Join us for a guided hike, expert insights, and meaningful conversation. Learn how Vermont is a habitat of global significance, how global (TNC) and local (MFFC) organizations are collaborating to protect it, and what you can do to be a part of the solution.

Speakers:

Eve Frankel, State Director of The Nature Conservancy in Vermont. She first joined TNC in 2014 and has held positions as both Deputy Director and Director of Strategic Communications.

Eve has over twenty years of leadership experience in the renewable energy and non-profit arenas. As an immigrant to the U.S. in the 1980s, Eve grew up in urban centers on both sides of the Atlantic with little exposure to the outdoors until her 20s. It was then that she began a deep relationship with nature, growing her love and literacy for natural communities. Eve has leveraged this outsider’s perspective in various leadership roles to help build bridges between content and audiences, projects and funders, and teams and goals to advance biodiversity protection and climate action strategically.

Rob Terry, Executive Director, Merck Forest & Farmland Center

Rob Terry brings decades of experience in conservation leadership, nonprofit strategy, and place-based education to his role as Executive Director of Merck Forest & Farmland Center. Since 2017, he has led the organization through a period of strategic renewal, expanding ecological programming, and building partnerships that position MFFC as a catalyst for conservation and education in the region.

His leadership connects local land stewardship with broader ecological goals, a thread reflected in MFFC’s collaboration with The Nature Conservancy and others shaping Vermont’s wild and resilient future. He serves on the Vermont Workforce Development Board, as well as the Bennington County Conservation District, where he champions social-ecological systems that deepen connections between people and the land.

A longtime educator and former vice president of national programs with the Student Conservation Association, Rob holds a master’s degree in Education and is pursuing a PhD in Environmental Studies focused on the intersection of climate-responsive leadership, forest ecology, and experiential learning.

This event has been made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Big Read. NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. The goals of the NEA Big Read are to inspire meaningful conversations, celebrate local creativity, elevate a wide variety of voices and perspectives, and build stronger connections in each community.