Ecosystem Investment Partners (EIP) was founded in 2006 to provide a private funding option for important conservation properties, and to demonstrate that good conservation investment can deliver market returns to serious investors. EIP delivers market-rate returns to its investors through the use of market-based Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) mechanisms that reward landowners for the restoration and protection of critical natural resources. Established and active PES markets include wetlands, streams and endangered species habitat mitigation banking. Additional markets include water, quality trading, water quantity transactions and terrestrial carbon sequestration. EIP also generates returns through the sustainable use of other land-based resources (such as forestry and agriculture).

EIP has deep and long-standing relationships with key government natural resource agencies and the major conservation non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which provide it with unparalleled knowledge of the PES markets and access to some of the most desirable and ecologically significant properties in the US. EIP’s management team draws on deep and diverse backgrounds in real estate investment, private equity fund management, land conservation, ecological restoration and PES markets. The team consists of:

Fred Danforth, Managing Partner, has extensive banking and private equity investing background. Fred was a co-founder of Capital Resource Partners, a private equity investment firm. Recently, Fred was a founder of Oxbow Land Management, one of the Inter Mountain West’s leading mitigation banking companies, and of the Upper Clark Fork Mitigation Bank.

Nick Dilks, Managing Partner, has extensive experience in land conservation finance and real estate. He spent 10 years with The Conservation Fund, most recently as its Vice President for Real Estate, completing some of TCF's most complex and innovate transactions. He has a BA in Environmental Science & Policy from Duke University and an MBA from the University of Maryland.

Adam Davis, Partner and Director of Research, Policy & New Markets, is co-founder and was previously Editor-in-Chief of the Ecosystem Marketplace and recipient of the 2002 Ecological Society of America corporate award. He is also President of Solano Partners, Inc., a consulting firm focused on environmental investment and conservation finance.

David Urban, Director of Operations, is a nationally recognized expert in wetland mitigation banking and civil engineering, and is currently President of the National Mitigation Banking Association. He spent 7 years with Land and Water Resources as Director of Operations, managing 15 mitigation banking projects from concept, through design and permitting, construction, and operations. He has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University and a MS in Environmental Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology.

Katherine Birnie, Director of Markets, has cross-disciplinary experience in real estate acquisition, conservation finance and ecosystem service market analysis and research. Prior to joining EIP, Katherine was Conservation Innovation Program Manager at the Maine Coast Heritage Trust (MCHT) where she launched an initiative to develop and implement new project finance approaches to land conservation. Prior to MCHT, she worked at the Peninsula Open Space Trust in California. She has a BA in Biology from Williams College and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.