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Parker White

Master of Forestry/Master of Business Administration, 2024 

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Employer:

Eastwood Forests, LLC

Role:

Forest Operations Manager

 

 

 

 

Parker White began his first semester at the Nicholas School just as he was wrapping up nearly eight years of active duty in the U.S. Army’s Armor Branch, which conducts tank and cavalry reconnaissance stateside and abroad.

A graduate of West Point, he had worked his way up to company commander, a personal milestone. “It’s the last time you’re actually leading troops and making tactical, on-the-ground decisions for the organization,” says White, who twice deployed to South Korea during his military tenure.

That goal achieved, he set his sights on grad school. Although many 20- and 30-something veterans pursue MBAs, according to White, his wife encouraged him to forge a path with an outdoor component.

“Growing up, I was an Eagle Scout, very into backpacking and camping, also hunting and fishing,” says White, who hails from the South Carolina. He started thinking, “There’s got to be a way where you can have a fulfilling career and achieve your financial goals and professional goals, while also being able to really leave a positive impact on the environment.”

Through conversations with Duke alumni and a mentor — who is now his boss — White learned about the field of timberland investment management. Instead of stocks, investors put stake in forestland and derive returns from sustainable timber management, carbon markets and appreciation of physical assets with intrinsic value.

“I like to think of it like a high-yield savings account or biological bond,” says White, who now lives in North Carolina. “It’s a great way to keep [corporations’] money working and to have a positive climate benefit.”

Bent on a career in timber investment management, White pursued concurrent MF and MBA degrees at Duke. He completed the programs in three years, with tuition fully covered by the GI Bill and the Yellow Ribbon Program for veterans.

Building on MF courses like forest economics, taught by Jeff Vincent, the Clarence F. Korstian Professor of Forest Economics and Management, and dendrology — the study of woody plants — taught by senior lecturer Nicki Cagle, White also completed internships with a forestry consultant in North Carolina, and an Alabama-based timber investment management business.

After graduating, he signed on with , founded by Alex Finkral, former manager of the Yale Forests at Yale University’s School of the Environment. The company specializes in sourcing and managing forestland investments for long-term climate benefits.

As a forest operations manager, White oversees properties in Virginia, West Virginia, Panama and Costa Rica. A favorite part of the job is working with local forestry consultants. “They’re just a wealth of knowledge,” he says.

In this collective work, White sees parallels with his time serving.

“[In the military], you have to know how to manage and organize all those subject matter experts together in the right direction, very similar to what I do now,” White says. “I’m never going to be a better field forester than an Appalachian forester who’s done it for 20 or 30 years. So, I get to learn from them, while also working collaboratively with them to do what’s best for the asset — for the forest — and what’s best for our investors.”

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This article is part of a Nicholas Narratives series called “Earth Ambassadors,” which profiles alums from the Master of Environmental Management and Master of Forestry programs at the Nicholas School of the Environment. Find more profiles here.