2026 SPEAKERS
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Kathy Abusow
President and CEO
Sustainable Forestry Initiative
Kathy Abusow
Kathy Abusow is President and CEO of SFI Inc., a sustainability leader that stands for future forests. She has held this role since 2007, when Sustainable Forestry Initiative® became a fully independent, non-profit organization. Since joining SFI, Kathy has greatly expanded SFI’s network to include the forest sector, brand owners, conservation groups, resource professionals, landowners, educators, local communities, Indigenous peoples, governments, and universities.
Sarah Ambroziak
Director, Community Initiatives
The Outland Youth Employment Program (OYEP)
Dexterra Group
Sarah Ambroziak
Terry Baker
CEO
Society of American Foresters
Terry Baker
Terry Baker is a passionate and long-time SAF member, a seasoned leader, and a powerful advocate for forestry. His entire career has been intertwined with SAF (since 2002); in fact, Terry credits SAF with helping to develop him as a professional and he is paying it forward by mentoring students and young professionals.
Baker has a reputation for being a leader who values relationships, a leader who listens, and a leader who takes action. He has experience in building partnerships and strategic alliances to leverage outcomes and is expanding relationships with key partners and stakeholders to strengthen SAF’s voice and advance the profession as well as the members.
David Graham
President
Weyerhaeuser Company Limited
David Graham
David Graham was appointed to the role of President, Weyerhaeuser Company Limited in January 2022. David has held executive and operating leadership roles with Weyerhaeuser since 1992. His career with Weyerhaeuser has taken he and his family across Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Prior to his most recent appointment he served as Vice President of Human Resources, Vice President of Oriented Strand business, and several other leadership positions in the Pulp, Paper, Engineered Wood, and Wood Products organizations. David’s experience includes supporting various international businesses with Weyerhaeuser in Europe, South America, and Asia. He is active on various industry and sector associations including Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) and Board Member for Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), Alberta Forest Products Association (AFPA) and previously with the Council of Forest Industries (COFI). He received his Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the University of Alberta in 1991.
Catherine Grenier
President and CEO
Nature Conservancy Canada
Catherine Grenier
As head of Canada’s leading national land conservation organization, Catherine oversees partnerships with individuals, corporations, foundations, Indigenous communities, non-profit organizations, and governments at all levels to protect the country’s most important natural treasures. The Nature Conservancy Canada is a longstanding SFI partner collaborating on numerous projects including conserving aquatic ecosystems, protecting bat populations, engaging youth in forest conservation, and supporting Project Learning Tree Canada’s Green Jobs for youth. Catherine also serves on SFI’s Education Operating Committee, the PLT advisory group.
An award-winning leader, Catherine has held executive positions with some of Canada’s foremost nature conservation organizations. Prior to joining NCC, Grenier served as Vice President for national park operations with Sépaq, the Quebec government agency that manages parks and wildlife reserves. Catherine mobilized the Sépaq team to generate an increase of more than 40% in visits to the province’s parks network. She has also held senior roles with Parks Canada. Among her achievements there, she led the process to create Canada’s first national urban park, in Toronto’s Rouge Valley.
Her passion for community building and conservation was recognized in 2016 with an Award of Excellence from the Canadian Parks Council and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.
Shenandoah Johns
Chief Environment and Sustainability Officer
West Fraser Timber
Shenandoah Johns
Shenandoah Johns is a senior strategic leader and lawyer who has spent over 25 years helping some of Canada’s largest natural resources companies navigate complex challenges. Currently serving as Chief Environment & Sustainability Officer at West Fraser Mills, Shenandoah leads sustainability strategy, climate initiatives, and environmental compliance and best practices. She chairs the Sustainability Steering Committee and co-chairs the President’s Diversity Council, bringing a combination of principled leadership and practical problem-solving to everything she does. Before joining West Fraser, Shenandoah held progressive leadership roles at Suncor Energy. She started her career in private practice law before discovering she preferred building teams and driving transformational change to billing hours. A Harvard Business School leadership program alumna, Shenandoah serves on the Board of Directors for the Treated Wood Council. When she’s not working on sustainability road maps or mentoring the next generation of leaders, in collaboration with great people and strong coffee, Shenandoah is a proud mother of six: Rachel, Rebecca, Sophia, Isobelle, Evangeline, and Sam. Her children, all able to vote, have chosen a diversity of paths she’d like to attribute to the careful upbringing she and her husband Vince provided, but more likely reflects growing up in a cheerfully chaotic household.
Dan Lambe
Chief Executive
Arbor Day Foundation
Dan Lambe
Dan oversees the innovative programs and partnerships through which the Arbor Day Foundation strives to educate, recognize, and empower people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees. Dan works with corporate and government leaders to use trees to help find positive solutions to sustainability, engagement, and marketing challenges.
Dan’s leadership is helping people understand how responsible forestry and tree-planting helps to address pollution, water quality, climate change, hunger, and poverty.
Dan joined the Arbor Day Foundation in 2005 and was named president in 2014. He has served as a member of the Vibrant Cities and Urban Forests Task Force and the National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council. He currently serves on the SFI Educational Operating Committee and the Sustainable Urban Forests Coalition Steering Committee.
James Lane
Manager, Natural Heritage and Forestry
York Region, The Regional Municipality of York
James Lane
SFI Staff Moderators
Lauren Cooper
Chief Conservation Officer
Sustainable Forestry Initiative
Lauren Cooper
Lauren heads the SFI Conservation Pillar, providing conservation leadership internally as well as externally to our network of resource professionals, landowners, educators, local communities, Indigenous Peoples, and governments. She will develop best management practices for climate-smart forestry and fire resiliency and awareness, lead SFI participation in collaborative efforts to conserve forested landscapes and integrate Indigenous knowledge into SFI conservation programs. Lauren currently leads the Forest Carbon and Climate Program at Michigan State University, and she has international experience working with Indigenous communities in Peru, Mexico, Ecuador, and the United States. Lauren has served as a convener, moderator, and facilitator in high-level climate events, engaged in numerous climate working groups and has developed climate curriculum, educational materials, and plans. She currently serves as a steering committee member with the Women’s Forest Congress and on the Forest-Climate Working Group. Lauren is passionate about building new relationships at the intersection of sustainability, forests, society, and climate.
Meagan “Meg” Hanna
Director of Urban and Community Forestry for Canada
Sustainable Forestry Initiative
Meagan “Meg” Hanna
Meg is working with a network of urban and community forestry leaders to establish the new SFI Urban and Community Forest Improvement Program. Part of her work involves promoting certification to the SFI Urban and Community Forest Sustainability Standard with municipalities, Indigenous communities, underserved communities, health care institutions, school campuses, and corporations. Meg also supports the SFI Career Pathways Program in Canada to increase green job opportunities for all in the urban forestry and forestry sectors. Meg holds a joint honours Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts from McGill University as well as a certificate in horticulture and green space management from Laval University. She is an International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Board Certified Master Arborist, has completed the ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualification, and has been volunteering for over a decade for the ISA and its local chapter in Quebec. Meg served on the standards committee for the complete revision of Quebec’s standards in arboriculture and horticulture BNQ 0605.
Christine Leduc
VP, Communications and Government Relations
Sustainable Forestry Initiative
Christine Leduc
Christine leads SFI’s binational communications team, which also includes Project Learning Tree and Project Learning Tree Canada. She oversees strategic communications while also developing and implementing a range of government and public relations activities. Christine is a Registered Professional Forester with a decade of experience in forestry, policy, communications, public affairs, issues management, and more recently Indigenous relations. She is fluent in English and French and holds a Master of Forest Conservation from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto. Christine is also a Forests Ontario board member, and she was recognized as a Top 10 Under 40 by Canadian Forest Industries magazine. Outside work, Christine spends as much time as she can enjoying the forests of northern Ontario.
Jason Metnick
Senior VP, Customer Affairs
Sustainable Forestry Initiative
Jason Metnick
Jason leads the standards pillar at SFI, with a focus on elevating the SFI standards as a proof point for sustainable forestry and responsible purchasing. His work advances the standards pillar through engaging and communicating the value of SFI’s standards to certified organizations, customers of SFI‑certified organizations, and others interested in the value of sustainable forestry. Jason has worked at SFI since 2001 and holds a Bachelor of Science in forestry from Northern Arizona University. He is a member of the Society of American Foresters and sits on a number of committees related to forest certification, chain of custody, and eco-labeling. He lives in Phoenix, Arizona with his wife, two daughters, and Maple the wonder dog.
Ken Price
SFI Forest Certification Consultant for First Nations
Sustainable Forestry Initiative
Ken Price
Ken works to expand SFI certification among Indigenous communities and businesses. He provides supports to Indigenous communities, businesses, and partnerships that enable them to successfully certify their forests and forest operations to the SFI Standards—and ultimately advance their unique self-determined forest-related priorities.
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