EDMUND R. BELAK, JR. - FOUNDER

Mr. Belak was born and raised in upstate New York and came under the tutelage of a fly fishing father and uncles who gunned at a very early age. His formative years as an outdoorsman, hunting small game and trout fishing, were spent in the Finger Lakes, Tug Hill and Adirondack regions of New York. He was the youngest person in NYS Conservation Department history to attain a perfect score on his hunter safety test at age 14. He was also active in Scouting, attaining the rank of Eagle with silver palm at the age of 16. He subsequently graduated from Cornell University, majoring in wildlife ecology and journalism where he studied under such wildlife management greats as Oliver Hewitt, Dwight Webster and Douglas Gilbert. He then entered the University of Wisconsin, Madison under graduate assistantships with Clay Schoenfeld and Bob McCabe receiving masters in journalism and marketing.

Mr. Belak then moved to Vermont where he conceived and established the first upland wing shooting school in the United States for the Orvis Company in Manchester Vermont that became a substantial success and positioned Orvis as the market leader in shotgun instruction in the U.S. At that time he also became one of the first Directors of Information and Education for the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, working closely with the State's Fish and Game Department. Upon moving to New Hampshire in the late 1970's, Mr. Belak became the New England Officer for the International Atlantic Salmon Foundation responsible for both resource management and fund raising throughout the region. He also was elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives where he served on the Fish and Game and Resource, Recreation and Development Committees under the late Governor Hugh Gallen.

He subsequently moved to Connecticut in the mid 1980s and began a 20 year career in investor relations and investment banking in New York, specializing in the financial communications and capital raising needs of developing private and public companies for such firms as Hill and Knowlton, Josephthal, Bluestone Capital and Laidlaw & Co.

He has been an avid Atlantic salmon angler and trout fisherman for forty years. He has fished and gunned extensively in the American West, South America, the United Kingdom and Europe. He is a 25-year member of the Anglers' Club of New York and was President of the Hollenbeck Club in Northwestern Connecticut for 10 years. He has raised and trained his own line of OldField English Setters and gunned over them throughout the Maritimes, New England and the Eastern United States.

WILLIAM A. MACBAIN - SENIOR FINANCIAL CONSULTANT

Bill MacBain grew up in Tuxedo, New York, near the famous Catskills under the tutelage of his father, Alastair who was not only a very capable and well-traveled fly fisherman and wing shot, but wrote about it very well for decades with his writing partner, Corey Ford. His father's teaching took hold and Bill remains involved in the sporting scene to this day. After obtaining both his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Cornell, Bill's career gravitated towards financial and eventually senior management positions in both the not for profit and for profit sectors. He offers GSA clients over twenty-five years' experience gained in senior management positions, encompassing finance, financial modeling, management consulting, and health insurance operations. He is experienced in financial management and analysis, business planning and budgeting, contract negotiations, training, compliance, and government affairs. Bill has functioned as a part - time CFO for numerous public and private clients and works in tandem with associates in GSA's business planning and appraisal areas. He lives in Upstate New York not too far away from trout streams and bird covers that he has known to frequent from time to time.

JEFFREY P.WILLIAMSON - DIRECTOR,APPRAISAL DIVISION

Jeff Williamson, a certified real estate appraiser, has been involved with business and property valuations as well as real estate consulting throughout the U.S. and internationally since 1959. He was raised in a family that was steeped in the tradition of water fowling, upland gunning and fly fishing. His family also owned one of the largest private collections of sporting literature and art in the United States. His consulting experience includes eco-tourism projects in Russia, Alaska and Hungary, valuing recreational tracts including those with upland, waterfowl, estuarine and cold water fisheries habitats, both rivers and lakes. Additionally, he has also consulted on projects involving islands, institutional grade timberlands, mansions and waterfront estates, development properties up to 33,000 acres, golf courses, and farmland in agricultural, transitional and development stages. Functionally these assignments have included highest and best use analyses, feasibility studies, investment analyses, conservation easements, traditional appraisals and business valuations. Among others, his clients have included major financial institutions and law firms, timber companies, high net worth individuals, municipalities, state and federal wildlife agencies, The Conservation Fund, The Nature Conservancy, Trust for Public Lands, and the Chesapeake Wildlife Heritage.

Jeff has fly fished extensively in Russia, Norway, and the American west, eastern and western Canada, Chile and Argentina. His gunning experience has included extensive water fowling on his 300 year old estate, Eccleston's Hill, which he has owned for over three decades. It is located on 1300 acres along Maryland's Eastern Shore and has been home to several lucky setters, labs and English cockers. He has also hunted bob white quail throughout the Southeast and Southwest.

CHARLES E. METZ - ARCHITECT

An Architect by vocation; an Atlantic salmon fisherman and conservationist by pure love of the fish and its environs, Charles Metz moved to his adopted state of Vermont 1968. After a tour with the U.S. Marine Corps, he learned his profession under a full scholarship at the Cooper Union School of Architecture. He has been in private practice since 1974. The scope of architectural projects over a 50 year career has been extensive, covering the Vermont State Capitol Complex, the Waterbury Mental Health Complex, ski resorts, private and public schools, libraries, courthouses, and more. Along with major projects have come smaller private commissions specifically involving restoration/renovation of buildings and residences on the federal and state registers of historic places. In recognition exceptional spatial problem solving and innovative design, a residential project he designed was selected as an outstanding entry for exhibit in the Boston, "Small Wonders Competition."

He has cast a fly on almost every river of the Gaspe Peninsula, has explored the rivers on Quebec's north shore, the Miramichi in New Brunswick, and the beautiful Margaree River in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. In addition to being a registered, licensed architect in the States of New Hampshire and Vermont, Charles holds a Master of Science Degree in Natural Resource Management and Administration from Antioch New England University. His thesis was in-depth study of all facets of Atlantic Salmon Ecology. The Riviere Sainte Anne which spills out of the Gaspe's Chic Choc Mountains served as laboratory. Since achieving his Master's degree, Charles has worked with Canadian, New England, and U.S. Federal agencies on behalf of the Atlantic salmon and also engaged in research on pre and post spawning behavior, public relations related to the species preservation and the production of numerous educational materials. The culmination of these efforts is "The Sharing of a Secret", a video documentary filmed on location on the Gaspe Peninsula. The documentary was created with funding from a grant from the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife. His next endeavor is a similar replication for the American Woodcock (Scolopax minor).

Mr. Metz presently resides at Shooting Stars Farm, off a dirt road in east-central Vermont, with his wife, four English Setters and assorted Scottish Highland cattle.

GREG PERSBACKER - SENIOR FINANCIAL CONSULTANT

Greg Persbacker is a 1969 Cornell University Graduate with advanced degree courses in Economics from Lousiana State Univ. and the University of Wisconsin School of Bank Administration. He has 25 years of experience in banking where he specialized in process and operations improvement to increase profits. He spent an additonal 10 years applying this specialty to a not-for-profit institution dedicated to the disabled community and closed out his formal business career with Xerox Corp., where he managed one of their largest National Accounts. He currently provides business consulting services to a couple of start up Cape Cod Mass. based companies as well as serving as a part time fishing guide. He has been an avid upland bird hunter for over 35 years and has fly fished througout the United States, the Carribean and Central America.

RONALD M. BELAK - DIRECTOR,WESTERN DIVISION , SENIOR FINACIAL CONSULTANT

Ron Belak is a 1976 graduate of Syracuse University, earning a B.S. magna cum laude in geology. He also holds a Masters degree in geology from Indiana University and an MBA with an emphasis in finance from the University of Colorado at Boulder. For the first eight years of his career, Ron worked in Denver, Colorado for various oil and gas companies as an exploration geologist, analyzing oil and gas investment opportunities. For the past 20 years, he has been with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) in Denver as a senior natural resource analyst, examining federal programs responsible for oil and gas leasing, mineral royalties, geothermal development, coal leasing, and forest management. Ron has extensive experience determining the financial impacts of federal regulations and legislation in these areas and is frequently called upon to prepare technical reports and to draft Congressional testimony.

Ron has enjoyed Western fly fishing from his home in Evergreen, Colorado for the past 30 years. He has fished extensively in Colorado, Alaska, and Wyoming and has journeyed to Idaho, New Mexico, British Columbia, and Alberta in search of trout and Pacific salmon. He is the author of 40 magazine articles on Western fly fishing and fisheries management and has published over 200 photographs. His work appears primarily in Colorado Outdoors-the official publication of Colorado's Division of Wildlife- the American Angler and Fly Fisherman magazines. In addition to fly fishing, Ron actively participates in alpine and Nordic skiing, backpacking, and hiking.

DAVID BISHOP, DIRECTOR, EASTERN CANADA

David Bishop was born in New York and raised in Simsbury, CT. Introduced to fly-fishing by his father at an early age, he landed his first Atlantic Salmon on the Petite Cascapedia River when he was nine. By the time he was fourteen, David was tying trout flies for the local Orvis franchise and honing his angling skills in various Connecticut streams and rivers. Many of his formative years were spent on Canada's Gaspe Peninsula where he rapidly developed his guiding and canoeing skills. In 1999 he traveled to Australia as a representative of Canada's National fly-fishing team and, in 2000, to England where he ranked among the top ten fly-fishermen in the World.

Mr. Bishop graduated from Plymouth State College in New Hampshire in 1988 with a degree in Environmental Biology and Outdoor Recreation. Since then, he has held various positions in sales and marketing management, including being the owner/operator of Gaspe Salmon Destinations. As a member of the Board of Directors for Z.E.C. Petite Cascapedia between 1993 and 1995, David managed the river's stocking program.

David's 25 years of international experience as a guide, lodge owner and outdoor consultant have honed his skills of recognizing and valuing those unique attributes for both hunting and fishing businesses throughout the world.

David currently resides on the banks of the Cascapedia River in The Gaspe peninsula in Quebec in his riverside log cabin with his chocolate lab Forrest who accompanies him in search of big bright Atlantic salmon, sea-run brook trout, woodcock and grouse and his other outdoor recreational pursuits.

ROBERT L. BOLTON - DIRECTOR OF ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS

Rob Bolton, the director of online communications for GSA, grew up in rural Vermont, near Middlebury and accompanied his father and their English setters on fly-fishing and bird hunting trips throughout the Green Mountains and Champlain Valley. For several years the Bolton family owned the largest commercial sheep farm in the State. He has fly fished throughout New England and in his current home state of Washington. He is a graduate of the University of Vermont with a bachelor's degree in Economics. In addition to his gunning and angling, he is also an avid ski-mountaineer, successfully summiting peaks in the Rockies, Cascades, Andes, Alps and Himalayas.

Rob has been developing web sites and online marketing programs for over 6 years in a number of industries. He oversaw the web site development and online marketing for Booth Creek, the fourth largest ski holding company in the United States and has consulted for a number of companies, such as Ballena Technologies, Northstar at Tahoe, Pro Guiding, BizXchange and UnVail. Rob also offers GSA clients his experience in spearheading the search engine marketing campaigns for a number of real estate firms in the United States, including LuxuryRealEstate.com, the most trafficked luxury real estate website in the world. Rob completed his Masters degree in Information Systems from the University of Washington. He is thinking seriously about having a bird dog in his home.