Leadership
Meet our executive team members at the Land Trust Alliance.
Andrew Bowman
Andrew is president of the Land Trust Alliance. Before joining the Alliance in 2016, Andrew served as the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation’s program director for the environment, overseeing all environmental grant-making. During his 11 years there, Andrew developed more than $100 million in grants and program-related investments. Before his foundation work, Andrew practiced law in Oregon for Defenders of Wildlife and at Perkins Coie LLP.
Wendy Jackson
Wendy is the executive vice president at the Land Trust Alliance. Before joining Alliance, she spent 15 years as the founding executive director of the Freshwater Land Trust in Birmingham, Alabama. During her tenure, the land trust conserved more than 11,000 acres and accepted the largest gift in the history of U.S. Steel to create a new 1,200-acre urban park. Wendy is a native of Alabama, who still enjoys life on her family’s farm just outside of Birmingham.
Chase Warden
Chase is the chief operating and financial officer at the Land Trust Alliance. Before assuming this role, he worked at The Nature Conservancy as the associate state director in Montana, then as the director of finance and operations at the Arlington, Virginia, headquarters. Chase brings over 15 years of financial strategy and operational leadership to the Alliance. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin. His passions include mountain biking, traveling and spending time outside with his son Jack.
Renee Kivikko
Renee is vice president of education at the Land Trust Alliance. An Alliance staff member since 2000, Renee previously served as the Midwest director and as national director supervising all field-based programs. Today, Renee oversees the Alliance’s education, standards and research, and conservation defense programs. Before joining the Alliance, she was the first executive director of the Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy in Kalamazoo, Michigan, a land trust that serves a nine-county area.
Elizabeth Ward
Elizabeth is the vice president of communications at the Land Trust Alliance. Before assuming this role, she worked for 10 years at The Nature Conservancy, where, among other things, she was responsible for its flagship marketing channels, including nature.org and Nature Conservancy magazine. She has more than 20 years’ experience across print and interactive media and a strong editorial background in book publishing. She is a graduate of Wellesley College.
Erin Heskett
Erin is vice president of conservation initiatives, and has been an Alliance staff member since 2006. Prior to joining the Alliance, Erin was senior program officer at the International Fund for Animal Welfare where he led programs to mitigate threats to endangered whales from ocean noise, shipping, and commercial fishing. He held several positions with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-New England, and served in the U.S. Peace Corps (1991-1993) in Senegal as a national parks volunteer at the Biosphere Reserve, Niokolo-Koba National Park. He holds a M.A. in urban and environmental policy and planning from Tufts University.