In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, Mr. Shaw grew up in the sleepy little Appalachian town of Bristol, Tennessee, a small city that rests on the boundary between the two states of Tennessee and Virginia. Upon graduation from Bristol Tennessee High School, he enlisted in the United States Navy where he served as ships baker aboard the USS Shark (a fast attack submarine) for four years. When his enlistment came to an end, he took a job selling lawn care service to residential owners in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and later, moved to Knoxville, Tennessee where he worked as general manager of a landscape contracting company while attending the University of Tennessee for Ornamental Horticulture and Landscape Design. Eventually, Mr. Shaw took over as president of a wholesale tree care supply business and built the company from $70,000 in sales to over $1.2 million in just seven years. During that time, he married his wife Kristin and they had two children together. With encouragement from Kristin he also developed an interest in arboricultural consulting, and on May 11th, 1999, he became the first American Society of Consulting Arborist (ASCA) member in Middle Tennessee. From 1998 to 2003, he also served on the Tennessee Urban Forestry Council. Mr. Shaw has since consulted with private landowners, insurance companies, attorneys, tree companies, cooperative extension service agents, country clubs, state urban forestry organizations, universities, and colleges. He has worked on some of the most challenging, difficult, and highest profile cases across the United States. Mr. Shaw is a Registered Consulting Arborist, a Board-Certified Master Arborist and one of only a handful of arborists worldwide who consult full-time. He is a UAS pilot, a real estate appraiser and he brings a broad range of skills from a variety of scientific and professional disciplines. An autodidact, Mr. Shaw brings a unique perspective and a talent for learning to any project. He has developed authoritative expertise to create a greater understanding in tree related matters.