Wednesday, 23 September 2020
Welcome to the New FSC US Board Members
David Williams, Sustainability Manager for Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (WSI), is newly elected to the board as a representative in the Economic Chamber. David has been with WSI for more than 13 years, working diligently to help make the company a leading home furnishings company in environmental sustainability. David has promoted FSC as the gold standard in forest certification - within the company and throughout its supply chain. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. was an FSC Leadership Award winner in 2016 for its support of the One Simple Action campaign, which was designed to raise awareness about FSC. Read David’s full biography and position statement.
Ted Wright, the Executive Director of the Trust to Conserve Northeast Forestlands (TCNEF), was newly elected to the board as a representative of the Social Chamber. In his current position, Ted works with professional logging companies, administering the Northeast Master Logger Certification Program (NEMLC) that recognizes exemplary social, economic and environmental practices. NEMLC is third-party certified to Nepcon's SmartLogging standard. Ted recently collaborated with the FSC New Approaches initiative as a global working group member to develop and test forestry contractor certification in the U.S. The aim of the global working group was to analyze the benefits from better incorporating forestry and logging contractors in the FSC system – especially from a smallholder certification perspective. Read Ted’s full biography and position statement.
We are also exited to welcome back Linda Walker of World Wildlife Fund and Tracy Stone-Manning of National Wildlife Federation, both representing the Environmental Chamber:
- Tracy believes that our country's forests are vital for delivering clean water, providing important wildlife habitat, and offering space for people to find solace in nature. She believes forests are an essential part of our country's health, economy and future, which is why Tracy is committed to helping ensure sustainable approaches to their management.
- Linda is excited to continue to bring her perspective on ways to maximize the benefits of FSC certification as a conservation tool that can complement other key public interventions around forest policy and governance, and as a label that consumers understand. Her priorities are to: a) help grow and convene more discussions among the FSC US Environmental Chamber membership; b) help ensure that the updated National Forest Stewardship Standard is robust and accessible; and c) help FSC-US better quantify the positive environmental and social impacts of FSC certification.