Nomination Statement for North East Region Candidate Michelle Smith

Combining Actuarial and Land Trust Experience: As a qualified actuary with decades of experience working in the insurance industry, and now as executive director of a local land trust, if elected, I hope to play a key role in bridging the gap between “insurance speak” and the daily reality of land trust work. A detailed understanding of actuarial analysis and risk management equips me with unique skills for representing member land trusts. In addition, being a full-time staff member of a local land trust exposes me to daily interactions with land-owners and the “nuts and bolts” of transaction execution and ongoing management of conserved properties. This perspective is critical to understanding the needs of members as strategic and tactical decisions are made within their member-owned insurance company.

Communications and Outreach: With over a decade on Wall Street translating complex actuarial concepts into digestible sound bites, if I am elected, I hope to transform this skillset to benefit the land trust community. Actuarial and financial reports and conclusions can be daunting to those not trained in these areas, and run the risk that the messages the data are telling us are not broadly understood or acted upon. I hope to use my actuarial translation skills to communicate key messages about Terrafirma operations to members and beyond. Outside of the membership, if elected, I hope to use these skills to promote Terrafirma more broadly, and the critical role it plays for the land trust community in carrying out our mission to conserve land in perpetuity.

New England Regional Perspective:  Managing a 6-person, local land trust keeps me focused on the issues that arise in our small mission area within New England, but we are also broadly networked into larger regional groups, including through multi-state regional conservation partnerships. This facilitates a broader understanding of issues across New England. In addition to living and working in New York for more than a decade, I also spent more than a year living and working in Hartford, CT and Boston, MA. If elected, I hope to combine these experiences to make me an effective communicator with members across the whole New England region.

I am honored to be nominated for the Members Committee of Terrafirma and I thank you for your consideration.