Georgia Forestry Association President & CEO Andres Villegas announced today that Tom Beyer has joined the Association staff as its new Director of Government Affairs, to advance the mission of the organization as the primary advocate for Georgia’s working forest landowners, forest product manufacturers and forest-based businesses.
Tom joins the Association following four years of service on U.S. Representative Rob Woodall’s (GA-07) Washington, D.C. staff, most recently serving as a policy adviser to the Congressman with a focus on agriculture and natural resources issues, including policies affecting our nation’s forests. Prior to his time working for the Congressman, Tom earned a bachelor’s degree in both Political Science and International Affairs from the University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs.
Tom will be responsible for helping to guide and manage the development of policy that is favorable to Georgia’s $29 billion forest products industry. Tom’s responsibilities will include:
- engaging with elected officials at the state, federal and local levels;
- analyzing and developing short and long term policy strategies;
- supporting the activities of the ForestPAC (GFA’s political action committee);
- managing GFA’s Forest Resource Teams (FoRT) – a grassroots advocacy program
- assist in developing communications across multiple stakeholder groups; and,
- planning GFA town hall meetings
“We are excited to add Tom to our advocacy team,” Villegas said. “Tom will be instrumental in advancing the core principles of the Association to ensure that our members are protected, connected and empowered.”
Tom will be present at the state capitol every day during the 2017 session of the Georgia General Assembly. In addition, he will monitor issues important to the forestry community and engage GFA members as necessary. Tom can be reached at 478-992-8110 or at tom@gfagrow.org.