Kent Dawkins

President

In his 33 years with Van Schaack Land Company, Kent has nurtured and added to the extensive network of contacts begun by his father, Paul Dawkins, in the years following World War II. In addition to traveling throughout the West buying and selling properties, Kent ran a family ranch and farm for 15 years, experiences that enable him to talk to hired hands as well as Fortune 500 CEOs. Kent is on the Board of Directors of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, OK. His fellow board members represent many of America’s largest corporate executives who love the Western heritage.
Kent attended New Mexico Military Institute and Arizona State University, Tempe, where he graduated with majors in real estate and finance.

Vern George

Agricultural Real Estate Investment and Management Consultant

Vern gained his practical agricultural expertise from being raised on and continuing to operate a Kansas ranch that has been in his family for 100 years. After graduating with a degree in Agriculture from Kansas State University he was involved in the beef cattle industry before making the transition to agricultural real estate finance and management.

He spent 12 years in Denver as an area investment manager for Equitable Agri-Business, Inc. and its successor, Lend Lease Agri Business, Rosamond, Illinois, managing a real estate investment and loan portfolio that included large farm and ranch properties in Colorado and surrounding states.

He now consults with clients on the acquisition, sale, management and financing of large and unique ranch and agricultural investment properties in the western states.

Mike Carrigan

Vegetation and Resource Management Specialist

Mike has served as a field office range conservationist in Artesia and Socorro, NM and as area range conservationist in Rio Rancho, NM. In this position, he was responsible for range site descriptions and applications in range planning, and for administering range, woodland, and watershed programs in northwest New Mexico.

Mike’s areas of expertise are in:

• Evaluating range resource conditions for proper use by domestic livestock and wildlife
• Improving range, including livestock, water distribution, cross fencing and brush control
• Devising grazing management strategies
• Riparian restoration
• Utilizing resources for recreation, hunting and fishing without damaging the basic resource

Mike graduated from New Mexico Military Institute and New Mexico State University (w/Honors) in Range Science. He completed graduate work in Range Science at New Mexico State University and Texas Tech University.

Gordon P. East

Private Lands Wildlife Expert

Gordon has 40 years’ experience as a wildlife expert, 36 of them with the Colorado Division of Wildlife. He had direct oversight of the Divisions’ real estate/water/private lands management activities. These included an aggressive expanded conservation easement effort on large ranches.
As assistant area supervisor and district wildlife manager for 10 years in the Lower Arkansas Valley, he gained extensive experience in wildlife management techniques in the semiarid region.

Gordon is a graduate of Colorado State University with an MS from Adams State College in Wildlife/ Business Public Administration.