The Trustees of Reservations has appointed former Massachusetts energy and environment secretary Katie Theoharides to the position of president and CEO. She will begin in the role on July 10.
Theoharides will oversee management for the conservation and preservation organization, which protects and cares for over 120 special places in Massachusetts, including some of the North shore’s most beloved and beautiful properties such as Crane Beach, Castle Hill, Appleton Farms, and the Stevens-Coolidge House and Gardens. Theoharides will lead the organization’s staff to set strategy, advance programmatic goals, and support a culture of diversity, belonging, inclusion, and equity.
Theoharides brings a background in ecology and climate science to her longstanding career in environmental leadership and land conservation, key pillars of The Trustees’ mission.
“The decades ahead will require a deep sense of urgency and dedicated work to bring people together to protect our environment and implement solutions for a changing climate,” said Theoharides. “The Trustees have long understood that by connecting people to nature through culture and belonging we can build a love and passion for stewarding our natural world and in so doing improve human health, enhance quality of life, foster social justice, and build resilient communities. I couldn’t be more thrilled to join this mission and to work side-by-side with the dedicated staff, volunteers, and governance of this fantastic organization.”
During her time as cabinet secretary, from 2019 to 2022, Theoharides led partnerships with local communities to build climate resiliency and reduce emissions, and worked as a lead negotiator on complex environmental and energy issues with governmental, business, and philanthropic leaders. Upon leaving the cabinet, Theoharides became Head of U.S. Offshore East for RWE, the second largest global offshore wind developer, Overseeing the company’s expanding U.S. Offshore Wind project development portfolio.
“We are thrilled to have Katie joining us at The Trustees,” said Peter B. Coffin, Chair of The Trustees’ Board of Directors. “At her core she is an environmentalist who cares for land conservation and for mobilizing people through a shared reverence for nature. We are excited to have Katie leading our organization, and we look forward to having her collaborative, service-oriented leadership build upon The Trustees’ enduring legacy.”