Nomination Statement for Guy Peterson

When asked if I would accept being nominated to run for election as the representative for the Northeast Region with Terrafirma I felt greatly honored.  If elected, I look forward to contributing my skills to this very worthy organization. I have been following the Terrafirma model from its infancy. My interest in Terrafirma came out of having recently dealt with an expensive title dispute with the all-volunteer land trust that I have served on for almost 20 years, the Newtown Forest Association, Inc.  Having gone through this experience, the Terrafirma model was a very attractive solution for all land trusts to use when facing these complex type issues.

I believe that my professional skills as a Certified Public Accountant for over 31 years and the knowledge gained serving the land trust community will add value to the group of dedicated professionals and volunteers working and overseeing Terrafirma. My responsibilities have demonstrated my ability to work as part of a team, work independently and roll up my sleeves to get the job done.  One of my most valuable assets is my ability to look through the emotion of difficult issues and evaluate objectively the facts to formulate a conclusion. My professional role has recently been focused internally; dedicated to reviewing and challenging the audit work performed by other professionals, essentially, I am auditing the auditors (not as boring as it sounds). Other skills that I believe will add value to Terrafirma is that I have a great attention to detail, and am focused on ethics and compliance with professional standards and internal policies. I am excited about the potential to serve the Terrafirma policy holders and hope to join the team as a Members Committee representative.