Land Trust of Santa Clara Valley Announces Name Change, New Leader in Reboot 2.0
Morgan Hill, CA (PRWEB) October 19, 2017 -- The Silicon Valley Land Conservancy board of directors today announced that it has a new name and a new executive director. Renamed “Land Trust of Santa Clara Valley,” the nonprofit will be led by Greg Leonard, a local food systems champion and lifelong resident of Santa Clara Valley. Leonard takes over the leadership from Craige Edgerton, who served as Executive Director since 2005.
“The Land Trust of Santa Clara Valley was formed in 1998 to preserve and protect the remaining agriculture and open space in Santa Clara County and adjacent counties,” said board president, Kevin O’Day. “Though our mission remains essentially the same, we have changed our name to ‘Land Trust of Santa Clara Valley’ to realign geographically with our constituents in the Santa Clara Valley region.
“We are excited,” O’Day continued, “to have Greg Leonard, a Santa Clara Valley native son and longtime local agriculture champion, at the helm to lead our organization and advance our mission.”
Greg Leonard is a graduate of Stanford Law School and has practiced law for more than 30 years at several Bay Area and international companies before starting his consulting firm to help launch technology start-up businesses. He has served on the boards of several tech companies and agricultural nonprofits.
A San Jose native, Leonard grew up working his grandfather’s farm fields in the “Valley of Heart’s Delight” and is an avid gardener and small farm owner. For the past 10 years, he has devoted himself to working with local nonprofit organizations focused on agriculture and food systems.
In his role as Executive Director, Greg will lead the Land Trust’s efforts to protect agricultural land, critical habitat and open spaces in Santa Clara County and surrounding areas. In addition to managing the Land Trust’s existing properties and operations, he will develop new partnerships with regional organizations and property owners.
“The need for preservation of our ever-diminishing agricultural and wildlife habitat lands has only grown more critical since our organization was founded in 1998,” Leonard said. “My aim as Executive Director is to broaden our organization’s reach and impact, and to bring new opportunities for landowners and family farms to partner with us to secure these lands for future generations.”
Land Trust of Santa Clara Valley is co-located with the Santa Clara County Farm Bureau at 605 Tennant Avenue, Suite H, Morgan Hill, CA 95037. Phone number is (650) 799-9618.
Land Trust of Santa Clara Valley (http://www.landtrustscv.org), formerly Silicon Valley Land Conservancy, is a 501(c)3 non-government nonprofit corporation committed to protecting, promoting, enhancing and preserving land for agricultural, recreational, educational, historic or open space purposes. In addition to agricultural preservation the Land Trust protects and promotes the natural habitats of fish, wildlife, plants or similar ecosystems, in Santa Clara County and adjacent counties. The organization was nationally accredited by the Land Trust Alliance in 2016, and protects approximately 1,600 acres of prime farmland and critical habitat through conservation easements and fee title ownership.
For more information, contact Greg Leonard
greg(at)landtrustscv(dot)org | (650) 799-9618 | http://www.landtrustscv.org
Greg Leonard, Land Trust of Santa Clara Valley, http://landtrustscv.com, +1 (650) 799-9618, [email protected]
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