Team Members
Learn more about forest carbon projects on which Finite Carbon forestry experts worked.
Meet the Team
Finite Carbon has assembled a team that combines the expertise and experience of recognized forest carbon industry leaders, and entrepreneurial experience in the forestry market and finance.
-
Robert Verratti, CEO
Bob has had a wide range of business experience, having served as CEO in multiple companies and as a private investor and partner in TL Ventures. From October 2003 to April 2007 he was the CEO of Traffic.com, Inc., a TL Ventures portfolio company. During his tenure he expanded the company’s business model, raised private capital, led an initial public offering (NASDAQ: TRFC) and subsequently led negotiations of the company’s sale to NAVTEQ, Inc. (NYSE: NVT). In previous roles as CEO, he led turnaround efforts resulting in successful exit strategies for such companies as National Media (NYSE), Total Care Systems, Inc., and Globe Ticket Company. He currently serves as OE Waves, Inc. board chairman, and is a board member of Finite Carbon Corp. Bob is an adviser to several private companies and is an operating partner at TL Ventures. Before working for various H. Ross Perot Enterprises, he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and served in the nuclear submarine service. -
Sean Carney, President
Sean was recently promoted to President of Finite Carbon. As one of the original founding employees, he has helped build Finite Carbon into the market leader for U.S. forest carbon offest development. Sean is responsible for portfolio management, OTC transactions and client advisory services. Immediately prior to joining Finite Carbon he was a broker at CantorCO2e, an emissions brokerage subsidiary of Cantor Fitzgerald, where he specialized in the U.S. carbon market. At CantorCO2e he worked with clients to facilitate structured transactions of carbon offsets from projects involving forestry, livestock management, landfill gas and renewable energy. Prior to CantorCO2e, Sean was one of the first employees of Carbonfund.org, which has become the largest carbon offset retailer in the United States. There he worked with such corporations as Dell, Volkswagen and Orbitz to develop and manage carbon neutral programs. He also managed the financing and development of the third reforestation project in the world to be validated to the Climate, Community, and Biodiversity Standard (CCBS). Sean has researched carbon sequestration potential of tropical forests in Costa Rica and his honors thesis was on forest carbon finance and sustainable development. Sean has a degree in business and environmental studies from the University of Southern California. Sean is a member of the Forest Carbon Standards Committee, which is developing an ANSI-accepted forest carbon standard. -
Sterling Griffin, Vice President, Project Development
Sterling is responsible for all phases of project origination and implementation. He is a Registered Professional Forester (#2805) in the State of California with 10 years of professional experience in private and public forest management. Prior to joining Finite Carbon, Sterling was GHG verification manager for Scientific Certification Systems, Inc., and origination manager for First Climate, LLC, a Germany-based carbon credit developer specializing in CDM, CER and VER credits. He has completed CCAR and CCX verifications of managed forest projects in North America and South America, including the first three projects registered under the CCAR Forestry Protocol. After graduating from the Purdue University School of Forestry, Sterling worked as a forester in the U.S. Forest Service for five years, then founded a private consulting firm specializing in the development of forest management plans, forest inventory, and growth and yield modeling. Sterling has also conducted Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification assessments on more than five million acres in the states of Oregon, Washington, California, New York, Maine, Maryland, Indiana, Michigan and Pennsylvania. -
Matt Smith, Vice President, Forest Operations
For almost two decades Matt was a forest operations specialist and forest management director for Forecon, Inc.’s timber investment management organization (TIMO) clients. Matt has completed extensive forest carbon modeling and analysis under CAR, VCS, ACR and CCX programs. His leadership in the CCX carbon market includes the first TIMO-owned project in the nation, the first urban forest methodology, and the first remote-sensing quantification procedure. Matt, who is an SAF-certified forester, is a member of the SAF National Task Force on Climate Change and is SAF Western New York chairman. He also is a member of the Forest Carbon Education Group, the 25 by 25 Carbon Working Group, the New York Forest Owners Association and the Forest Carbon Standards Committee. Matt has testified for the SAF before the U.S. House of Representatives and has presented for landowners at numerous SAF conventions. He has been published in The Forestry Source, Forest Landowner magazine, the Journal of Forestry and the New York Forest Owner magazine. Matt holds a B.S. degree in forest resource management from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, where he serves as an adjunct professor. -
Dylan Jenkins, Vice President, Portfolio Development
Dylan has fifteen years experience working with private forest landowners and their service providers toward the protection and sustainable management of private forestlands. In his role with Finite Carbon, Dylan is responsible for expanding our sales reach and nurturing existing client and partner relationships. A Society of American Foresters (SAF) Certified Forester (CF), Dylan joins us from The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in Pennsylvania where he was the Director of Forest Conservation and developed market-based strategies integrating land protection, certified forest management and forest carbon markets to produce economic and ecological value on private working forests. Dylan was named the 2006 SAF National Young Forester of the Year, served as the Virginia SAF chair, and was a member of the SAF National Committee on Forest Policy. He currently chairs the SAF Certification Review Board which oversees the SAF CF credential and Continuing Forestry Education programs. He has been published in Science, the Journal of Forestry, the Journal of Forest Economics, Forest Landowner and the Journal of Multi-State Taxation. He has a B.S. in forest management from Clemson and an M.S. in forest management and economics from Virginia Tech. -
Tim McAbee, Director
Tim joined Finite Carbon after three years as Eco-Markets Manager at LandMark Systems, where he was responsible for the sourcing, evaluation, negotiation, and project development for all forest carbon projects. In this role, Tim initiated development of an eco-markets business line, which propelled LandMark into forest carbon project development and implementation. Under Tim’s leadership, LandMark engaged in a wide range of domestic and international forest carbon initiatives including full development of a 100,000+ acre TIMO project under the Climate Action Reserve. Tim also led the implementation and management of LandMark’s FSC FM/CoC Certification licensed by Rainforest Alliance/Smartwood. Prior to LandMark, Tim served in the same capacity for a forestry consulting firm in Missouri. Tim has extensive knowledge and experience in carbon markets, carbon modeling, forestland investments and sustainability, forest operations and natural resource systems planning. Tim is a SAF Certified Forester, an American Tree Farm Certified Inspector, and a member of AFPA’s Forest Carbon Standards Committee. He co-developed a carbon finance tool, “CVal: a spreadsheet tool to evaluate the direct benefits and costs of carbon sequestration contracts for managed forests”, which was published by the USDA Forest Service. Tim graduated summa cum laude/valedictorian from the SUNY ESF at Syracuse with a B.S. in Forest Resources Management and summa cum laude/valedictorian from SUNY ESF Ranger School at Wanakena with an A.A.S. in Forest Technology. He also served as an Infantryman in the New York Army National Guard for five years. -
Noah Becker, Chief Financial Officer
Noah has more than 18 years of experience in both corporate financial and public accounting sectors. He has held senior financial positions at early stage as well as established entities including ICG Commerce, Inc., Five Below, Inc. and most recently as Chief Financial officer at The Franklin Mint. Noah has substantial experience establishing the financial and operational tools to facilitate growth and expansion. Previously he spent eight years in public accounting, most recently as a Senior Manager at Arthur Andersen, LLP. He is a Certified Public Accountant and has a B.S. degree in Economics as well as an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. -
Scott Nissenbaum, Advisory Board
Scott served for three years as the lead investor and chairman of the board for ImageTree Corporation, a company with patented platform technology and a proprietary process that provides accurate and consistent assessment of forest resources to improve forest management and financial performance. His close involvement with ImageTree led him to recognize forest landowners’ need for a single-source forest carbon development company that facilitates entry into emerging carbon markets. In addition to his knowledge of the forestry industry, Scott also brings to Finite Carbon a background in finance. He has a B.S. degree in finance from Pennsylvania State University and an MBA in finance from St. Joseph’s University. Scott spent more than a decade as a venture capitalist in the Philadelphia area with Novitas Capital. As founder and former president of Finite Carbon, Scott will take a leadership role on the Finite Carbon Advisory Board.