Michael R. Cooper

Executive Vice President – Client Relations and Business Development

Michael is responsible for the client relations team as well as developing firm-wide strategic initiatives. He also provides leadership and strategic business advice to company executives, management, and across functional teams of the company. He serves on the firm’s Investment Committee and ESG committee. Michael previously served the company as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer where he oversaw all aspects of the compliance and legal programs as well as overseeing the company risk management program and managing external relationships such as outside counsel and related vendors.

Michael has worked with Molpus since 1999 and has been involved in many facets of the company’s work with previous experience including overseeing fundraising activities and in the development of Molpus’s co-mingled funds and international tax structures.

Prior to joining Molpus, Michael was engaged in a diversified corporate law practice in Jackson, Mississippi. He was selected as one of Mississippi’s Top 40 Under 40 for 2009 by the Mississippi Business Journal and is a member of the Mississippi Corporate Counsel Association (where he served as past president) and the Mississippi Bar (where he served as past chairman of the Clients’ Security Funds Committee). Michael is a past member of the Mississippi Ethics Commission (appointed by the chief justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court), the American Bar Association, and the American Bar Association’s Advisory Committee for the Paralegal Studies Program for the University of Southern Mississippi.

Michael co-authored “The Role of the Asset Manager in Maximising Value,” which appeared in The Definitive Guide to Investing in Timberland (2008) by PEI Media.

Michael earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Banking and Finance from Mississippi State University in 1992 and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1995.

For more information on timberland investments or Molpus Woodlands Group, contact us today.