Rob Shaut is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Casey Trees a Washington, DC-based non-profit. He was formerly the Tree Operations Director, managing a 30-person team responsible for planting 7,000 plus trees per year, while maintaining thousands more annually throughout Washington, D.C, Maryland, and Virginia. Rob also oversees the Casey Tree Farm, Education, Policy and Land Conservation, Development, and Communications departments. He is a Certified Arborist® through the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) and he is Tree Risk Assessment Qualified.  

Rob holds a certification from the Professional Horticulture Program at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square Pennsylvania, a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Clemson University and Rob has studied at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, in the UK.

(ISA Cert. MA-6185A) 

Our guest co-host, Lou Meyer, began his Arboricultural journey in Cincinnati back in 2001 when he needed a summer job. Over the years he has worked in residential and commercial tree care, residential and commercial landscaping, and utility Arboriculture in Ohio and Maryland, where he currently resides. After working for a few smaller operations, Lou joined Davey Tree in 2013. He earned his ISA Arborist certification in 2014, and since then he has earned his Municipal and Utility Specialist Certs along with becoming TRAQ certified. Lou has served on the boards of the Mid Atlantic Chapter of the ISA and the Maryland Arborist Association. He lives in Ellicott City, just west of Baltimore, with his wife Molly and two children, Louie and Maggie. His favorite tree (this week) is a white oak.

Jamie Biddle is the founding partner and CEO of Verdis Investment Management, a single-family office. He sets the strategic direction of the firm and overseas investment activities, operations, and finance. Jamie is behind portfolio construction, manager sourcing and selection, due diligence and risk management. He is an active member of the Investment Committee.

Jamie brings more than two decades of investing and operating experience across asset classes and industries. Prior to forming Verdis Investment Management in 2004, Jamie was President and CEO of Orcom Solutions. Orcom was an outsourced customer care and billing service for electric, gas, and water utilities across North America. The company was originally purchased by a group of private equity firms (including the Blackstone Group and Thomas H. Lee Partners) led by Jamie and was sold to Alliance Data Systems (NYSE:ADS) in December 2003. Jamie began his career as a VC at EnerTech Capital Partners, funding technologies in energy and power.

He earned his Master’s in Business Administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Jamie is the Chairman and President of Andalusia Historic House, Gardens and Arboretum and Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees and Chair of the Museum Committee of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.