OUR LEADERSHIP
EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT
Ted Dergousoff
Chief Executive Officer
Ted Dergousoff is Chief Executive Officer. His responsibilities include setting the strategy and leading the transformational development of Restoration Forest Product’s manufacturing operations with a focus on developing the largest high-capacity sawmill facility in Arizona. Dergousoff is a 40-year industry veteran of the sustainable forest products industry, leading large multi-facility sawmill and value-added companies. Previously, Dergousoff served as Chief Operating Officer of Terminal Forest Products and also served as Chief Executive Officer of C&C Wood Products.
Dergousoff earned his Licentiate in Accounting degree from the Faculty of Commerce, University of British Columbia and Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics, from the Faculty of Arts, University of British Columbia.
Neil Calhoun
Chief Financial Officer
Neil Calhoun has been a CFO and COO for over 40 years for rapidly growing companies in the manufacturing industries both domestically and internationally working with Private Equity and Banking Groups.
Responsible for the development of strategic business plans to support the financial needs of rapid growth business or the redesign, restructuring, and refinancing, working simultaneously with operations managers in re-engineering and integrating operations and systems.
He has executed extensive cost containment and cost reduction programs while designing and implementing financial controls, cost accounting, information technology systems and financial reporting for sustained growth.
George Stedeford
Senior Vice President, Forest Operations
George Stedeford is the Senior Vice President, Forest Operations. George is responsible for all aspects of the forest restoration effort including working closely with the US Forest Service, planning, capital acquisition, and delivering logs to the Company’s operations. Stedeford was previously Chief Financial Officer at the Duz Cho Group, where he partnered with the McLeod Lake Indian Band in managing their forestry and logging operations. Stedeford brings decades of experience in finance, logging and sawmilling operations. He has been involved in the forest and bioenergy industries where he was Chief Executive Officer of an independent cooperative dedicated to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Stedeford is a Certified Professional Accountant and a certified Greenhouse Gas Inventory Quantifier (GHG-IQ.) He has held both log scaler and lumber grader licenses.
Bob Banchero
Senior Vice President, Sawmill Operations
Bob Banchero is Senior Vice President, Sawmill Operations. Bob has over 40 years experience in the forest industry. He spent 36 years with Stimson Lumber Company overseeing sawmills, hardboard plant, and laminated beam plant in Oregon and Washington. Bob also spent 7 years with Eacom Timber Corporation responsible for their Ontario, Canada operations of 5 sawmills and 1 I-Joist plant.
Bob has a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Portland State University.
Adam Cooley
Vice President, Corporate Development
Adam Cooley is the Vice President of Corporate Development. As a fourth generation in the Arizona lumber industry Adam previously worked for the largest family-owned wholesale lumber distribution company in Arizona where he was Export Sales Manager. In that role he led a division made up of sales and purchasing agents. Subsequently Adam was part owner and Director of Sales for Seymour Forest Products and Lumberjack Timber. Adam’s background is well rounded and he is proficient in sales, marketing, purchasing, and operations. Adam is fluent in Spanish.
Cooley achieved his Bachelor of Science in Business Management (BSB/M) from the University of Phoenix.
Mike McInnes
Sales & Product Development
Mike McInnes is responsible for Sales and Product Development. Mike McInnes has over 50 years experience in the forest industry. Mike started his career working all aspects of the family businesses Allmac Lumber and Cedartone Specialties. Subsequently Mike was a Trader at American International, Sales Manager Visscher Lumber, Cedar Sales Manager Lawrence R McCoy, owner Sourcewood Partners, Sales Manager Terminal Forest Products, Sales & Product Development C&C Wood products.
EXECUTIVE BOARD
Richard de Silva
Chairman of the Board
Richard de Silva is Founder and Managing Partner of Lateral Investment Management, which led an investment round of more than $50 million to significantly expand the infrastructure of Good Earth Power AZ and fund growth of the company’s sustainable forestry operations. De Silva is responsible for leading the day-to-day investment activities and operations at Lateral which include investment origination, underwriting, asset management and fundraising. Lateral is a private credit and growth equity firm. The company provides growth capital for leading independent middle market companies in the United States as well as partners with owner-operated businesses to navigate through a well-defined growth event. Lateral has approximately $500 million in assets under management with headquarters in the San Francisco Bay area and an office in New York City.
De Silva holds a Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from Harvard College, a Master of Philosophy in International Relations from the University of Cambridge (St. John’s College), and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Stuart Barden
Board Member
Stuart Barden is managing director at Lateral Investment Management. His primary responsibilities at Lateral includes sourcing new investments, conducting due diligence, executing transactions, and monitoring portfolio companies. Barden is a member of the board of directors of companies in which Lateral Investment Management has invested, including Restoration Forest Products. Before Lateral, Stuart was a vice president at White Oak Global Advisors, a multi-billion-dollar private credit firm where he focused on non-sponsor opportunistic and special situation investments in the business services, technology, manufacturing, aviation, and energy industries. Prior to White Oak Global Advisors, Barden was a member of the Acquisitions Team at Actua Corp., formerly known as Internet Capital Group. Barden was a member of the team that launched Internet Capital Group’s SaaS growth buyout and growth equity strategy in 2009. Barden was active in the sourcing, due diligence, and execution of new acquisitions as well as working with portfolio companies in developing and executing organic and inorganic growth strategies.
Barden holds a Bachelor of Science from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University where he was a Hudson-Holland Scholar, and a Juris Doctor from New York Law School where he was an International Law Fellow and member of the Foreign Direct Investment International Moot Team.
Alan Sherrington
Board Member
Alan Sherrington is a member of the Board of Directors.
Sherrington has 40 + years in the Forest Products Industry with twelve years at Buckeye Cellulose in Forestry and Manufacturing and thirty years in Manufacturing at Weyerhaeuser. Sherrington managed lumber mills in Georgia, North Carolina, and Washington. He had multi-facility lumber responsibility in the Pacific NW and Canada.
In addition, he was also managed Engineered Wood and OSB Production in the Pacific NW, Canada, and the Southeastern US. Sherrington ended his career with Weyerhaeuser leading the Panels Product Line with responsibility for all OSB and MDF production in North America.
Sherrington holds a Bachelor of Science in Forest Management from the University of Florida and a Master of Science in Industrial Forestry Operations from Virginia Tech.
Wayne Rancourt
Board Member
Mr. Rancourt served as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer of Boise Cascade Company, $5 billion in revenues North American based manufacturing and distribution company, from 2009 to 2021. He has over 35 years of experience in various finance roles including Chief Financial Officer, treasurer, investor relations, strategic planning, and internal audit.
Mr. Rancourt currently serves on the board of directors and as the audit committee chair for Commercial Vehicle Group, a NASDAQ-listed company. He is a board trustee for The Nature Conservancy of Idaho and is active with a number of other non-profit organizations involved in early childhood education and creating inclusive economic opportunities.
Mr. Rancourt graduated in 1983 with a bachelor's degree in accounting from Central Washington University.