Staff
V. Alaric Sample, Ph.D.
President
Jennifer J. Becker
Director, Finance and Administration
Jacob Donnay
Research Associate
William C. Price
Program Director
Eric C. Sprague
Research Associate
Star Dodd
Communications Coordinator
Please see the Contact Us page for staff email addresses
Staff Biographies
V. Alaric Sample, President (top)
Al has served as President of the Pinchot Institute for Conservation in Washington, DC since 1995. He is a Fellow of the Society of American Foresters, and a Research Affiliate on the faculty at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. His research interests are in organizational systems for advancing sustainable forest management, including policy frameworks, market-based systems, and evolving models for forest management planning and decision making. Sample earned his doctorate in resource policy and economics from Yale University (1989). He also holds an MBA and a Master of Forestry from Yale, and a Bachelor of Science in forest resource management from the University of Montana. His professional experience spans public, private, and non-profit organizations, including the U.S. Forest Service, Champion International, The Wilderness Society, and the Prince of Thurn und Taxis in Bavaria, Germany. He specialized in resource economics and national forest policy as a Senior Fellow at the Conservation Foundation in Washington, DC, and later as Vice President for Research at the American Forestry Association. He has published widely in journals of resource policy, economics, law and organizational management. His recent books include: Common Goals for Sustainable Forest Management: Divergence and Reconvergence of American and European Forestry (with Steven A. Anderson); Forest Conservation Policy (with Antony S. Cheng); The Impact of the Federal Budget Process on National Forest Planning; Land Stewardship in the Next Era of Conservation; Remote Sensing and GIS in Ecosystem Management; and Defining Sustainable Forestry. Sample has served on numerous national task forces and commissions, including the President's Commission on Environmental Quality task force on biodiversity on private lands, and the National Commission on Science for Sustainable Forestry.
Jennifer Becker, Director of Finance and Administration (top)
Jennifer is responsible for grants and contracts administration and
overseeing the general office operations at the Institute's Washington,
DC office. Her background includes serving as executive assistant at a
nonprofit organization in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and more than
fourteen years as a teacher and administrator at a private school in
the San Francisco Bay area. She is currently pursuing a degree in
Accounting.
Jacob S. Donnay, Research Associate (top)
Jake specializes in natural resource policy and economics. His research
has focused most recently on case studies examining the consistency of
forest management on five US National Forests with independent
certification standards now in use in the US. His current research
examines the role of emerging markets for wood-based bioenergy to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase renewable energy production,
and improve forest management on both public and private forest lands.
Jake manages the Institute's Stewardship Contracting Monitoring and
Evaluation Program and is a co-investigator on a study examining the
threat of wildfire to watersheds along Colorado's Front Range. Prior to
coming to the Pinchot Institute, Jake spent three years at the
University of Minnesota as both a graduate student and staff member in
the Department of Forest Resources where he studied family forest lands
issues and helped develop and implement a master logger certification
program in the state. He earned a Master of Science in Natural Resource
Policy and Economics in 2005, and a Bachelor of Science in Forest
Resources in 2001, both from the University of Minnesota.
Will Price, Program Director (top)
Will has been at the Institute since 1999, working extensively on
forest certification analyses. He has also worked on private landowner
issues and is currently working with Maine, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin
to develop a forestry protocol to be included in a regional carbon
dioxide cap-and-trade system. Will graduated from the Yale School of
Forestry and Environmental Studies with a Master of Forest Science
degree. During his Masters study, he worked with several community
forestry projects in Oaxaca, Mexico through Yale's Tropical Research
Institute and later, CEDICAM (an Oaxacan NGO). His other work included
economic valuation of water quality in Connecticut through a Sea-Grant
fellowship. Prior to graduate school, he worked as a research
technician on NASA's BOREAS project in northern Canada, followed by
research positions at H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest (Oregon) and the
USDA-PNW Forest Sciences Laboratory in Corvallis, OR. He holds a
Bachelor's of Science from University of Notre Dame, where he studied
aquatic ecology.
Eric C. Sprague, Research Associate (top)
Eric Sprague is helping the Pinchot Institute investigate opportunities
for increasing sustainable management on private forestlands. Eric
received a Master of Science in Environmental Science and a Master of
Public Affairs from Indiana University. Between 2000 and 2004, Eric
served as the natural resource and farmland protection expert for the
U.S. EPA's smart growth program. In this capacity, he authored
publications on the connection between conservation and land use and
advised communities and organizations on policy options to create
quality human and natural habitats. Since 2004, Eric has been managing
The State of Chesapeake Forests project for The Conservation Fund.
Synthesizing more than a decade's worth of data, the resulting report
presents a comprehensive picture of the status of forestland in the
Chesapeake Bay watershed. It identifies current and future threats,
recommends goals for protection and restoration, and suggests strategic
avenues for actions that can restore the Bay watershed to a level of
health that benefits water, wildlife, and people.
Star Dodd, Communications Coordinator (top)
Star recently joined the Pinchot Institute as their Communications Coordinator and is working to manage relations with all stakeholders while creating new message strategies to increase overall visibility. She is very excited for the opportunity and hopes to provide support for the staff while raising public awareness. In May 2004, she graduated with her Bachelor of Science degree in Wildlife Science and then returned to complete her Master of Arts degree in Communication and Public Relations, both from Virginia Tech. While completing her undergraduate degree, she studied abroad in Belize and the Dominican Republic concentrating on public perceptions of natural resource sustainability, human dimensions and coral reef preservation efforts. Her master's degree focused on the methods and theories associated with mass and public communication with emphasis placed on public advocacy, media studies, public affairs, campaigns and issue management. In association with her degree, she completed an internship with the US Forest Service involving their national forest management plan revision process and overall public collaborative efforts. She now looks forward to working with the Pinchot Institute for Conservation in an effort to raise awareness and facilitate action concerning the future of conservation and natural resource sustainability.
