2012 LandThink Advisory Team

The LandThink Advisory Team is a select group of leaders representing various sectors of the land industry including: land brokerage, timberland, development, lending and technology. In conjunction with the LandThink team, these advisors will provide guidance and ideas that will help shape the future of LandThink and the LandThink Summit.

Harry Mehre

Sr. Vice President
Jones Lang LaSalle

Harry Mehre is responsible for Jones Lang LaSalle’s rural and recreational land disposition programs. In this capacity, he oversees day-to-day activities of a team of real estate professionals managing 50 independent brokerage operations handling over 800 active listings at any given time. To date, this program has successfully transacted over 275,000 acres of land holdings across 15 states with a total market value in excess of $500 million.

He began his real estate career with Equitable Real Estate as a commercial mortgage backed securities analyst. Later he joined COMPASS Management & Leasing and enjoyed roles in property, facility management and consulting.  Immediately prior to joining Jones Lang LaSalle, Mr. Mehre was an application product manager for RealEstate.com.

Mehre earned an MBA from The University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business with concentrations in Corporate Finance, Marketing and International Business. He earned his Bachelors in Business Administration from The College of William and Mary. He is a licensed real estate broker in Georgia, Iowa and Montana and a member of the Realtors Land Institute and the Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors.

Shawn Terrel, CAI, AARE

Vice President
United Country Auction Services

Shawn Terrel, CAI, AARE of Kansas City, Missouri has over 18 years in the professional real estate and asset auction business. Terrel has facilitated well over 2,000 auctions across the country, incorporating live internet simulcast bidding into many of these events. His experience has allowed him the opportunity to sell property at auction in excess of $50 million dollars in one day and to be exposed to a wide variety of real and personal assets. He has a substantial background in all types of development and completed real estate, agriculture, bankruptcy assets, heavy equipment and charity events.

Terrel is a graduate of the Missouri Auction School as well as the Texas Auction Academy, where he is a certified instructor. He is also a graduate of the Certified Auctioneers Institute (CAI) at Indiana University and holds the Accredited Auctioneer Real Estate (AARE) designation. He has held the position of Chairman, President and Treasurer of the Oklahoma State Auctioneers Association and won the title of Oklahoma State Champion Auctioneer in 2007. Terrel was elected to the National Auctioneers Association, Board of Directors in 2009.

In 2006 Terrel accepted an executive position as Vice President of United Country Auction Services, a division within the parent company United Country Real Estate. Since that time Terrel has been instrumental in building a national auction services division within the largest land sales company in America. Today, Terrel delivers auction consulting, marketing, technology and auction training to over 4,000 brokers, agents and auctioneers across the United States, Costa Rica, Panama and Mexico.

Shawn Terrel is a (Retired) Senior Field Artillery Instructor in the Oklahoma Army National Guard with over twenty-one years of service. Terrel and his wife (Lucinda) have two children, Kaitlin (16 years) and Nicholas (13 years).

Craig Peebles

Divisional President
AgSouth Farm Credit

Craig Peebles, Divisional President of AgSouth Farm Credit, has a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Georgia. His 30 years with Farm Credit include service as a loan officer, branch manager, SAM unit manager and twelve years as regional lending manager of Southeast Georgia Farm Credit and its successor, AgSouth Farm Credit. Mr. Peebles supervises AgSouth’s delivery of credit in Georgia.

Barry Gittleman

VP, Land and Strategy
John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods

Barry Gittleman is the Vice President of Strategy and Land for John Wieland Homes in Atlanta, Georgia. He is responsible for land acquisition and asset management, corporate and neighborhood strategy, Neighborhood Management Associates HOA management company, and JW Golf and its three golf courses in Atlanta and Charleston. John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods has built more than 30,000 semi-custom homes in Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh, Charleston and Nashville since 1970.

Prior to joining John Wieland Homes, Barry was the Director of Strategy, Land and Marketing for Centex Homes in Atlanta, Jacksonville and Nashville, and he also worked as a Project Leader for the Boston Consulting Group. He retired from the US Navy as a Commander after 20 years of service as a submarine officer. Barry has a Systems Engineering degree from the US Naval Academy, a Master of Public Administration from Troy State University and earned his Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School. He is married to the former Melinda Myers, and they have a 5-year-old son, William.

Brooks Mendell, Ph.D.

Founder of Forisk Consulting

Brooks Mendell, Ph.D. is President and Founder of Forisk Consulting, a forest industry, timber REIT, bioenergy and timber market research firm.

Dr. Mendell has over fifteen years of operating, research, and consulting experience in forest business and finance. His experience includes roles in harvest operations and wood procurement with Weyerhaeuser and in management consulting with Accenture. He also speaks professionally on leadership, communication skills and team building. As a Fulbright Scholar in 2004, he traveled to Uruguay to teach courses on forest finance and risk management in forestry. Dr. Mendell has published over sixty articles and two books on topics related to timber and timberland REITs and markets, forest business management and operations, and communication skills.

Dr. Mendell earned BS and MS degrees at M.I.T., an MBA at the University of California at Berkeley, and a PhD in Forest Finance at UGA.

Ryan Folk

Founder & CEO
LandThink & LANDFLIP

Ryan founded LANDFLIP.com in 2004 to provide real estate professionals with an easy to use and affordable tool to market land to buyers and investors. Since its launch, LANDFLIP has attracted buyers from around the world, as well as many of the largest land sellers.

In 2008, he founded LandThink.com to be the leading online resource for land investors and sellers to learn about and discuss the various aspects of land investing, selling, ownership, and to “Get Land Smart”. LandThink hosts the LandThink Summit, an event that brings together land industry professionals and investors.

Ryan is an accomplished Internet entrepreneur and has a diverse background in real estate, marketing and technology. He once brokered over $30 million in land transactions including large timberland tracts, farms, recreational and retirement properties around the Southeast. Prior to that, he traveled the country selling Fortune 2000 technology solutions for Recruitsoft (now Taleo), Workscape and ADP. Ryan holds a B.S. in both Computer Information Systems and Business from Jacksonville State University.