Board of Directors
Officers:
David Anderson, Chair
Jean Nelson, Vice Chair
Sherry Huber, Vice Chair
Ted Ladd, Treasurer and Secretary
Mark Ackelson
Mark C. Ackelson joined the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation as one of its original staff members in 1980 and has served as its president since 1994. This private, nonprofit conservation organization has helped conserve over 100,000 acres of Iowa's prairies, wetlands, woodlands, watersheds and trail corridors since it's founding in 1979. INHF works closely with individual landowners and conservation partners and makes extensive use of federal farm and conservation programs to forward its mission of protecting and restoring Iowa's land, water and wildlife.
While at INHF, Mark helped found the Upper Mississippi River Blufflands Alliance, Iowa Environmental Council and Resource Enhancement and Protection (REAP) Alliance. Nationally, he helped found the Land Trust Alliance and served in several leadership positions and also previously chaired the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. He currently chairs the 10-state Mississippi River Trail initiative.
Mark graduated with honors from the North Dakota State School of Science (Civil Engineering Technology) and with distinction from Iowa State University (Bachelor of Science, double major - Landscape Architecture and Recreation Resource Development (Forestry)). He received the Alfred B. Lagasse Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects for outstanding service by a landscape architect in the field of natural resource conservation and stewardship. He is also a graduate of Leadership Iowa and recently received the Land Trust Alliance's prestigious Kingsbury Browne Award for outstanding conservation leadership.
David Anderson, Chair
David H. Anderson is an attorney specializing in environmental law and land conservation law. Recently retired, he splits his time among homes in Ketchum Idaho, Lake Oswego Oregon and Santa Barbara California. He is a graduate of Occidental College, University of Southern California (Law) and Stanford University (Master's in Environmental Law). In his early career he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and as General Counsel of the California Air Resources Board. He currently serves as Chair of the Land Trust Alliance (Washington DC) and is a board member of the California Nature Conservancy, Wood River Land Trust (Idaho) and Housing Trust Fund of Santa Barbara County. He is a former board member and chair of the Santa Barbara Foundation, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Land Trust for Santa Barbara County and Santa Barbara Planning Commission.
Alan M. Bell
Alan Bell earned his Bachelor of Business Administration, with an emphasis in Finance, from the University of Notre Dame in 1986. He received his law degree from the University of Notre Dame Law School in 1989, and was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1991.
Alan is a partner at Charity and Associates in Chicago, where he practices in the area of project finance, specializing in municipal finance and real estate finance and development. He has served as underwriter's counsel, co-bond counsel, borrower's counsel, credit enhancer's counsel and legislative counsel in a wide variety of public financings, including general obligation bonds, traditional revenue bonds and various conduit financings, such as airport bonds, stadium bonds, 501(c) bonds, multi-family housing bonds and single-family mortgage bonds. Alan has provided representation on projects totaling over $10 billion.
Alan is a member of the National Association of Bond Lawyers and the Project Management Institute, as well as a co-founder of MUNITY Chicago, a municipal finance charitable organization. He is also the founder and President of The Elements Group, a firm focused on the development of nature-oriented and sustainable real estate and community projects.
He serves on the boards of Openlands, a land trust doing urban conservation work in Chicago, the Black Ensemble Theater, the Uplift Community High School Governing Board, the Chicago Park District Park Advisory Council Oversight Committee and the Chicago 2016 Next Generation Leadership Advisory Council. Alan is also a member of the Mies van der Rohe Society, the U.S. Green Building Council and the American Institute of Architects.
Maria Elena Campisteguy
Maria Elena Campisteguy is Executive Vice President and Principal of Metropolitan Group, a creative services consulting firm that strictly works with social purpose clients. She brings nearly 30 years experience in strategic and multicultural communication, strategic planning and program development to the board. Prior to joining the board, Maria Elena was the lead strategist on the rebranding work for the Land Trust Alliance and on the brand development for the Land Trust Accreditation Commission.
One of her personal passions is the engagement of multicultural communities in the environmental movement. She recently facilitated the development of a 10-year strategic plan for land conservation for the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico. She is also working with the EPA Urban Waters Initiative and the Colorado Conservation Trust to help communicate their work in a manner that increases relevance and thus increases community engagement.
In previous positions, Maria Elena has served as associate publisher for a magazine, as executive director for a Latino nonprofit multi-service organization and in various international marketing positions. She holds a master¹s in business administration, with a focus on international marketing, from Portland State University and a bachelor¹s in languages from Georgetown University, with a concentration in Russian and Spanish.
Lauren B. Dachs
Lauren B. Dachs is the President of the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation and the Stephen Bechtel Fund. In addition to serving on the Alliance board, she is a member of the Board of Trustees of The Nature Conservancy of California, Stanford University, the Woods Institute for Environment at Stanford, and the Laural Foundation. In the recent past, she served on the boards of the Fremont Group Foundation, the Advisory Council for the Center for Underrepresented Engineering Students (CUES) at the University of California-Berkeley's College of Engineering and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford. She founded and chaired the Lake School in Oakland while raising four children. She earned her undergraduate degree in psychology in 1971 at Stanford.
Michael Dennis
Mike Dennis has over 35 years of experience in the conservation real estate business working directly on billions of dollars of land transactions protecting millions of acres of valuable conservation lands in North America. He served 25 years as General Counsel and 6 years as Vice President for Real Estate at The Nature Conservancy. In addition to building and providing leadership and oversight to the Conservancy's legal and conservation real estate programs, he helped develop conservation partnerships with both the private and public sectors. In both sectors he implemented cutting edge conservation strategies and secured the philanthropic resources to support these efforts. Currently Mike is entering his 21st year of service as a board member of the North American Wetlands Conservation Council. In addition he continues to serve on the boards of the Land Trust Alliance, the Conservation Law Center, Cuenca los Ojos, the Neoptrop Advisory Council and as Counsel to the Malpai Borderlands Group and the Ranchers Stewardship Alliance. He received his B.A. from Northeastern University; J.D., Suffolk University Law School and LLM, Tax Law, Boston University Law School.
Michael P. Dowling
Michael P. Dowling has spent his professional life at the intersection of natural resource business, policy, conservation, and finance. As entrepreneur, executive, and philanthropist, Mr. Dowling’s passion for the natural and built environments has produced a values-driven career with experience in land conservation and limited development, conventional and alternative energy resources, corporate and project finance, and organizational strategy. Michael is former chairman of the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission, where he played a lead role in creating one of the nation’s most advanced regulatory frameworks for responsible oil and natural gas development; co-founder, chairman emeritus, and trustee of the Colorado Conservation Trust; former chairman of the Colorado Wildlife Federation; former director of the Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts; and founder and president of The Dowling Foundation. Mr. Dowling was the 2010 recipient of Colorado Open Lands’ George E. Cranmer Award, which honors career achievement in open space preservation. He has worked as an energy and environmental consultant, as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, and as an entrepreneur and private equity manager in the energy industry. Mr. Dowling has a BS (with highest honors) in Geology and Geophysics from Yale College, an MFS degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and an MPPM degree from the Yale School of Management.
Michael is an active outdoorsman, a former river guide, a New York Yankees fan, and a trustee of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. He is inspired and motivated by sharing his love of nature and the outdoors with his four-year-old daughter.
Ogden Driskill
Ogden Driskill ranches his family’s land at the foot of Devils Tower on his 13,000 acre, historic Campstool Ranch, adjacent to the Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming. His family has been on that land for seven generations- raising cattle, horses, and buffalo. Ogden is the definition of a conservation rancher, and is known for basing his ranching methods on wildlife habitat and environmental health of the streams, meadows, and natural areas around him, rather than just finding a quick or inexpensive fix. When an invasive, non-native plant species began choking out the majority of the native grasses in his meadow, Driskill overlooked tried-and-true chemical herbicides and instead began raising a sheep species known for grazing on that invasive species. Soon Driskill had hundreds of happy sheep and a restored meadow—all without the use of herbicide or other chemicals. Beyond the Campstool Ranch property line, Driskill’s dedication to conservation is as strong as ever. After graduating from the Wyoming Agricultural Leadership Program, Driskill became a founding member of both the Wyoming Stock Growers Agricultural Land Trust, where he previously served as board chair, as well as the Partnership of Rangeland Trusts, where he currently serves as a member of the board. He’s served as a past board member of the Wyoming Agricultural Leadership Council and as the Wyoming Stock Growers Region I Vice President. During his Board terms with these organizations, he’s worked hard to change the trend of subdividing larger ranch properties into what some call “ranchettes”, or smaller private ranches, which can have a detrimental effect on wildlife and big-picture conservation efforts in the area. The Alliance is honored to have such a powerful voice for land conservation and ranching in the West.
Belinda Faustinos
Belinda Faustinos was appointed as the executive officer of the San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy in June of 2002. This agency's territory encompasses 68 cities and over 1,600 square miles in the San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers Watersheds. The Conservancy acquires and manages public lands within the watersheds, providing open space, low-impact recreational and educational uses, water conservation, watershed improvements, wildlife and habitat restoration and protection.
Over the last three years the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy has adopted a work program of over 400 projects collected from cities, regional agencies and nonprofit organizations. Over 124 grants have been awarded totaling more than $40 million for the acquisition, planning and development of open space, recreational opportunities and habitat restoration. The Conservancy has also developed three joint powers agencies to help achieve its mission.
Belinda serves on the Board of California Audubon and was recently appointed to the National Park System Advisory Board. She had been a member of the National Parks Second Century Commission.
Belinda’s environmental experience started with the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy in 1985 as the budget officer for that agency. She was promoted to deputy director in December of 1991. Belinda administered a budget of well over $200 million in capital outlay funds which were used for the acquisition and improvement of public parkland and educational interpretation programs. She also served as the chief deputy executive officer of the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority and the Wildlife Corridor Conservation Authority and worked on open space policy issues in the Whittier/Puente Hills Corridor.
A native of southern California, Belinda was born and raised in East Los Angeles, California. She attended parochial schools in Los Angeles and obtained her bachelor's degree from Pitzer College in Claremont in 1973. Post graduate education has included completion of courses offered by EPA and Harvard Graduate School of Design. Over the years she has received honors and certificates of recognition from several federal, state and local legislators and has participated in many civic and professional organizations. She lives in the San Gabriel Valley with her husband and three sons.
Jameson French
Jameson French is the CEO of Northland Forest Products, Inc, a hardwood lumber processor, exporter and distributor, headquartered in NH but with operations in VA. The French family has been in the hardwood industry since the late 19th century. He is also President of Meadowsend Timberlands, LLC, which is the family land management company.
Mr. French is currently the Chair of the DC based Hardwood Federation and a past Chair of the Hardwood Manufacturer's Association and the American Hardwood Export Council. He also serves as a board member of the NH Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, the National Wildlife Federation Action Fund, the Quebec Labrador Foundation and Berwick Academy. He is currently Chair of the Tuckernuck Land Trust (MA) and the Cottonwood Gulch Foundation (NM).
He is a past Chairman of the Forest Stewardship Council (US), the Society for the Protection of NH Forests, and Strawberry Banke Museum. He served the NH Charitable Foundation as trustee, treasurer and finally vice chair until June 2010.
Educated at Phillips Andover, Trinity College and the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, he lives in Portsmouth, NH and is married to Priscilla Stevens French. They have three children.
David Hartwell
David Hartwell founded Bellcomb Technologies in 1989 and has been its president since inception. Bellcomb is the largest producer of structural, non aerospace honeycomb panels in North America. He was the founder of the Minnesota Land Trust in 1991 and served on its board in numerous capacities for many years. He served on the Land Trust Alliance Board from 1993 – 2005 and was reelected in 2006. He has served on the Land Trust Accreditation Commission since its inception until 2010. In 2001 he began an effort that culminated in 2008 with the passage by the voters in Minnesota a constitutional amendment that will raise an estimated $5 billion dollars for conservation in the next 25 years. He serves on numerous profit and non profit boards. He and his wife enjoy travel to distant places and have 4 children and 4 grandchildren. He is an avid birdwatcher and gardener.
Sherry Fisher Huber, Vice Chair
Sherry Fisher Huber has been the Executive Director of the Maine TREE Foundation since 1996. Prior to that she served as the Executive Director of the Maine Waste Management Agency (1989-1995) and as a consultant to private, non-profit organizations for fundraising and development.
She served in the Maine House of Representatives from 1976-1982. She ran for Governor unsuccessfully in 1982 and 1986.
Sherry chairs the Board of Directors of the Mainewatch Institute and is Board President of the Forest Society of Maine. She was a Trustee of the College of the Atlantic from 1992-2009. She was a Trustee of The Nature Conservancy, Maine Chapter, from 1983-1993, serving as Chair of the Board from 1987-90, and again from 1996-2006. She served on TNC’s Board of Governors from 1987-1997. She is a member of the Maine Audubon Society’s Advisory Board and a Trustee Emerita of Waynflete School in Portland, Maine.
She is a Director of NatureServe, formerly the Association for Biodiversity Information. She serves on the University of Maine School of Law Board of Visitors, the Maine League of Conservation Voters Board of Directors and is a member of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies Leadership Council.
Sherry is a graduate of Smith College and the recipient of the Down East Magazine Environmental Award in 2002.
Laura Johnson
Laura A. Johnson became President of the Massachusetts Audubon Society in 1999. Prior to joining the Society she served as the Division Vice President, Northeast Division, of the The Nature Conservancy. This position was the culmination of a sixteen-year career with The Nature Conservancy that began in 1982 with a position as a staff attorney. Ms. Johnson was an Associate with Palmer & Dodge in Boston before beginning her career at The Nature Conservancy. Ms. Johnson graduated from Radcliffe College, Harvard University, and received a J.D. degree from the New York University School of Law where she was a member of the New York University Law Review. In addition to her duties as President of Massachusetts Audubon Society, Ms. Johnson serves as a trustee of the Century Funds in Boston and is a member of the Corporation of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. She was a trustee of The Winsor School from 1990-1996 and a member of its corporation, a trustee of the Fenn School in Concord MA from 2001-2007, and a director of the Mount Auburn Cemetery.
Lawrence R. Kueter
Lawrence R. Kueter is an attorney with The Law Office of Lawrence R. Kueter in Denver, Colorado. His law practice is limited to land conservation. For thirty years he was with the law firm of Isaacson Rosenbaum, a firm nationally known for its conservation practice.
Since 1990, his practice has included representing numerous landowners, local land trusts, governmental entities, and statewide and national conservation organizations in land conservation matters. He currently serves as legal counsel to the Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts and the Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust. He has been legal counsel to the Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust since its creation in 1995. With his involvement with the Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust, and the Partnership of Rangeland Trusts, he has been in the center of the movement in the Rocky Mountain West to create land trusts that are affiliated with statewide cattlemen's and stock growers associations.
On behalf of the Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts, Mr. Kueter has played a key role in obtaining approval of legislation to clarify property tax burdens on conservation easements, to provide a tax credit for conservation easements in Colorado, and to permit post mortem donations of conservation easements.
Mr. Kueter is a frequent speaker to landowners, land trusts and at conferences of the Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts. He has also spoken on numerous topics at Land Trust Alliance Rallies. Since 1999, he has spoken to various audiences on land conservation matters over fifty times in most of the states of the Rocky Mountain West. In 2003 and 2004, he served on the Land Trust Alliance's Standards and Practices Revision Committee, and in 2004 and 2005, he co-chaired the Land Trust Alliance's Standards and Practices Program Design Steering Committee. He is currently chair of the Land Trust Accreditation Commission.
Mr. Kueter received his law degree from the University of Denver. He has a Masters Degree in economics from Wayne State University and received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin.
Edward H. Ladd, Treasurer and Secretary
Ted Ladd is Chairman Emeritus of Standish Asset Management, a fixed income investment management firm with assets of $60 billion. Ted joined the predecessor firm of Standish, Ayer & Wood in 1962 and, prior to becoming Chairman Emeritus in 2004, served long terms as President and Chairman of Standish. He is also a member of the boards of Standish Asset Management and The Boston Company Asset Management in Boston as well as Pareto Investment Management and BNY Alcentra Group Holdings in London, all subsidiaries of BNY Mellon Financial.
Ted's other current responsibilities include Vice Chair of the Board of A Better City (formerly Artery Business Committee), Chair of the Board of Trustees of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Chair of the Boston Committee on Foreign Relations, Director of the Conservation Law Foundation, Director and Chair of the Finance Committee of the Land Trust Alliance, Director of MASCO, Trustee and former Chair of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, Director of The Trustees of Reservations, Trustee and former Chair of Wheelock College, and a member of the Board of Overseers of WGBH. He serves on many advisory boards, including Walden International Investment Group (a venture capital firm focused on Greater China), as well as the Asia Messanine Capital Group based in Hong Kong.
Under the Standish program, Ted has had two sabbaticals, most recently serving as a Senior Research Fellow for Harvard Business School based in Hong Kong and studying Asian financial markets. He is a member of the Boston Economic Club and the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
He has stepped down as a director of Citizens Financial Group and formerly served a six-year term on the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston as well as 21 years as a Director of Harvard Management Corporation.
Ted has a B.A. degree from Yale University, an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, and an honorary Doctor of Education from Wheelock College. He lives in Dover, Massachusetts.
Glenn Lamb
Glenn Lamb has been active with Columbia Land Trust since its founding in 1990, serving at various times as President, Vice-President and Secretary, and since 1999 as Executive Director. Mr. Lamb is inspired by the many private landowners throughout the northwest that have worked with land trusts to place their land in conservation, and believes that we all have much to learn by listening to the challenges and opportunities facing private landowners.
Mr. Lamb graduated from the University of Rochester, NY with degrees in Natural Resource Management and Sociology, and has a master in urban planning from the University of Oregon. Mr. Lamb has previously worked for county and city parks departments. Mr. Lamb has served on the board of the Washington State Parks Foundation, the Lower Columbia River Estuary Partnership, the Chinook Trail Association and Habitat Partners, and he volunteers in the Big Brother Big Sister program.
Fernando Lloveras
Fernando Lloveras San Miguel is a lawyer and executive director of the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico. He joined the land trust in 2002 and under his leadership the trust has acquired over 2,000 additional acres of land, including three conservation easements. In addition, Fernando was responsible for implementing a native tree species production, distribution and reforestation policy in all of the Trust’s tree nurseries in 2004. He is also responsible for moving forward a collaborative initiative between multiple government and educational entities focused on biodiversity conservation in Puerto Rico.
Before joining the trust, he was co-founder and CEO of Microjuris.com, Inc., a leading internet provider of legal information in Latin America, with operations in Argentina, Chile, Puerto Rico and Venezuela.
Fernando serves on the Southern Board of Advisors for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and has served as an advisor on federal affairs to the Governor of Puerto Rico. He has served on the Alliance’s National Council for two years.
Gretchen Long
Gretchen Long was recently appointed to the National Parks System Advisory Board, having served as Commissioner with the National Parks Second Century Commission. Over the past 25 years, she has been an active member and has chaired the boards of trustees of several leading conservation organizations. She served as a trustee and a 4-year Chair of the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) from 1996 to 2010. She was Chair of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies from 1993 -2000, as well as trustee and Chair of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). She was Vice Chair of the Environmental Defense Fund and the Chair of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. She also chaired the Murie Center, in Grand Teton National Park, and served as a trustee for the World Resources Institute. Her current board assignments include the Land Trust Alliance, NatureBridge, and Scenic Hudson, where she is Vice Chair of the Scenic Hudson Land Trust. Gretchen had a previous business career and is a graduate of the Harvard Business School.
Mary McFadden
Mary McFadden is lawyer and a director of Health Management Resources in Boston, a company specializing in training health care professionals and providing nutrition products nationwide.
In response to the threat of loss of thousands of acres of cranberry bogs she established the Wareham Land Trust (MA) in 2001, where she chaired the board for a number of years and was a driving force in passing the Community Preservation Act, a conservation funding measure. The EPA honored her with an environmental merit award for her work engaging children in the campaign to support land conservation.
Mary is also on the board of the Coalition for Buzzards Bay, a regional watershed organization in southeast Massachusetts, and chairs its strategic planning committee. Along with her husband, Larry Stifler, she is active in land and water conservation projects in western Maine. When she is not involved with her conservation groups, Mary enjoys spending time hiking with her husband and three children, and water color painting. Mary has served on the Alliance’s National Council since 2006.
Mary and her husband are currently working to help preserve western Maine’s gem and mineral heritage through purchasing properties, noteworthy Maine gems and minerals from collections around the world and historical materials in order to establish the Maine Mineral Gem and Mining Museum, scheduled to open in Bethel in 2012.
Jean Nelson, Vice Chair
Jean Nelson, a native of Nashville, Tennessee, is the President and Executive Director of The Land Trust for Tennessee whose mission is to preserve the unique character of Tennessee’s natural and historic landscapes and sites for future generations. She also serves as the Chairman of the Board of the Southern Environmental Law Center, headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia, and on a number of other nonprofit boards.
She served in the Clinton/Gore Administration as the General Counsel for the United States Environmental Protection Agency and as the Director of the President’s Crime Prevention Council. Prior to these appointments, she served as Chief Deputy Attorney General for Tennessee for four years and for thirteen years as a partner with the Nashville law firm of Gullett, Sanford, Robinson and Martin. Her practice was a general business practice, concentrating on administrative law in the health care, transportation and telecommunications areas.
She has been active in numerous professional and nonprofit boards including: Board Member of the Board of Professional Responsibility of the Tennessee Bar; Vice-President of the Nashville Bar Association; Middle Tennessee Governor of the Tennessee Bar Association; Chair of the Organization of Chief Deputies of the National Association of Attorneys General; Member of the Metro Charter Commission for 15 years; President of the Tennessee Environmental Action Fund; Board of the Tennessee Environmental Council; Founding Co-Chair of Metro Greenways Commission for Nashville. Ms. Nelson received her B.A. in English in 1969 and her J.D. in 1975, both from Vanderbilt University.
Frederic C. Rich
Frederic C. Rich is a partner of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, an international law firm based in New York. He is head of the firm's Global Project Finance and Development Group, and was until recently co-head of the firm's corporate practice.
Mr. Rich is the long-time Chairman of the Board of Scenic Hudson Land Trust, and also serves on the Board of the Hudson Highlands Land Trust, both now accredited. He chairs the Environmental Leaders Group in New York State, the coalition of environmental, land conservation, environmental justice and parks groups which work together on issues of policy and funding. He also is Chairman of the Foundation for Landscape Studies, and Vice Chair of The Battery Conservancy, Inc., which is spearheading a horticulturally rich restoration and revitalization of the Battery at the tip of Manhattan.
Rich is an amateur gardener and composer. He has designed a large landscape garden in Garrison, NY and recently developed an "urban farm" on the green roof of New York's first LEED "Platinum" residential building. He composed the world's first "environmental oratorio," The Hudson Oratorio, which premiered and was recorded in 1996. Rich has written numerous articles on topics including international finance, a permanent site for the Olympic Games and garden history. He received his A.B. from Princeton University, his J.D. from University of Virginia School of Law, and studied moral philosophy as a Keasby Fellow at King's College, Cambridge.
Christopher Glenn Sawyer
Christopher Glenn Sawyer has been a partner in the law firm of Alston and Bird since 1985. He specializes in corporate governance and counseling, strategic planning, conservation, and real estate law. As a member of the Real Estate Practice Group, he has served as chair of its Finance and Investments Sections.
Mr. Sawyer currently serves on the Board of Directors of IDI and IDI Services Group, both headquartered in Atlanta, and on the Board of Directors of EDAW, headquartered in San Francisco. During his career, he has represented these clients and others nationally in the assemblage of land and the development of large multi-use planned communities, the development and leasing of commercial, retail, multi-family and industrial facilities, the acquisition and disposition of investment grade real estate, and the structuring of various real estate investment vehicles.
Mr. Sawyer also currently serves as national Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Trust for Public Land (TPL) in San Francisco, as Chairman of the Chattahoochee River Coordinating Committee (an effort to create a park and greenway along 180 miles of the river in Georgia), and President of the West Hill Foundation for Nature in Jackson, Wyoming. He was the founding chairman of TPL’s Georgia Advisory Board and The Nature Conservancy’s National Real Estate Advisory Board. He also currently serves on TPL’s National Real Estate Advisory Council, the Urban Land Institute’s Leadership Group, the Board of Directors of The Murie Center in Jackson, Wyoming, and the Yale University Divinity School’s Board of Advisors. He has been affiliated with numerous professional organizations, including Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, Atlanta Legal Aid Society, Duke University Urban Property Development Council, and the Atlanta Bar Association, which he served as its president from 1989 – 1990.
Over the last five years, Mr. Sawyer has presented more than 50 speeches on real estate and conservation topics to various business, legal, civic and philanthropic groups across America. He has also received recognition for his work, ranging from a cover article in Georgia Trend to receiving the Ferguson Award as the Trust for Public Land’s outstanding national volunteer leader and the Turner Broadcasting System’s “Super 17” Award for his work in Atlanta. The Chattahoochee River Campaign, whose Campaign Coordinating Committee Mr. Sawyer started and chairs, also received the Harry West Golden Glasses Award from the Atlanta Regional Council for its visionary leadership in the Metropolitan Region.
Mr. Sawyer graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, received his M. Div. from Yale University in 1975, and his J.D. from Duke University School of Law in 1978.
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