Beartooth Capital Team

Beartooth Capital is made up of a team of professionals dedicated to the success of Beartooth’s mission. The team collectively brings a wealth of experience in private equity, real estate investment, restoration, operations management, conservation science and land protection and planning. You can learn more about Beartooth’s team members and about opportunities to join the team below.

Beartooth Capital Team Members

Carl Palmer, Principal

Prior to co-founding Beartooth Capital, Carl was President and CEO of Greenbridges, a real estate investment firm making agricultural investments generating strong financial returns and conservation benefits. Prior to co-founding Greenbridges, Carl was Executive Director of the Ogden Nature Center, a land trust and education center in Northern Utah, and worked at the Teton Science School in Grand Teton National Park. Carl graduated with Honors from Brown University and earned an M.B.A. from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University where he was President of the Public Management Program. Carl can be reached at: .

Robert Keith, Principal

Prior to co-founding Beartooth Capital, Robert served as Greenbridges’ Investment Partner. Previous to Greenbridges, Robert was at Trident Capital in Palo Alto, California, a private equity and venture capital investment firm focused on the information technology industry. Robert previously worked at Morgan Stanley in New York City. He grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Cody, Wyoming. He received his B.A. from Yale University and earned his M.B.A. and certificate of Public Management from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. Robert can be reached at: .

Paul L. (Lew) Davies III, Advisory Member

Lew is the founder and Managing Principal of The Cambria Group, a private equity firm which acquires and invests in small and mid-sized businesses. Prior to Cambria, Lew was a Principal in the leveraged buyout groups of The Fremont Group and Brentwood Associates. Lew currently serves on several corporate and non-profit boards including the Hoover Institution and Menlo School. He has been actively involved with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, The Nature Conservancy, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and the California Waterfowl Association. Lew holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering, with distinction, from Stanford University. He also received an M.B.A. from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar.

James B. Hodge, Senior Counsel

James leads Beartooth’s real estate and corporate law work. He specializes in complex real estate, business and financial transactions and has practiced law for 30 years. Most recently, he was the managing partner of the San Francisco office of national law firm Sheppard, Mullin, Richter and Hampton, LLP and was also the head of business development and marketing for the firm. James received his B.A. degree with honors from the University of Washington, and his J.D. with high honors from the Law School of Columbia University in New York City. He is a Partner of Sustainable Environments, a mitigation banking investment firm. He lives in Jackson, Wyoming.

Court Smith, Team Member

Court is responsible for development and management of Beartooth’s proprietary property and conservation data systems, the assessment of resource and conservation value of prospective Fund investments, and the development of Beartooth's carbon sequestration program. Prior to joining the Beartooth Capital team, Court served as a research ecologist and educator at the Conservation Research Center of Teton Science Schools in Jackson, Wyoming. He has a BS in science education and an MA in Conservation Biology from Prescott College. As a professional ecologist, Court spent several years studying the impacts of human development on wildlife in areas within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Prior to working as a researcher, Court was a science educator in California and Wyoming. Court can be reached at .

Jeff Richey, Team Member

Jeff contributes to all aspects of Beartooth’s work, with an emphasis on fund operations. Before joining Beartooth, Jeff was the Vice President of Operations and Business Development for Cherry Tree Design. Prior to Cherry Tree Design, Jeff held VP and Director level positions at Dynojet Research and United Tote, respectively, where he managed both domestic and international operations. Jeff grew up on a large working ranch along the Yellowstone River in eastern Montana. He received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Montana State University along with an M.B.A. from City University, Seattle, and a Graduate Certificate in Marketing from Cardean University, Chicago. Jeff can be reached at .

Lauren Cummings, Team Member

Lauren is the Administrative Associate on the Beartooth team and is responsible for acquisition research & analysis, data management and office administration. Lauren previously worked with Huron Partners, Inc., a Chicago real estate private equity firm. There, she engaged in financial analysis, property underwriting, site inspection and the development of marketing packages. Lauren also worked with Bennett and Kahnweiler Colliers International in their real estate pension fund advisory department where she prepared financial projections, competitive property analysis and market studies. Lauren graduated from Miami University, Oxford, OH where she earned a BS in Finance and Accounting. She received her MBA from DePaul University, Chicago, IL in Finance. Lauren can be reached at .

Clark P. Stevens, AIA/APA, Architect and Land Planner

Clark helps Beartooth Capital source investment opportunities, assesses the development potential of properties within the context of their conservation value and leads Beartooth’s land use and development planning for portfolio properties. Clark is the founder and president of New West Land Company and co-owner of RoTo Architects, Inc in Los Angeles. He has more than 18-years of broad-based international experience in architecture, urban and rural design and is a pioneering teacher and practitioner of conservation development design. Since founding New West Land Company in 2000, Clark has planned projects encompassing more than 150 square miles of Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, California and Hawaii. He is a regular lecturer and workshop facilitator on conservation development, author of several professional articles on the topic, and developed a rural conservation design curriculum at Montana State University as a visiting faculty member. His multiple professional honors include selection in 1995 to the Architectural League of New York’s “40 under 40” list of the nation’s most accomplished young architects. In 2006 he was a member of a 10-architect team that won the gold prize in the European division and the silver prize in the Global category from among over 3,000 entrants in the 2006 Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction.

Clark's work has been featured on the covers of Architectural Digest, Dwell magazines, in the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, and Vanity Fair, and on the A&E, Travel, and HGTV networks. In addition, Architecture (June 2004) and Men’s Vogue (fall 2006) featured stories on New West Land Company’s strategies to secure and restore critical conservation lands and to re-integrate human and biological communities through place-appropriate development. A lifelong naturalist, his past and current conservation activities include positions on the advisory board of Montana Audubon, his home watershed committee, and his local Trout Unlimited Chapter.

Joel Gough, Ranch Manager

Joel assists Beartooth with ranch management as well as deal sourcing and assessment, with a particular focus on the enhancement of ranch operations. Joel has worked in the ranching industry for more than twenty years, giving him extensive experience in land preservation and use as well as a keen sense for animal husbandry. For the past five years Joel has managed Trout Creek Ranch in western Wyoming; during this time he has worked closely with conservation groups and agencies including Trout Unlimited, the Bureau of Land Management and the local Fish and Game to implement new and innovative techniques for land conservation and wildlife protection. In addition to managing Trout Creek Joel has owned and managed a ranch in North Dakota for more than ten years.

Scott Gillilan, Restoration Ecologist

Scott helps Beartooth Capital source investment opportunities, assess restoration requirements and recreational potential of properties, and often leads Beartooth’s restoration efforts on portfolio properties. Scott is the owner of Gillilan Associates, Inc. based in Bozeman, MT and brings a wealth of experience to his work at Beartooth, with nearly 25 years in aquatic restoration sciences and more recently with private land conservation. Scott specializes in identifying conservation, ecological, agricultural and recreational value-creation opportunities for conservation land buyers, brokers, landowners and non-profits. He is the author of numerous papers on natural channel design and restoration, international river restoration standards and floodplain management. Scott has experience with every facet of surface hydrology and flood hazard analysis, water rights, salmonid fishery enhancements, wetland design and construction, and land reclamation. He seeks solutions that integrate optimized land management strategies with principals of fluvial geomorphology, ecologic and social integrity, and quality engineering practice. Scott has managed tens of millions of dollars of design-build projects across the Intermountain West and US and is a skilled construction supervisor.

Opportunities to Join the Beartooth Team

Beartooth Capital invests in ranchland to generate competitive risk-adjusted financial returns while restoring and protecting ecologically-important land. The firm focuses its work in a number of western markets, acquiring ranches and enhancing their recreational and ecological value through habitat restoration, land protection and ecologically-appropriate limited development. The company was founded and is managed by a small team of professional investors with experience in real estate, conservation, private equity and entrepreneurship.

At present we are not actively seeking candidates for positions at Beartooth Capital. However we do anticipate growing the team in the years ahead, and we would be happy to hear from you if you are interested in Beartooth and have significant leadership experience and a demonstrated record of success working in, and ideally at the intersection of, conservation or private equity real estate investment. In that case please feel free to drop us a line at and we will be happy to keep you informed of future opportunities. Otherwise please keep an eye on our website for future position announcements.