Melissa Kalvestrand

Melissa Kalvestrand served many roles at the Commission since joining in November 2009. After 10 years of consistently taking on more responsibilities, she was named executive director in January 2020. During her tenure at the Commission, she has overseen the accreditation review process and facilitated the accreditation decisions for over 100 applicants each year. She partnered in developing, interpreting, reviewing, and revising the accreditation requirements and maintaining the Requirements Manual. She also co-facilitated the public participation process resulting in the 2017 revisions to Land Trust Standards and Practices.As executive director, she has been leveraging the successes of the accreditation program and of accredited land trusts to advance the Commission's next phase of work. That work includes maintaining the strengthen of land trusts, maintaining public trust, and engaging with land trusts in new ways to improve their return on investment in the program. Melissa has a master's degree in biodiversity, conservation, and policy from the University at Albany and a bachelor's degree in biology from Cornell University.