Melissa Kalvestrand

Melissa has served in many roles since joining the Commission in November 2009. Most recently, she served as deputy director, overseeing the accreditation review process and facilitating the accreditation decisions for over 100 land trusts each year. She partnered in developing, interpreting, reviewing and revising the accreditation requirements and maintaining the Requirements Manual. She also co-facilitated the 2017 revisions to Land Trust Standards and Practices. Effective January 2020, Melissa was named the executive director after an external search process. She looks forward to leveraging the successes of the first decade of the accreditation program and of accredited land trusts into next phase of the Commission’s work. 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.