4 minutes with… Robert E. Fogg, President/CEO/GM, Q-Team Tree Service

Tell us about your company and it’s role in the Advanced Bioeconomy.

We’ve been in the residential tree-service business for 30 years. Our business is quite seasonal and so we are interested in using our 2,000+ annual tons of wood waste in the off-season to create a product that we can sell for a profit. We have 27 acres of commercial property and up tp 20 employees that would love to work through the winter.

Tell us about your role and what you are focused on in the next 12 months.

We are interested in producing biochar, biocoal, activated carbon and even graphene. We may also start a greenhouse business to take advantage of the excess heat.

What do you feel are the most important milestones the industry must achieve in the next 5 years?  

To bring energy production closer to home and cut out some of the transportation costs.

If you could snap your fingers and change one thing about the Advanced Bioeconomy, what would you change? 

I would make biochar a valuable commodity.

Of all the reasons that influenced you to join the Advanced Bioeconomy industry, what single reason stands out for you as still being compelling and important to you?  

A need to turn my company into a year-round business.

Where are you from? 

Born and raised in southern Maine.

What was your undergraduate major in college, and where did you attend? Why did you choose that school and that pathway?

High School graduate only. School of Hard Knocks.

Who do you consider your mentors – could be personal, business, or just people you have read about and admire. What have you learned from them?

My parents and my wife’s parents. I’ve learned from them and some co-workers along the way the importtance of being honest and hard working. Thomas Edison.

What’s the biggest lesson you ever learned during a period of adversity?  

Never give up.

What hobbies do you pursue, away from your work in the industry?

Golf, hiking, hunting, fishing.

What are 3 books you’d want to have with you, if you were stranded on a desert island

How to Survive on a Desert Island

How to Get Rescued from a Desert Island

What books or articles are on your reading list right now, or you just completed and really enjoyed?  

Dave Ramsey’s EntreLeadership

The Biochar Revolution

What’s your favorite city or place to visit, for a holiday?

Nova Scotia