Meet The Team

CEO and Co-founder, Robin Laine, has spent over 15 years managing natural resources compliance and permitting projects across the U.S. Along with channeling her scientific expertise and navigating federal, state, and local permits for her clients, Robin established in-house natural resource compliance processes for oil and gas companies and gave presentations across the U.S. educating various industries on how to best manage federal and state environmental regulations. After serving as field biologist, then project manager, division director, and finally national program manager for local, regional, and national firms, Robin is now directing her passion towards Transect and our mission to revolutionize how environmental data is consumed.

Robin has successfully navigated the NEPA environmental review process for numerous projects involving federal actions and funding. Robin has proven knowledge of the NEPA process, the ability to identify project-specific environmental constraints, an understanding of the agency coordination process, and the ability to manage the schedule to meet project timeline and budget needs. Robin has served as project manager, lead field scientist, and lead author for numerous NEPA documents.  She has vast experience with wetlands delineations, species habitat assessments, permitting, and avoidance/minimization strategies.

Robin has conducted many ASTM E1527 Phase I Environmental Site Assessments in coordination with professional geologists. Robin is experienced in conducting the necessary field investigations and background research to identify potential for releases of hazardous substances or petroleum products that could lead to liability issues if not properly managed.

Robin attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she holds a BS in Biology with a concentration in Ecology, Evolution, and Behaviour and received a business certificate from the McCombs School of Business. She is Secretary of the Board for Isaiah 55 Ministries, a nonprofit assisting deaf and marginalized people in Reynosa, Mexico, and Secretary of the Board of For Her, a nonprofit empowering marginalized women in San Antonio, Texas. Additionally, Robin has a passion for women in business and regularly uses her leadership and startup experience to mentor female entrepreneurs to start and grow their own businesses.

Chief Growth Officer and co-founder, Sam is involved in all aspects of the company including business development, fundraising, client relations, and strategy. Previous to his role at Transect, Sam was the managing partner of Redrock, an investment, development, leasing, and management company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. Sam previously spent 8.5 years with Riverside Resources. In his role as development partner, he was responsible for all aspects of development and acquisitions including site selection, financial underwriting, entitlement and design work, consultant and construction coordination, project financing, asset management, leasing, and dispositions. In addition to his commercial real estate background, Sam has provided private equity and management consulting services to startups in healthcare, technology, publishing, consumer products, and music entertainment. Sam started his first company at age 18 selling advertisement space for PPC Racing’s Nesquik car in the NASCAR Busch Series.

Sam attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied accounting with a minor in real estate finance and achieved a Masters in Professional Accounting with a concentration in business law. Prior to transferring to UT, Sam also completed an Associate’s degree in Business Administration from Austin Community College. He is a frequent guest lecturer at McCombs School of Business MBA program for the real estate finance classes.

Sam is a member of the American Enterprise Institutes enterprise club and a board member of Isaiah 55 ministries in Reynosa, Mexico. He is a founding member of the San Antonio Angel Network and is the Executive Producer of Live at Jazz TX, a public radio broadcast. Sam is an Eagle Scout.