Robert C. McColly

Robert C. "Bob" McColly earned his B.S. in Forest Science from Penn State in 1972. Upon graduation, he started his career as a procurement forester for the Koppers Company in Salisbury, MD, and spent time working in northern Louisiana, East Texas, and Arkansas. In 1973, McColly worked for Mann and Parker Lumber Company in New Freedom, PA, as a lumber purchaser before returning to Koppers Company in early 1974. He worked for Koppers Company in the Salisbury area until 1976, when he accepted a position as procurement manager for L.A.Clarke and Son in Fredericksburg, VA.

In 1977, McColly joined Forest Land Services, Inc., a consulting forestry firm based out of Elkins, WV. In 1980, he purchased the assets of Forest Land Services and became president of the firm. He expanded by opening an office in Ligonier, PA, in 1986. For the last 29 years, McColly has been doing consulting forestry work in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, and Kentucky. The firm currently employs three full-time foresters and manages more than 100,000 acres in these states.

While at Penn State, McColly was a member of Xi Sigma Pi national honorary forestry fraternity, and a member of Tau Phi Delta social fraternity, where he served as treasurer and alumni chairman. He is a certified forester with the Society of American Foresters, and a licensed professional forester in the states of Maryland and West Virginia. He was named the Pennsylvania Area IV Outstanding Tree Farm Inspector in 1982.

He has served as secretary, treasurer, and vice president of the Delmarva Professional Foresters Association, and has been a member of the Association of Consulting Foresters (ACF) of America, Inc. since 1978. McColly has been active with ACF, serving as chairman of the Pennsylvania chapter, president of the national chapter 1992-1994, chair of the national convention in 1989, and serving on the Practicing Foresters Institute Trust board of directors four years, including a term as president in 2002.

McColly served on the board of directors of the Pennsylvania Landowners Association 1990­1999, and is also a member of the Forest Landowners Association. He served on the Pennsylvania Governors Forestry Advisory Task Force in 1996 and was a member of the Penn State School of Forest Resources Alumni Board 1996-2000. He is currently a member of the advisory board for the Ibberson Endowed Chair of the Penn State, and a member of the School of Forest Resources Advisory Board. He also served as a member of a composite review committee aiding and selecting a director for the School of Forest Resources.

McColly has been a guest lecturer at Penn State for forest economics and timber harvesting courses, and has guest lectured at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. He was successful in spearheading a campaign, with Tom Yorke, to raise funds for a Tau Phi Delta faculty office in the new Forest Resources Building. He also completed an ACF-sponsored effort to name the Ibberson Chair office in the new building.

McColly's civic activities include coaching Little League baseball in Ligonier, PA, for seven years and serving on the Little League board of directors for four years; YMCA board of directors for five years and as vice president; YMCA youth basketball coach for six years. Currently, he serves on the Westmoreland County Youth Commission.