processes, software product development, information security and privacy, technology infrastructure, and platform product management. His team is responsible for providing the firm with a broad range of services, including IT/IS strategy and planning, hardware deployment and software development. His team also develops, implements, manages, supports and secures RMS’ overall technology platform and provides direct IT/IS support to our employees and technology users. Paul has more than 30 of IT/IS experience having served in a variety of upper-level management and consulting capacities in a wide range of industries and sectors. These have included law, banking, healthcare, software, manufacturing, and distribution and logistics. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Chris Nicholson
Vice President, Investments
Chris Nicholson is Vice President of Investments for RMS. As a member of the Investment Management team, his responsibilities include oversight of Portfolio Management activities for all client investment vehicles, including investment strategy development and implementation, performance oversight and client reporting. Prior to his current role, Chris led the RMS Finance & Accounting function, with responsibility over financial reporting, treasury, investment performance measurement, certain compliance activities and financial oversight of international portfolio investments. Chris joined RMS in 2012 after nine years with PricewaterhouseCoopers, with much of his time in public accounting devoted to working in the public and private real estate sector. Chris holds a Bachelor of Business Administration – Accountancy degree from the University of Georgia and a Master of Accountancy from the University of Alabama. He is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Alabama Society of Certified Public Accountants (ASCPA).
RMS Governing Board
The RMS Governing Board was established to enhance leadership decision making, improve transparency and support the firm's Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) efforts.
-
Alex Hinson
Employee Member -
Charlie Cornish
Employee Member -
Charlie Pringle
Employee Member -
Dennis Dubose
Secretary -
Craig Blair
Chairman, Board of Managers -
Deborah Spalding
Independent Board Member -
Rick Dahl
Independent Board Member -
Lee Peerson
Independent Board Member
Alex Hinson
Employee Member
Alex was appointed as RMS’ fifth President and CEO on October 1, 2021. He previously led the firm’s Investment Team as Executive Vice President, Investments. In that role he directed portfolio management, investment strategy, client relations and investment research. He also supported RMS’ business development, product development, transaction management and business strategy initiatives. Prior to joining RMS, Alex worked at Plum Creek Timber Company, a forest real estate investment trust (REIT), where he held a variety of leadership and management roles of increasing responsibility. These included leading Plum Creek’s global market development efforts; overseeing its forest inventory and planning activities; analyzing timberland acquisitions and dispositions; initiating and managing retail land sales; and, supporting its companywide timber marketing and sales efforts. Earlier in his career, Alex worked as an investment analyst and appraiser for a large forestry consulting firm and managed his family’s farming operations in South Carolina, where he was raised. Alex has served on the RMS Investment Committee and Board of Managers for a number of years. He holds a BA from the University of Virginia; a MFR degree (Master of Forest Resources) from the University of Georgia’s Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources; and, an MBA from Vanderbilt University’s Owens Graduate School of Management.
Charlie Cornish
Employee Member
Charlie is responsible for RMS’s forest management and harvesting operations on over 2 million acres across the southern U.S. and Brazil. He works in close collaboration with the Resource Planning, Finance and Accounting, Investment Management, and Asset Acquisition and Disposition teams to meet all client objectives. Prior to his current role he led RMS’s Resource Planning group and is a member of the RMS Investment Committee and RMS Board of Managers. He is a resource professional with over 20 years of experience in the forest products industry including multiple roles in both operations and resource planning. Prior to joining RMS, he held positions of increasing responsibility for Plum Creek Timber Company including the responsibility of managing over 600,000 acres of southern timberland assets and leading Plum Creek’s Operations Support group supporting resource planning functions on over 6 million acres. Charlie holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Forest Management and a Masters of Agribusiness Management from Mississippi State University. He is also a Mississippi registered forester.
Charlie Pringle
Employee Member
Charlie serves on the RMS Board of Managers and Investment Committee and is responsible for directing investment strategy, portfolio management, acquisitions, and client relations. He assumed his current role as head of investment operations on October 1, 2021. Previously, he was Vice President of Investments for RMS, where he led portfolio management activities for all client investments, including forest assets in the United States, Australia, Brazil, China and New Zealand. Prior to joining RMS, Charlie served as Director of Acquisitions and Divestitures for Weyerhaeuser, the world’s largest publicly-traded forest real estate investment trust (REIT). In that role, his responsibilities included leading due diligence on strategic timberland acquisitions, evaluating the composition and performance of the company’s timberland portfolio, and directing large divestitures of both timberland and manufacturing assets. Earlier in his career, Charlie held positions of increasing responsibility at Rayonier where he worked in a variety of leadership roles in operations, acquisitions and market development. These included providing both operational and financial leadership for a team that oversaw an 800,000-acre timberland portfolio with assets located in six states. His professional experience also includes working to promote the sustainable management of forests in Costa Rica and Ecuador. Charlie began his career by working as an Economist for RTI International – a consulting firm that serves private and public-sector clients. He earned a BS degree in Economics and Natural Resources from Sewanee – The University of the South and holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.
Dennis Dubose
Secretary
Dennis is responsible for the financial management of RMS, its subsidiaries and investment entities, and the accounting and reporting of client investments. He also assists the investment management team in developing effective strategies for global timberland investments. He serves on RMS’s Board of Managers and Investment Committee. Before joining RMS, Dennis was a senior partner in a public accounting firm specializing in services to Timberland Investment Management Organizations (TIMO). He has over 34 years of experience in accounting, finance, and taxation in the timberland investment industry. Dennis is a recognized expert in the timber industry and has provided services to timber clients ranging from consulting on specific projects to helping clients shape the growth and success of their companies. Dennis has assisted clients with the acquisition and disposition of several million acres of timberland through feasibility studies, financial modeling and assisting with the securing both acquisition and permanent financing. Dennis received his Bachelor of Science in accounting from the University of South Alabama.
Craig Blair
Chairman, Board of Managers
Craig became Chairman of the RMS Board of Managers on October 1, 2021, transitioning from his previous role as President and CEO, a position he assumed in October of 2010. During his tenure as the firm’s leader, Craig oversaw a skilled and experienced team of forestry and investment professionals who built and managed portfolios of forest assets that were collectively valued at more than $4 billion and that included investments in the United States, Australia, Brazil, China and New Zealand. Before assuming the firm’s presidency, Craig directed RMS’ Investment team. In that capacity, he had responsibility for investment strategy, research, business development, portfolio management and client relations. Over his 39-year career, he held a variety of positions at RMS and in the forest products industry and obtained valuable experience in acquisitions, resource planning, forest management and timber procurement. Among his many accomplishments as President and CEO of RMS, Craig led the firm’s efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion within the forestry profession, championed collaborative approaches to species conservation and developed the sector’s first open-end timberland investment fund. Craig has been actively engaged in a number of forestry organizations, serving on the boards of the National Alliance of Forest Owners (Chair), the World Forestry Center (Chair), the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (Chair, 2017 President’s Award), the Longleaf Alliance and the Auburn University Research Advisory Board. Craig earned a BS degree in Forest Management at the University of Arkansas at Monticello and a MF degree in Forest Business at Mississippi State University (2018 Alumni Fellow).
Deborah Spalding
Independent Board Member
Deborah is Co-Chief Investment Officer of Commonfund Asset Management, where she directs all investment activities, leads the organization’s ESG and sustainability efforts, and serves on the Investment Committee of Commonfund Environmental Sustainability Fund. Common Fund is a mission-based investment organization that works with clients that are serving higher purposes. Initially founded in 1971 to provide non-profits with professional investment management services, today it also serves institutions with similar long-term goals, including public pension funds, insurance companies, family offices and trusts. Deborah previously served as both Chief Investment Officer and Deputy Chief Investment Officer in the Office of the Connecticut State Treasurer. In that role, she worked closely with the state treasurer to develop and implement investment policies and strategies for the Connecticut Retirement and Trust Funds, which collectively oversaw more than $31 billion in assets. Earlier in her career, Deborah co-founded and served as Managing Partner of Working Lands Investment Partners, LLC, an asset management firm that invests in working forests and agricultural lands and operates them with a strong stewardship ethic. She also served as Executive Vice President and Head of International Equity Investments with Schroder Investment Management and as both Managing Director and Head of International Equity Investments and Co-Manager of the U.S. Growth and Income Product Group with Scudder Kemper Investments. A Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Deborah also holds several degrees. She earned a BA in International Relations with a concentration in Asian Studies from Tufts University; a master’s in East Asian Religion from Harvard University; an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley; and, a Master’s of Forestry from Yale University. She is a past chair and member of the Investment AdvisoryCommittee of the National Wildlife Federation and has served on the boards of several charitable and non-profit organizations that are involved in environmental protection and land conservation.
Rick Dahl
Independent Board Member
Rick retired as Chief Investment Officer of the Missouri State Employees’ Retirement System (MOSERS) in 2016 after holding that position for 21 years. During his tenure with the pension fund, he oversaw all investment operations, including its involvement in the timberland asset class through RMS. Under his leadership, MOSERS produced performance that was consistently in the top decile of state-wide public pension funds and was among the first public pension funds in the United States to make investments in commodities, inflation indexed bonds and hedge funds. Rick is a past board memberof several international timber funds and Gateway Energy Partners, LLC, which owns and operates natural gas gathering, transmission and distribution systems. He also was an investment committee member of Ascension Health, the nation’s largest Catholic, non-profit health system. Today, Rick’s company, HollanDahl Capital Advisors LLC, serves as an advisor to theUniversity of MissouriInvestment Department, which operates a portfolio valued at more than $7.0 billion. An avid outdoorsman and hunter, Rick owns and leases approximately 700 acres in Central Missouri, which he manages with a strong conservation ethic. He currently serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of the National Deer Association, a non-profit organization that was formed by a merger of the Quality Deer Management Association and the National Deer Alliance in 2020 and that focuses on the conservation of wild deer and their habitats. Rick is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia where he earned a BS in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance. He also is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP).
Lee Peerson
Independent Board Member
Lee Peerson is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). In his role as Chief Investment Officer of Thompson Investment Company, LLC (TIC) and Thompson Private Capital, LLC (TPC), he directs all aspects of investment strategy, capital deployment, performance evaluation and accounting for a diverse portfolio of private equity, venture capital, private credit, direct investment and marketable securities. TIC and TPC specialize in evaluating managers who implement alternative investment strategies using fund structures to scale investment into lower middle market sectors of the United States and Europe. He previously served as Director of Development for Fairway Investments, LLC (Fairway). Fairway is a real estate investment and development company with a portfolio of retail, multi-family, office and industrial properties located across the Sun Belt region. In his role as Director of Development Lee was responsible for land evaluation, entitlement and commercial development for retail use. He began his career in public accounting as an auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers where he primarily focused on the REIT industry. Lee received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and a Master of Accountancy from Auburn University. Lee is a native of Birmingham, Alabama and loves fishing, hiking and whitewater rafting.