James is a Senior Specialist in Forestry with Preferred by Nature and a Registered Professional Forester in Ontario, Canada, with over 11 years of experience in certification services, and resource management. James has been with Preferred by Nature since 2020, having completed ISO 14001/19011 and FSC/SFI/PEFC for Forest Management/Chain of Custody/Controlled Wood and Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP) and Rainforest Alliance supply chain lead auditor courses. James has conducted over 160 audits to date within Canada, the USA and the UK.

Responsibilities include managing a portfolio of clients across North America regarding Forest Management and Controlled Wood/Chain of Custody certification, technical input for tailored projects and SFI forest management technical lead.

Following his Master's degree in Environmental Assessment, James has worked in a variety of positions within the forestry and environmental sectors. Past work experiences include the development and implementation of forest management plans as a district forester for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry in Northern Ontario, forest resource inventory, timber cruising and land use plan development within Ontario, in addition to implementing several conservation projects globally, including within the UK, China, India and the USA.