Alumnus, business leader to deliver 2007 Owen lecture at MSU

Contact: Sammy McDavid

STARKVILLE, Miss.--A Mississippi State alumnus and North Carolina-based timber executive will be featured Sept. 20 at the university's 2007 Carlton N. Owen Lecture Series.

Chris Zinkhan, co-founder, managing director and chief investment officer of Forestland Group LLC, is a nationally recognized authority on timberland investment. His public presentation begins at 3 p.m. in Thompson Hall's Tully Auditorium.

Zinkhan, who received an MSU doctorate in business administration/finance in 1986, will discuss the evolution of Southern timberland markets. A reception at the location follows.

Formed in 1995, Chapel Hill-based Forestland Group acquires and manages timberland investments for institutions, families and individuals. Emphasizing natural regeneration of hardwood and pine forests in the Eastern U.S., the firm currently manages more than two million acres in 17 states.

Zinkhan supervises investment analysis, valuation and negotiations, as well as portfolio strategy development. He also chairs Forestland's investment committee.

A former faculty member at the University of Georgia and Campbell University, he is the senior author of "Timberland Investments: A Portfolio Perspective," the first book addressing timberland as an investment alternative. In addition, he has written or presented more than 100 articles and research reports on a variety of related topics.

Zinkhan also holds a bachelor's degree in biology from Franklin and Marshall College, and master's in both business administration and forestry from Duke University.

The Owen Lecture Series was established in the College of Forest Resources in 1992 by the Greenville, S.C., resident and 1974 MSU graduate for whom it is named. The ongoing program focuses on forest resource stewardship issues.

For more information on the 2007 Owen Lecture, contact Ian Munn at 662-325-4546 or imunn@cfr.msstate.edu.

For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.

Fri, 09/14/2007 - 05:00