Land Trust Names Winter

As New Executive Director

COOPERSTOWN – John Winter, former executive director of the Woodstock Land Conservancy in the Catskills, will join the Otsego Land Trust as executive director on Jan. 4, the Land Trust announced today.

“John’s depth of experience makes him an ideal fit for the job, especially as the land trust continues to grow and expand its operations,” Search Committee co-chairs Caleb Wertenbaker and Martha Frey said in a statement.

He succeeds Virginia Kennedy.

For the past 20 years, Winter has been a practitioner in conservation and socially responsible organizational practices, working in the non-profit, for-profit, government, sustainability research  and consulting sectors, the press release said.

Winter’s most recent work, as director of social responsibility at Keurig Green Mountain, involved consulting on sustainable finance, biodiversity protection, and climate change, as well as strategic planning on environmental and social concerns for businesses and non-profit organizations.

A reception is planned in late January to welcome John and his family to the community.

Winter joins the Land Trust after what the statement termed “a banner season,”  when it reached its long-sought goal of protecting 10,000 acres of open space in Otsego, Delaware, Schoharie and Herkimer counties, and opening another public access site, Parlsow Road Conservation Area,  along the Oaks Creek Blueway.

He also arrives as a public debate over the future of the Land Trust’s 22-acre Brookwood Point property on Otsego Lake is resolved, for the time being, by a board decision not to pursue any proposals received for the north 11 acres.

OLT’s mission is to conserve the natural heritage of woodlands, farmlands, and waters that sustain rural communities, promote public health, support wildlife diversity and inspire the human spirit.