Brandon Namm – Doug Still
Brandon Namm (mentee) is a Tree Inspector for Capital
Improvement Projects for the City of Portland, Oregon. He is
also a
consulting arborist with particular expertise in tree pro-
tection during construction. Doug Still (mentor) is a consulting
arborist and host and producer of the
This Old Tree podcast
and radio show. Doug was the City of Providence, Rhode Island
City Forester from 2005 to 2022, and prior to that he worked
for nine years as an Urban Forester for New York City Parks.
For their online meetings, Doug Still and Brandon Namm
found that 7:30 p.m. EST / 4:30 p.m. PST worked well so
that Brandon could meet outside of his work hours. "We
talked for an average of an hour, and we had to reschedule
a few times," Still says. "We were both flexible about that."
UCFS provides a mentor/mentee learning journal that's focused
on leadership in a municipal setting, but Still and Namm didn't
use it a great deal; they went "off-script" so they could focus
on the consulting aspect of their work. Namm says that his con-
versations with Still didn't have a lot of structure—but they
flowed smoothly, and Still acted as a helpful sounding board.
"I gave myself assignments between meetings," Namm
says. "Then I shared my findings with Doug, and we'd
discuss. We developed a good rapport. Hearing about Doug's
professional experiences has given me perspective."
"At first I was unsure I was the right person to be a mentor
to Brandon, because my own entry into consulting is fairly
recent, and I have a lot to learn," Still says. "However, I was
able to share with Brandon about the training I'm getting in
tree dispute mediation, and that seemed to interest him."
One piece of advice Still gave Namm was to build the consulting
business gradually while still being gainfully employed by the
municipality, because private practice takes time to become
profitable. With this in mind, Still and Namm discussed the
codes of ethics municipalities hold that have to be considered
when a municipal employee does work outside their day job.
As someone who has been successfully growing the audi-
ence for his podcast and radio show, This Old Tree, Still
shared some strategies with Namm about how to
improve his online visibility. One suggestion was to add
a blog to his website to share with potential clients.
Namm says, "A regular blog felt like a lot of work that I was not
ready to take on, so Doug suggested I start with recording a
video of myself that I could post, one in which I talk about why
Brandon Namm
Doug Still
20 CityTREES
