John Fenderson currently serves as managing partner with Hatchie River Co., LLC, based in Tennessee. Previously, he was a Specialty Asset Manager for the Timberland Investment Group at U.S. Trust, following his prior service as a financial adviser at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He brings to TennGreen Land Conservancy over 25 years of experience in forest stewardship and the environmental arena working in such places as the Sierra Mountains in California, as well as in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska. John has a keen interest in market-based behavior change, especially as it relates to social impact and environmental sustainability, and has worked with landowners in the southeast U.S. to help them create wealth through responsible stewardship of their natural assets – principally forestland.
John was previously the Senior Manager of Forestry at the National Wildlife Federation, and prior to that, he was the Southeastern Regional Director for the National Network of Forest Practitioners. As the Environmental Affairs/Public Outreach Coordinator for the Tennessee Division of Forestry, he co-authored papers on Carbon Sequestration Principles for the Southeast and Valuing a Forested Viewshed. In the late Eighties, he worked for Greenpeace, while in the mid-Nineties, he worked with the Nature Conservancy and the US Forest Service in California and Alaska.
John graduated from Tennessee State University with a Bachelor of Natural Sciences. From the University of Tennessee, he obtained his Masters of Science in Forest Economics and Policy. He also attended Northwestern University and currently has primary interests in Environmental and Natural Resource Policy, Conservation/Impact Finance, and market-based payments for Ecosystem Services.