July 26th 2011

The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay (ACB) announced today that Albert H. Todd, a long-time partner and ally, has been chosen as the new Executive Director.

Todd has an extensive professional history in Bay watershed issues and solutions. Most recently he served as the Chesapeake Bay Team Leader for the US Department of Agriculture’s Office of Environmental Markets and as Assistant Director to the Forest Service for Ecosystem Services and Markets. In those roles he coordinated activities aimed at measuring and valuing the services nature provides, such as clean water, and developing markets that can foster greater investment in watershed and ecosystem restoration and protection. In recent years, Todd has also worked with the Environmental Protection Agency on policies and strategies that support the use of water quality trading and offset programs to meet the targets of the Bay’s “pollution diet” or total maximum daily load.

Before his most recent positions, Todd had a long career in national watershed management and with the Chesapeake Bay in particular. After more than a decade with the US Forest Service in California, Todd spent nearly 16 years with the Chesapeake Bay Program where he led a diverse set of initiatives aimed at improving watershed health through the conservation, restoration and stewardship of trees and forests. These efforts included programs for restoring riparian forest buffers, expanding urban tree canopy, and protecting forests important to drinking water supply. He also worked closely with State Foresters and their staff to improve forest sustainability and routinely built diverse partnerships to address watershed and forest issues at the national, regional and local scales.

Todd brings a wealth of experience in cultivating relationships with federal and state agencies, non-profits, businesses, communities, and landowners on projects that demonstrate creative approaches to conservation. ACB looks forward to his leadership, which begins September 1, as it continues existing efforts and programs and embarks on new ones that move us toward a restored Chesapeake Bay.

For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact Lou Etgen, ACB — letgen@allianceforthebay.org, 443-949-0575.

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