Ira Ziering grew up in Massachusetts and Los Angeles. Received a B.A in English Lit. from UCSB in 1980 an J.D from Boston University Law School in 1985 and a Masters of Divinity Degree from Harvard Divinity in 1989. He worked as a litigation attorney at Chasalow Fenigstein and Kaufman and as Director of the Business, Legal and HR departments at Diagnostic Products Corporation (DPC) where he also served as a Board Member. In 2006 Ira led the negotiations that led to the sale of DPC to Siemens AG. Prior to his involvement with Tree People Ira’s primary environmental commitment has been to various land conservation campaigns centered around the marshes of Wellfleet MA. where his family has a small summer cottage. Ira is married to the artist Godeleine DeRosamel and has two sons, Felix and Gabriel.