Virginia Department
of Forestry

Rob Farrell was appointed as the eighth state forester of Virginia by Governor Ralph Northam in January 2018. Rob joined DOF as an area forester serving Gloucester and Mathews counties in 2000. He has also served the agency as the first director of the forestland conservation program and as deputy state forester. Rob has long been a leader in Virginia’s forestry community, and in 2017 he was recognized with the Outstanding Member of the Year Award from the Virginia Forestry Association.

Prior to DOF, Rob worked as an arborist and urban forester in Virginia and Maryland. He is an ISA-certified arborist and has a B.S. and M.S. in Forestry from Virginia Tech.

When Rob is not performing his executive duties, his colleagues make use of his extensive experience and knowledge as an arborist.

Originally from Maryland, Zimmer now resides in Fluvanna County with his wife and youngest son. He received his bachelor’s in forest resources management from West Virginia University in 1990 and his master’s in business administration from Averett University in 1998.

Prior to his assistant state forester position, Terry spent the last 20+ years serving the Commonwealth and the forestry profession in multiple leadership roles while being an active member of forestry-based organizations and forming strong partnerships with agencies, nonprofits, and localities. Since 2001, Terry and his teams of foresters created multiple inaugural programs around forest management, education, wildlife management, and internship programs.

Terry has a forest technician degree from the New York State Ranger School, a B.S. in Forest Resource Management from Virginia Tech, and a M.A. in Executive Leadership from Liberty University.

In her role as chief of administration, she oversees finance, budget, grants, accounting, facilities and information technology. Amanda has spent the last 24 years in administration and specializes in grant and financial management.

Amanda has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Old Dominion University and master’s in urban and regional planning from Virginia Commonwealth University.

In his role as director of communications at Forestry, Greg leads all internal and external communications efforts, acts as primary agency spokesperson and point of contact for the media, and enhances the agency’s outreach and engagement efforts. His focus areas include messaging and content creation, branding, social media, creative storytelling, and strengthening collaboration with partner agencies and organizations.

Greg is a Virginia Natural Resources Leadership Institute graduate (2019) and received his Bachelor of Arts in Communications, and Master of Arts in English from Old Dominion University.

Additionally, John is certified as a senior professional in Human Resources from HRCI and a senior certified professional  from the Society for Human Resources Management. He has been a member of both the national and local chapters of the Society for Human Resources Management for more than 20 years. John has served on the Board of Directors for both the Shenandoah Valley and Charlottesville SHRM Chapters. He resides in Stuarts Draft and has two children currently attending JMU.

John has been in state forestry for his entire career of 30-plus years, serving in various positions at the state forest, county, regional and headquarters level throughout his career. He also has extensive experience in emergency incident management, providing leadership on more than 30 major emergency incidents in 14 states during his career.

John grew up in Floyd County, obtained a B.S. in Forestry from Virginia Tech, and resides with his wife in Fluvanna County.

Mary Weaver joined Virginia Department of Forestry as executive assistant in September 2014. Prior to DOF, Mary worked as clerk to the Board of Supervisors and administrative assistant for Fluvanna County. She also proudly served in and retired from the Virginia Air National Guard.