Peter Mertz has made his fortune by doing good. He leads Global Forest Partners, a sustainability focused investment company that currently manages more than 750,000 hectares of high quality timberland on four continents.

“Successful investing requires an unrelenting focus on the underlying drivers of return,” Mertz said. “A key feature of GFP’s investment style is a strong commitment to environmentally and socially responsible timber production. For us, forest sustainability is a critical and universal value.”

Aspects of GFP’s practices include carbon sequestration, promoting habitat diversity and the protection of critical species, and careful land management with an eye toward water quality and soil productivity while providing wood supplies for users of this renewable resource. The company supports Forest Stewardship Council certification standards and is a member of the National Alliance of Forest Owners, an organization that protects and enhances the environmental values of privately-owned forests through targeted national policy advocacy.

“The practice of sustainable forestry requires an integration of environmental, social, and financial goals,” Mertz said. “Our investments create stable employment and improved living conditions in areas where economic opportunity might otherwise be difficult to find.”

GFP also funds educational and health care initiatives in underdeveloped communities like the Peten region of Guatemala, where the company is establishing teak plantations, and its partners and investors contributed to rebuild housing and infrastructure in the wake of the 2010 Chilean earthquakes. On a personal level, Mertz and his wife, Carolyn, have given back to SNRE many times over, most significantly through eponymous fellowship funds in the school as well as in the Erb Institute. These investments lead to exponential returns by growing the base of environmental leaders who, as alumni, will advocate for sustainability in organizations around the world.

“None of us achieves what we do without the help of many others,” Mertz said. “Our gifts can make a real difference in another person’s life and I know of no better way to employ my talents than to use them to help others.”