Peter Mertz was born and raised in Lansing. Peter enrolled in the University of Michigan in 1969 where he originally studied architecture. Following a one year sabbatical in which he traveled throughout the US in a Volkswagen bus, Peter transferred to the School of Natural Resources. He majored in Forestry, graduating in 1974 with a BS in Natural Resources.

Following graduation, Mr. Mertz began his career as a forester with Weyerhaeuser Company in Mountain Pine, Arkansas. For five years, he worked in the field managing forests before returning to Ann Arbor in the fall of 1979 to pursue an MBA.

Armed with his newly minted MBA in 1981, Mr. Mertz moved to Dallas, Texas, where he worked for nearly fifteen years in the Land and Timber Division of International Paper. In Dallas, Peter met and married his wife Carolyn, and became “a naturalized citizen by marriage” of the Lone Star state. Peter and Carolyn have two daughters, Anna (17) and Carla (15), both born in Texas but spirited away to New England in 1995, much to the chagrin of their Texas grandparents. Carolyn is a graduate of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, where she earned a BA in Spanish and an MBA. Since arriving in New Hampshire she has re-directed her focus from business and banking to household finance and community service. She currently chairs the Board of Trustees of the Montshire Museum of Science, which features interactive learning about the natural and physical sciences, ecology, and technology. She co-chaired the capital campaign for the renovation of the 200 year-old church the family attends in Norwich, Vermont. She enjoys gardening, cooking, playing the piano, and hiking the Granite state.

Today, Mr. Mertz is the CEO of Global Forest Partners LP (www.gfplp.com) an investment advisory firm that makes private equity investments in sustainable forestry on behalf of institutional clients. The firm, originally founded in 1982, is one of the oldest and largest timber investment managers in the world. Today, it oversees nearly $2 billion of assets, nearly all of them in the southern hemisphere, spanning nearly 400,000 hectares (one million acres). The days of long-distance running, rock climbing and white water rafting now far behind him, today Peter is a high-handicap golf who enjoys reading books and reading the forested landscape, particularly in the company of his wife and an adventurous Labrador retriever puppy.

Peter Mertz has been a strong supporter of students and the University since his graduation. A grateful recipient of scholarship support himself, within a year of graduation he created what is now known as the Peter C. Mertz Scholarship in SNRE which has grown since its first award of $150 in 1975 to a fully endowed annual award of $2,500 today.

In creating this new graduate award, Peter and Carolyn are extending their philanthropy to the University. As Carolyn has noted: “Peter and I have made a lifelong commitment to give of our time, talent, substance and influence to work with and help others.” Peter added: “People who are taking the time to earn dual graduate degrees show a passionate commitment to an area of global need: the application of business practice to environmental problem solving. It is great to reward their efforts and to know that what we are doing directly benefits students. I have never believed that I have less after I have given something away to help someone.”

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