Athens, Ga. – More than 500 people from more than a dozen countries are expected to attend the 2013 Timberland Investment Conference held biannually by the University of Georgia’s Center for Forest Business. The conference will run from Feb. 27 to March 1 and will focus on achieving investment efficiency in a market-oriented systems and making prudent timberland investment decisions.
The 2013 conference on “The Timberland Asset: The Long Term Investment for The Bright Green Future” will be held at the Ritz-Carlton on Amelia Island, Fla. Featured presentations include global competition for wood markets, the impact of the housing market and economy and domestic and international investment outlooks.
A special session on private forest family ownership will feature a panel of five Georgia families who have held significant forest acreage for 70 to 110 years. These families will explain how they came to own the land, how they have kept it in their families throughout the years and what they see in the future for their ownership.
Registrants represent global leaders in the timberland investment community including investors, landowners, executives, managers, lenders, researchers, analysts, attorneys, consultants, and those involved in the real estate, insurance, forestry industry and service and technology professions.
The Center for Forest Business, which is part of the UGA Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, also will hold a pre-conference timberland investment field tour on Feb. 26.
Bob Izlar, director of the Center for Forest Business, said this year’s conference is timely because of the recovering strength in the U.S. economy and the long-term attractiveness of the timberland asset to investors. The conference boasts a diverse field of experts who will speak on every facet of the timberland business.
The conference’s keynote speakers are as follows:
• Kermit Baker, senior research fellow at the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University;
• Danielle DiMartino, financial analyst with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas;
• Paul G. Boynton, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Rayonier; and
• Dan Fulton, president and chief executive officer of Weyerhaeuser.
The UGA Center for Forest Business pioneers academic research and sound financial methods to provide education and service to forest industry, investors and landowners throughout the world. It has previously held similar conferences in Munich, Germany; London, England; and Georgia. For more information, contact Izlar at 706/542-6819 or bizlar@warnell.uga.edu or see www.ugacfb.com.
The agenda and list of speakers and sponsors is available on the center’s website at http://www.ugacfb.com/timberlandasset/. To register for the conference, see http://www.georgiacenter.uga.edu/uga-hotel/conferences-events/register/timberland-investment.