Charlie Schell

Jan Charles Schell (born 1950), is a leading executive in New Zealand commercial forestry. He is the General Manager of New Zealand Crown Forestry.

Early life
Schell spent his childhood in Auckland and received his secondary education at St Peter's College, Grafton.

Career
Schell joined the New Zealand Forest Service in 1967 and worked in a wide variey of roles in commercial forestry. He has held his present position since 1996 under the aegis successively of three departments, the Ministry of Forestry, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and currently, the Ministry for Primary Industries. In the role, he is responsible for running New Zealand's fifth largest forestry business. In particular, he manages the commercial interests of the Crown in respect of more than 80,000 hectares of forests. Much of this area relates to Crown forestry leases on areas of  Maori Freehold Land. The largest of these forest leases is the Lake Taupo Forest which is owned by a large number of members of  the Ngati Tūwharetoa iwi. Schell was instrumental in reaching agreement with the land owners to surrender the lease as the Crown removes its current tree crop so that a fully functioning replanted forest will be completely in their ownership and free of the Crown lease by 2020. Another substantial area of forest land is on the West Coast and is the location of the forests of the former State-owned enterprise, Timberlands West Coast. Schell took over these forests in February 2008 following the decision by the New Zealand Government that Timberlands was not able to continue on as a State Owned Enterprise. Schell is a member of the executive council of the New Zealand Forest Owners Association and takes a leading role in the New Zealand forestry industry such as the recent process to approve an industry levy under the Commodity Levies Act 1990.