Robards, President of TYLD Corp, Was Meant to be a Forester

Story by Tim Robards

December 2, 2019

Alumni: Tim Robards
Degree: BS Forestry
Graduation: 1985
Business Title: President TYLD Corp
Business: TYLD Corp, Forest and Orchard Analytics & Technology

After 20 years with what is now known as CAL FIRE and completing a PhD at UC Berkeley, I moved to the private sector to expand on my experiences. For three years I was a partner in a consulting firm. I then spent five years with an Australian-based Timber Investment Management Organization (TIMO), working out of their San Francisco office. During this time, I have been involved in a wide variety of interesting activities including raising capital, timberland acquisitions, and have developed carbon offset projects on over a million acres in the United States. My work has taken me to Alaska, Kentucky, New Mexico, Maine, Washington, Arizona, Tasmania and many more places where I have been able to work in a wide variety of forest types and meet great landowners and foresters. I found that any day I might be on a ferry cruising by Alcatraz on the way to work, in New York speaking at an investment conference, in Europe meeting with potential investors, in the field on remote tribal lands, in Alaska looking out for bears while installing a forest inventory, or by myself on a side-by-side evaluating a property for purchase or carbon project development.

I have now started my own company where I do forestry consulting and technology development for forestry and nut orchard management. Where I live in Northern California is in the middle of almond and walnut orchards so I’m leveraging my tree knowledge to cover more than conventional forestry. I still can’t imagine being anything other than a forester!

Alumni Stories Alumni Awards Research Areas

Graduate Opportunities Connect Give a Gift

Featured Stories

John Baugh stands in front of the Purdue Memorial Union.

Commitment to the community of agriculture

It was December in the Indiana Statehouse, and legislators rushed around, preparing to discuss...

A photo of a wildfire provided by Blake Stanton.

FNR Alumni Assist During Wildfire Season

Wildfire season can extend from five to more than seven months in length, occurring mostly in the...

Mary Beth Adams stands in front of a sign publicizing her visit to Nanjing Normal University in China.

Distinguished Alumna Adams Travels to China for Scientific Exchange Opportunity

Dr. Mary Beth Adams, a 2016 Purdue Distinguished Agricultural Alumni Award honoree and 2020...

Ashley Higdon and Dr. Barny Dunning birding; a white oak grove; a white-tailed deer

FNR's Most Read Stories of 2024

2024 was a productive year for Purdue Forestry and Natural Resources across the three land grant...

A collage of the 2024 FNR Alumni/Career Award Recipients. Top row (Left to right): Dr. John Kershaw, BJ Meadows, Dr. Jacob Goheen. Bottom row (L to R): Dr. Ken Kellner, Dr. Joe Robb, Dr. Zackary Delisle

FNR Announces 2024 Six Career Award Recipients

John A. Kershaw Jr. and Betty Jane “BJ” Meadows were selected as Lifetime Achievement...

2018 master's alumnus Daniel Bird sits at a computer; the cover art Bird created for the special Indigenous Wildlife Management in North America issue of The Journal of Wildlife Management

Master's Alum Daniel Bird Contributes to Indigenous Wildlife Management Journal Issue

Daniel Bird, who was raised on the Santo Domingo-Kewa Pueblo Reservation in New Mexico and is an...