Randy grew up in Little Rock, AR and started college at the University of Central Arkansas. Flailing, he went west to wash dishes, mow golf courses, work at group homes, and stack tires at a retread shop. Eventually he found his way into the biology department of Northern Arizona University where he luckily met Dr. Catherine Gehring who helped him get his life together. He studied mycorrhizal fungi with Dr. Gehring and eventually got a job with the Michigan Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, then with TNC’s LANDFIRE team where he currently does GIS, conservation planning, state-and-transition modeling and science consulting.

In an effort to give back, and to selfishly get to interact with super smart people Randy started the Conservation Data Lab.