Courtesy / MCHT
Tim Glidden, who is retiring as president of Maine Coast Heritage Trust
December 6, 2021
With longtime leader retiring after raising $130M, land trust names new CEO
Courtesy / Maine Coast Heritage Trust
Kate Stookey, a Blue Hill native with a background in nonprofit leadership, has been named president and CEO of Maine Coast Heritage Trust.
With Tim Glidden set to retire after leading a $130 million capital campaign at Maine Coast Heritage Trust, the conservation nonprofit on Monday named its new leader.
Kate Stookey, a Blue Hill native who has led community partnerships and nonprofits, was named president and CEO. Glidden, who led the organization for a decade, is set to to retire at year’s end. Stookey will take over early next year.
Stookey was most recently executive director at Revels, a national arts and culture nonprofit based in Watertown, Mass. Previously, she held leadership positions at the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, where she built and oversaw the public affairs and community partnerships division, and Pathfinder International, where she led global organizational initiatives.
She is a graduate of Brown University and holds a graduate certificate in organizational behavior from Harvard University and a certificate in strategic leadership from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
“I am honored to have been selected as the next president and CEO of Maine Coast Heritage Trust,” said Stookey. “I believe deeply in protecting Maine’s coast and natural spaces and keeping them accessible for those who work, live, and explore here. It is a privilege to join an organization that has such a profoundly positive impact on the people and the ecology of this state.”
She joins Topsham-based Maine Coast Heritage trust at a time of strength, with the organization having just raised $130 million to be earmarked for protection of 11,000 coastal acres, on which the 36 new public preserves have been created.
The organization, founded in 1970, maintains a network of nearly 150 coastal and island preserves, which are free and open to the public. It also leads the 80-member Maine Land Trust Network.
The organization has 65 employees, including full-time and seasonal, and an annual operating budget of $8.7 million.
But Stookey will also have to navigate the challenges of increasingly limited access to the water as well as social issues like food insecurity among coastal residents. Environmental challenges will include climate change, sea level rise and at-risk habitats.
Tom Armstrong, who chairs the trust’s board of directors, said Stookey is seen as a leader that can forge “relationships across diverse groups of people and interests.”
“Kate is a dynamic organizational leader with demonstrated success as a collaborator and bridge builder,” said Armstrong. “Kate brings precisely the quality of inclusive leadership that is needed at this moment, especially in this era of climate change and the challenges it poses to the Maine coast.”
Tom Ireland, who co-chaired the search committee, cited Stookey’s “deep love and passion for Maine, a track record of strategic and visionary leadership and proven fundraising success.”
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