• Overview of Company
• History
• Leadership
  • Group Leaders
  • Investments
  • Operations
    • US Operations
    • International
  • Resource Planning
  • Accounting And Finance
  • Land Acquisition and Sales

31 Inverness Center Parkway
Suite 360
Birmingham, AL 35242

Email: info@resourcemgt.com
Phone: (800) 995-9516
Fax: (205) 991-2807

In 1950, John M. Bradley, a young Yale University graduate, partnered with Harry E. Murphy, a graduate of Pennsylvania State University, to create Resource Management Service, Inc. (RMS). RMS began as a southern US timberland management and consulting firm for private individuals and forest industry.

By the mid-1980s, RMS had built a reputation in land management and timberland acquisitions,  positioning itself to serve the emerging institutional timberland ownership. Since then,  RMS has developed state-of-the-art systems and expertise that support  institutional timberland investment management in the US South. Today, RMS develops global timberland investments for pension funds, endowments, foundations and family offices. We remain a private, employee-owned company.

Private Landowner Era.

From 1950 to 1965, RMS primarily served the timberland management needs of non-industrial private timberland owners and investors. At the time, private individuals lacked an independent, business-savvy source of professional forestry advice. Foresters employed by local sawmills were one option but they posed obvious conflicts of interest. Government agency foresters rarely brought entrepreneurial skills to the task. In response, RMS pioneered many timber marketing and inventory techniques still in use today. In 1958, the company partnered with Travelers Insurance to develop the first loans recognizing timberland as collateral -- arguably the first time   timberland was considered an investment-grade asset.

Forest Products Industry Era.

In the mid-1960s, the forest products industry, particularly the pulp and paper industry, moved to the southern US. RMS' knowledge of southern timberlands enabled  the firm to assist a number of companies in analyzing potential mill locations. Relationships established with these companies led RMS to provide acquisition services to build fee timberlands in support of three greenfield pulp and paper installations. RMS further leveraged these relationships to provide large-scale forest inventories for many of the major southern forest products companies.

Asset Management Era.

In 1985, RMS partnered with John Hancock and another timberland manager to form the Hancock Timber Resource Group (HTRG). As southern asset manager, RMS provided exclusive acquisition, management and disposition services to HTRG's institutional clients. The strategic alliance succeeded  in building a southern portfolio valued in excess of $1.5 billion.  Facing a maturing industry and increased competition from other TIMOs, Hancock determined to forward-integrate into asset management, ending the business relationship with RMS in December 2003.

Independent Timberland Investment Manager.

On January 1, 2004, RMS formally re-launched as an independent timberland investment manager. Armed with an experienced management team and proven track record, the company began offering comprehensive timberland investment services directly to pension funds, endowments, foundations and family offices. As of December 31, 2009, the firm has gained capital commitments of approximately $2.5 billion and established assets under management of $4.2 billion.

In January, 2008, the company introduced a new platform for offering international timberland investments. Our strategic focus now is on intensively-managed plantations in southern hemisphere countries with low to moderate risk and established timber markets. RMS has assembled an experienced international investment team and established offices in Curitiba, Brazil and Rotorua, New Zealand. We completed our first international acquisition in Brazil in April, 2008.