Producing tree seed
for BC’s future forests.

Mr. Rodney A. Willis, RPF
Secretary

Rod Willis is a retired forester whose 35 year career spanned most aspects of the profession including forest planning, silviculture, forest inventory and strategic planning, research, environment and safety management, and timber supply assessment for acquisitions.

Rod participated on the Interior Tree Improvement Council and its Technical Advisory Committees. As the Grandview Nursery and Seed Orchard manager he oversaw the establishment of its first lodgepole pine seed orchards. He was also fortunate to serve on the Provincial Vegetation Inventory Working Group, the Forest Productivity Council of BC and the Environment Committee of Forest Renewal BC.

Rod was also invited to sit on advisory committees to the Science Council of BC (forestry research), the Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada (FERIC), UBC Forestry First Nations Program, the Research Program of FRBC, and the Silviculture Institute of BC. He was Co-Editor and contributor to the publication “Regenerating BC’s Forests” (UBC Press), a handbook used primarily in forestry education.

The Southern Interior Silviculture Committee (SISCO) presented Rod with its Award of Merit for his contribution to silviculture practices in the Southern Interior. Rod was also elected a Life Member of the Association of BC Forest Professionals shortly after his retirement.

Dr. Sally John
Director

Sally is a forest geneticist and forester who has worked in BC, Alberta and internationally. Following a number of years on the BC coast, she left to obtain a PhD at NC State University. Returning to Canada following a brief stint in Haiti, she was on the faculty of the Forest Science Department at the University of Alberta for four years. From 1992 through 1996 she worked on a CIDA-funded tree seed project in Southern Africa, and at the Zimbabwe Forestry Commission, as a geneticist. Since her return to Canada in 1996 she has been responsible for developing strategic plans, providing scientific and technical direction, and designing orchards and trials for forest genetics programs in Alberta. Sally was appointed to SelectSeed’s Board of Directors in 2021.

John (Jack) Woods, RPF(Ret)
Director

Jack Woods is a retired professional forester who spent the early part of his career with the BC Forest Service as a scientist leading work on the coastal Douglas-fir breeding and genetics. This led to his involvement in the reorganization of the delivery of the provincial forest genetics programs that resulted in the formation of the current Forest Genetics Council of BC (FGC) and SelectSeed Company Ltd. (SCL). in 2000, Jack left the BC Forest Service to take on the role of Program Manager for the FGC and CEO of SCL, a role that continued until 2017. Jack continues to work on a part-time basis to assist SCL on an advisory basis and with analytical projects.

He has served on the executives of the Canadian Forest Genetics Association, the Western Forest Genetics Association, and a working group of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations. In 2018, Jack received FGC’s Achievement Award and the Association of BC Forest Professionals’ (ABCFP) Climate Change Innovator Award. He is a former member of the ABCFP Editorial Board, and currently sits on the Board of the Nature Trust of British Columbia, the largest conservation land trust in BC. Jack was appointed to the SCL Board of Directors in 2019.

Mr. Kerry J. McGourlick, RPF(Ret)
President

Kerry is a retired professional forester who spent his career working on the British Columbia coast from Douglas Channel in the north to Jordan River in the south.  From 2002 through 2013, he served as Chief Forester for Western Forest Products Inc. (WFP) which included responsibility for WFP’s private seed orchards and nursery on the Saanich Peninsula near Victoria.

He also served as co-Chair of the Forest Genetics Council (2009-13) and Provincial Co-ordinator for the Canadian Institute of Forestry (CIF/IFC) as well a CIF Section Chair.  He has previously held Board positions with the North Island Salmonid Enhancement Association, North Island Forestry Center and the Friends of the Marble River.  He was appointed to Select Seed’s Board of Directors   in 2015, and served as Secretary/Treasurer.  Kerry is the currently the  President of SelectSeed.

Mr. James W. Burbee, RPF(Ret)
Director

Jim Burbee is a retired professional forester. He is the owner and president of Venture Forestry Consulting Inc, which undertakes a variety of strategic projects with partners across the forest sector. Jim spent the early part of his career in the BC interior forest industry, and the latter part as a consultant operating in Western Canada and the Yukon. His industry roles included operational forestry, woodlands manager and chief forester for a major forest company. As chief forester, Jim sat on the board of the Vernon Seed Orchard Company, and oversaw the JD Little Forest Nursery and an operational forestry program that including planting 18 million seedlings annually. He served as a consultant to Forest Renewal BC and the Ministry prior to joining the board of SelectSeed Company Ltd. in 2002.

Ms. Hilary Graham, BSc (Ag.)
Technical Advisor

Mr. Brian T. Barber, BSF, MA, RPF
CEO