Face of This Place
Matt Sexton
Matt Sexton is Senior Vice President and Southeast Regional Director for The Conservation Fund's Conservation Acquisition program. Based in Florida, Matt chairs the Conservation Acquisition committee and serves on the Executive Committee. His passion is conservation and he has led efforts in Florida and the Virgin Islands to protect lands ranging from sea turtle nesting beaches to working agricultural lands (186 projects, 78,000 acres, $525 million value). Regionally, his team has completed over 580 projects totaling over 781,000 acres.
Pearl and Max
Pearl and Max are two Northern spotted owls whoooo live in the Salmon Creek Forest, a 4,000 acre tract of forestland on California’s north coast protected and managed by The Conservation Fund. Through our North Coast Forest Conservation Initiative, we have now protected 125,000 acres of forestland that is sustainably managed for timber, carbon sequestration and habitat restoration.
Reggie Hall
I grew up on the seacoast of New Hampshire as an only child. My town was a summer-home community, and we were the only year-round residents in our entire neighborhood. Every day I would come home from school and go down onto the beach and play in the tide pools. I was fascinated by the marine life.
Wendy Sams
Wendy Sams has been the Fund’s Chief Information Officer for more than a decade. As a native of Detroit, Wendy was thrilled when she heard the Fund was helping to restore Rouge Park, the park of her childhood where she learned to love the outdoors. Wendy traveled with other Fund staff to a tree planting event at the park in September 2013. The event was part of an effort led by The Greening of Detroit to plant 1,600 trees in Rouge Park and supported by donations from U-Haul and its customers to The Conservation Fund’s Business Partnerships program. She shares her thoughts on what it was like to help restore one of her favorite places and why Detroit is “a city worth saving.”
Luke Lynch
Luke Lynch, our Wyoming State Director, passed away on May 17. To learn more about Luke's exemplary life and work,please click here.
Steve Hobbs
Steve is the Fund's Minnesota State Director for Conservation Acquisition. He has nearly three decades of conservation experience working for non-profit organizations and government around the country. For The Conservation Fund in Minnesota, he has led landmark initiatives and has negotiated the conservation of more than 40,000 acres of land. He is the recipient of numerous conservation awards. In this special 30th Anniversary interview, Steve discusses Sax-Zim Bog.
Mike Ford
Mike Ford is a Consultant and serves as Nevada and Southwest Director for Conservation Acquisition. He joined the Fund in 1999, after a 25-year career with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), where he served as Branch Chief in the National Land and Realty Division in Washington D.C., Deputy State Director in NV, District Manager in Albuquerque, NM, and Area Manager in Lake Havasu City, AZ. Mike also served as a Congressional Fellow and Legislative Assistant for U.S. Senator Pete V. Domenici (R-NM) where he was responsible for public land and environmental issues. In this special 30th Anniversary interview, Mike Ford discusses the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
Julie Shackelford
Julie, who opened The Conservation Fund’s East Texas office in Nacogdoches in 2007, works on land protection projects along the Neches River. She has assisted in more than 50 land acquisition transactions for federal, state and private partners that have protected 90,000 acres of land throughout Texas. In this special 30th Anniversary interview, Julie Shackelford discusses the Big Thicket National Preserve and the Neches River.
Growing Up Laguna
Jena is Director of Business Partnerships and Director and co-founder of the Go Zero program. She has been at the Fund for over a decade, specializing in marketing, communications, green jobs, sustainable business development, corporate social responsibility, and fundraising. Jena has launched successful campaigns with major companies to inspire employees, engage customers and make lasting impacts for land, wildlife and communities. She launched Go Zero to help address two major environmental challenges of our time: habitat loss and climate change. This is her story about growing up on the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, which happens to be the site of both Go Zero and Conservation Acquisition projects.
Conetoe-Hatteras Youth Food Equity Exchange: “Wadin’ through the Water” to Healthy Food Access
Mikki Sager is the Director of the Fund's Resourceful Communities program and a Vice President. She is responsible for program oversight, fundraising, partner support and scaling the Triple Bottom Line approaches that are helping communities generate economic, social and environmental returns. She helps communities implement natural resource-based economic development projects, including ecotourism, community forestry and conservation-based affordable housing. Mikki also helps Resourceful Communities’ 300-plus community partner groups access funding and technical assistance and carries out special initiatives that address critical issues, such as access to healthy food in low-income communities. This is her story about the exciting partnership between Conetoe Family Life Center and Hatteras Island.
