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SFI elects three new members to board of directors

Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) has elected three new members to its board of directors.

Joining the board are Jad Daley, president and CEO of American Forests, Dr. Patricia Layton, director of Clemson University’s Wood Utilization + Design Institute and professor of forestry at Clemson University, and Jeff Bromley, United Steelworkers Wood Council chair.

“The addition of these three new board members will support key priorities in our 2020-2024 strategic direction,” says Kathy Abusow, president and CEO of SFI, in a release. “Their collective experience on issues such as quantifying the positive contribution of forests and forest products in sequestering carbon and addressing climate change, advancing innovations around technology and green building, including the use of mass timber and wood design, and supporting vibrant communities through job opportunities and other benefits will help us deliver on our strategy in coming years.”

Daley will serve in the environmental chamber and has served on the SFI External Review Panel and in SFI’s Conservation Impact Project.

Daley was named president and CEO of American Forests in 2018 after a year of leading the organization on issues such as climate change, tree equity and carbon storage in forest products, following 10 years with the Trust for Public Land. He is an advocate for policies and marketplace solutions that recognize sustainably sourced wood products as part of a climate change mitigation strategy.

Layton will serve in the board’s social chamber. Her leadership has advanced innovative design solutions with wood-based construction materials and illustrated the critical role of sustainably managed forests in emerging markets like tall wood buildings. Layton joined Clemson University in 1999 as the chair of the department of forest resources and was director of the School of Agricultural, Forest, and Environmental Sciences.

Bromley will also join the social chamber. He represents sawmill workers, timber transportation workers and others working in the forestry sector. Bromley was a member of the former Industrial, Wood and Allied Workers (IWA) of Canada beginning in 1994 when he was hired as an operator at the Elko Sawmill in British Columbia.

IWA Canada merged with the United Steelworkers (USW) in 2004 and Bromley has served in a full-time staff role since 2012. In January of 2019, Jeff took on the role of Wood Council Chair with the United Steelworkers to oversee the 11 formerly IWA-Canada Locals within the USW.