Our team

At Applied Natural Sciences, we are committed to meeting our clients’ unique remedial challenges. As pioneers in our field, we have been applying agronomic processes to environmental remediation problems of soil and water for decades.

Paul Thomas, M.S.
President

Mr. Thomas has over forty years of professional consulting experience and has conducted environmental characterization and remedial actions at major industrial facilities throughout the United States and in Europe. His work has resulted directly in the completion of full-scale design-build remediation projects including CERCLA, RCRA, brownfields and voluntary actions. He has also been involved in all aspects of due diligence, ecological characterization/mitigation, remediation, and regulatory compliance. His early work experience included geologic mapping, geophysical methods, geological software development, and modeling of groundwater and surface water. Beginning in 1987, Mr. Thomas was among the pioneering practitioners of vegetation-based remediation and waste management (Phytotechnologies). He founded Thomas Consultants, Inc. in 1989 and has worked to develop applications for phytotechnologies over the past 35 years. In the early 1990's Mr. Thomas collaborated with Dr. Edward Gatliff on the development of phytoremediation methods to overcome the limitation of traditional phytoremediation to relatively shallow groundwater. Dr. Gatliff patented the TreeWell technology, and it was provided as a service through his company, Applied Natural Sciences, Inc. A close working relationship developed between Thomas Consultants and Applied Natural Sciences. Upon Dr. Gatliff's passing in early 2021, Mr. Thomas assumed the role of President of Applied Natural Sciences. Applied Natural Sciences has continued to grow and is currently providing TreeWell-based remediation services throughout the United States and European Union.
Specialties: Phytotechnologies, TreeWell technologies, phytoremediation, alternative cover technologies, wetland treatment, stormwater management, groundwater modeling, surface water modeling, sediment transport modeling, groundwater remediation, soil remediation

Chris Gale, M.S., P.G.
Vice President

Mr. Gale has over 17 years of professional environmental consulting experience. He has substantial experience managing and implementing a wide variety of environmental site investigation, characterization, and remediation projects, including all aspects of building and leading successful teams on large-scale complex projects. Mr. Gale has expertise in a variety of remedial technologies including Electrical Resistance Heating (ERH), Dual Phase Extraction (DPE), Soil Vapor Extraction (SVE), Enhanced In-Situ Bioremediation (EISB), In-Situ Chemical Reduction (ISCR), In-Situ Chemical Oxidation (ISCO), and soil excavation and how these technologies can be combined with ANS’ engineered phytoremediation technologies to optimize remedial strategies to meet client objectives.
Specialties: Phytoremediation, combined remedies, groundwater remediation, soil remediation, vapor intrusion

Tara Gatliff Hail, M.S.
Chief Operating Officer

After working as both an educator and a director at a non-profit for nine years, Tara Gatliff began working at ANS in 2013, serving as a field tech and project manager on dozens of TreeWell® system installations throughout the U.S. and Europe. In 2021, she took over the operations of the company after the passing of founder Edward Gatliff.

Robin McLamb, M.A.
Divisional Vice President,
Growth and Marketing

Robin McLamb has nine years of experience in interdisciplinary project management and leadership at an international publicly traded corporation, where she managed relationships with other subsidiaries and the parent organization in Japan. She has also worked as a freelance editor and content generator for financial and corporate events in the Middle East. Prior to those roles, Robin spent six years as a non-profit program manager, creating alliances with stakeholders, driving community-wide research, and managing evidence-based programming. In addition to her professional experience, Robin speaks Swahili, and after living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, she founded a 501 (c) 3 charity focused on supporting female entrepreneurs in the Global South.

Kevin Bamber, M.S.
Project Scientist

Mr. Bamber has over 12 years of experience in agricultural and environmental research. He has extensive experience in applied agronomics and the management and implementation of projects that investigate the environmental impacts of agriculture in numerous cropping systems. His focus areas have included mitigating nutrient losses from organic and inorganic fertilizers to the atmosphere, groundwater and surface waters, expanding agricultural uses of existing organic waste-based fertilizers, developing new organic waste-based fertilizers for agricultural and urban use, and reducing herbicide use through crop rotation, cover cropping, and harvest weed seed control. As a part of the ANS team, Mr. Bamber draws from his data-driven approach to applied soil science to assist clients in achieving their remedial goals.

Beverly Gatliff
Owner

Beverly Gatliff is an accomplished professional with experience in operational management and strategic decision-making. In her present role, Beverly oversees employee management, guides corporate vision, and manages intellectual property. Beverly and Dr. Edward Gatliff worked together to establish the pioneering phytoremediation business in 1993 and grew it into one of the country's most respected environmental remediation firms, amassing a portfolio of patents and establishing national and international clients and sites. Their collaborative efforts have played a vital role in the company's growth and global reach. With a career steeped in education and corporate leadership, Beverly's pragmatic approach to management remains pivotal in steering Applied Natural Sciences, Inc. towards growth and maintaining its position as a corporate leader in the remediatoin field.

Edward Gatliff, Ph.D.
Founder

Dr. Gatliff began working in the environmental industry in 1987, primarily applying his understanding of vegetation and agronomic principles to remediate contaminated soil and groundwater. In the fall of 1990 he conceived an engineered approach for utilizing trees to remediate deep soil and groundwater, now known as the TreeMediation® approach. With the implementation of a TreeMediation approach program in the fall of 1991, he became the pioneer in the use of phytoremediation to clean up deep soil and groundwater. In 1993, Dr. Gatliff founded Applied Natural Sciences, Inc. through which he continued to lead the nation in the commercial implementation of phytoremediation programs, with dozens of successful projects throughout the world. Dr. Gatliff earned his Ph.D. in Agronomy from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He was formerly the Research Director for Servi-Tech, Inc., the world’s largest agricultural consulting and testing firm; as well as the Analytical Sciences Division Director for Bowser-Morner, Inc., an environmental and geotechnical engineering and testing firm. Dr. Gatliff passed away in February of 2021, but his work in the field of phytoremediation lives on.