Philip Halteman

PhD

Philip provides a wide array of decision support services to groups working toward solutions to difficult environmental management and policy problems.

He works with decision makers and technical staff working for governments, industry, indigenous groups, or NGOs; often he works with many of these groups at the same time. Philip has helped groups toward solutions for a variety of kinds of problems, including planning and management of terrestrial and aquatic species at risk, land use planning, wildfire risk, and water quality management. Philip also has a deep passion for delving into the sources and effects of uncertainty, and for methods that help groups make good choices in the face of that uncertainty.

Philip is trained as a landscape ecologist, and holds a Ph.D. in Natural Resources and an MS in Botany, both from the University of Vermont.

What is something that most people don’t know about you?

I drive slower than most people’s grandparents.

How did you come to work at Compass?

I wanted a job where I got to help people make decisions that really matter, where I was challenged to learn and innovate constantly, and where I’d get to work with fascinating and brilliant people.  Also, I’m pretty good at begging.

Why do you do what you do?

Because I believe that with a little help, everyone has the ability to consistently make good decisions that make their world a little nicer.

What do you do when unplugged from work?

Cooking, pottery, music, soccer – or anything else that tempers the analytical side of my brain.

What truly blows your mind?

Murmurations.

Why?

Have you ever seen one??