Alistair Pfeifer
Research Programme Manager
B.Agr.Sc. (forestry), University College Dublin, 1972
M.Agr.Sc. (forestry) University College Dublin, 1982
Alistair joined COFORD as Research Programme Manager in November 2007. He began his career with the Research Branch of the Forest Wildlife Service and specialised in forest genetics. His early work was mostly concerned with tree improvement of the main conifer tree species progressing to root architecture studies, plant production techniques and Christmas tree research. He became Head of Genetics Section in 1984 and remained in that capacity until 1992 when he became a member of the Coillte senior management team as Head of R&D.
In 1998 Coillte adopted Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) as the way it would manage its forests into the future. Alistair was given the additional responsibility of leading the company's SFM Initiative which involved the development of a framework for SFM and the strengthening of the company's social and environmental aspects of its business. As leader of the SFM task force he was one of the key people responsible for preparing the company for FSC certification which was achieved in May 2001. His research experience and practical knowledge of forestry provided him with an ideal background to deal with the wide ranging complexities of forest certification. His position as R&D Manager was subsequently expanded to include responsibility for the company's environmental programme. This included the overall co-ordination of Coillte's FSC certificate including audits, action plans to address corrective action requests, changes to policies, practices, systems etc. that were required to meet the standard.
Alistair has also been involved in a number of national committees concerning forest certification including the Irish Forest Certification Initiative (IFCI), established to develop an FSC standard for Ireland.
He is a technical member and former editor of the Society of Irish Foresters.