Expert Staff

Bill worked for the Department of Defense for 22 years, traveling the world and developing recreational programs and facilities for soldiers and their families. Bill was one of the first five civilians in history chosen to receive the Army Expeditionary Medal for overseas service for his work with MWR in Bosnia from 1998 to 2000. He later chose to settle in Upstate NY and has family property in the Tug Hill Wilderness and along Lake Ontario.

Bill is a graduate of St. Lawrence University in sport and leisure studies. His family is from the Adirondacks, his grandfather and great-grandfather were hunting and fishing guides throughout the area. He grew up hunting and fishing the Adirondacks and Tug Hill with family camps in both areas. Bill is an avid trout fisherman and has extensive knowledge of hidden inland streams and ponds where trout are found. He has been with Land First for seven years and enjoys showing people the vast range of outdoor recreational activities in the areas of Tug Hill, Lake Ontario, Salmon River, Thousand Islands and Adirondacks. Bill is a Licensed New York State Real Estate Associate Broker.

Chris has over 32 years of real estate experience, being a licensed professional since 1989. He has owned a land company and helped manage land offices in New York State for about 30 years. Chris is a co-founder of Land First and since 1998 has purchased and developed over 3500 acres of unique waterfront properties and lands by New York State Forests.

His group Land First has carefully delivered turn key real estate parcels to hundreds of individual land buyers, one sale at a time. For 23 years as President of Land First he has helped our team procure and transfer the most rare and unique opportunities to over 350 selective property buyers like yourself.

Born and raised here in the “North Country”, Chris grew up exploring the Lake Ontario region. Starting at age six with his dad Kirk Ellis, he hiked and fished miles of Tug Hill forests for trout. At this early time they also began working in the woods - harvesting timber and firewood together for many years. At age 13, Chris helped his father build a family getaway log cabin from scratch, deep in the woods of the Tug Hill, this special place still stands today.

Chris learned to work and play in the woods, enjoying nature not only with his father and mother, but also with his four grandparents and two great-grandparents too. His extended family lived locally and were active within their Salmon River communities. From them Chris learned "work" skills within forestry, lumber manufacturing, road building and construction; and also learned "fun" skills with fishing, camping, boating, wildlife and nature. These generations of land stewards taught him to appreciate the unique beauty and rare setting they called home. He also acquired priceless outdoor skills from his sportsmen elders. At an early age Chris learned the value of our natural resources and has sought to protect and conserve them for the future, as generations did before him. His large extended family taught him the importance of hard work, appreciating the outdoors, and the value of giving back to the community.

After graduating from Sandy Creek Central School, Chris graduated from Syracuse University with a B.S. in marketing from the School of Business Management. Upon graduation he turned down three excellent career offers from three different Fortune 100 companies to go to work for himself in real estate, returning to family and nature.

Since 1989, he has worked in real estate, mostly focused on recreational forest land and unique waterfront developments. He has experience delivering rural properties all over Upstate New York, including the Adirondacks, Southern Tier, Catskills, Tug Hill, Salmon River, Lake Ontario and Thousand Island regions. He has had the honor of working with hundreds of sellers, buyers, contractors, agencies, lenders, attorneys, community leaders and municipalities by delivering legacy grade properties to others.

In 1998, Chris and his father founded Land First in their hometown Village of Lacona, NY. Chris currently has real estate offices in Texas and New York State and is a licensed real estate broker in both states.

Chris is happily married to his amazing wife Melinda, and are blessed with five children. He enjoys photographing nature, producing the beautiful images you see within this website. Chris helps lead outdoor adventure groups for youth camping with his five young children and coaches youth sports. His family enjoys canoeing, travel, wildlife, skiing, sports, camping and fishing. They enjoy family getaway time at the family "farm", or exploring rural New York State and sharing the great outdoors with others.