Jim Gresh is an ecologist who reached his current position through an unusual career path. As manager, conservation ecologist, and co-owner of Boone Road Enterprises, he now runs a timber investment company in Ohio whose primary goals are conservation and stewardship of woodland ecosystems.
Before this ecology role, Jim leveraged an engineering degree from Carnegie-Mellon University and a master's degree in business from Harvard University for his 33-year corporate career in finance, marketing, strategy, and general management at The Timken Company. During that career, Jim had extensive international responsibilities including relocations to England and China. He retired from TimkenSteel in 2015 as executive vice president of strategy and marketing. He then served as executive director of the Timken Foundation until 2018.
Today, Jim’s timberland investment company follows a European forest management approach called Close-to-Nature Forestry which permanently protects forest canopies for improved ecosystem health. To help him adapt this approach to US ecosystems, Jim pursued a degree in conservation ecology from Malone University and now conducts ongoing forestry research in the company’s forests located across southeastern Ohio. In the last two years, Jim’s team has published two ecological forestry papers in European scientific journals.
Throughout his career, Jim has also dedicated his time and talents to non-profit organizations. He has served on many non-profit boards including in China as well as here in Canton. Today, he serves on the board of the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District and is an emeritus board member of the Stark Education Partnership.
Jim and his wife, Heidi, have four children ages 26-35. Heidi is a co-owner of Boone Road Enterprises and runs an artisan woodworking business which uses raw materials from their ecological timber harvests.