Happy 10th Anniversary, Angela!
Tom Settlemire & Kate Klibansky
In the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust summer newsletter of 2008, the board of directors announced the hiring of a new executive director, Angela Twitchell.
I was BTLT President when we undertook the selection process for a new Executive Director to replace Jack Aley. Although we had several strong candidates from out of town, Angela was very much in the running. Then we received a reference from one of her former bosses. He said “If there were a way to clone Angela Twitchell, I would take a hundred tomorrow. You would be crazy not to hire her.” That was it; we weren’t crazy and we did hire her. Never in the past ten years have we been other than totally delighted with that choice.
~ Lloyd Van Lunen, Vice President of the Board of Directors
At the time of Angela’s hiring, BTLT was turning 23 years old and had already earned a reputation as one of the top local land trusts in the country and was ready to take on new challenges.
And take on new challenges we have. Under Twitchell’s leadership we have increased the number of completed conservation projects by more than four-fold, become a regional leader in promoting not only the conservation of farmland but assisting in bringing that land back into production. In addition, the Land Trust now offers programs and events in cooperation with the local municipalities, and other organizations connecting BTLT to almost every aspect of our communities.
Angela has worked tirelessly toward the goals of the Land Trust, one of her many notable achievements being the conservation of Head of Tide Park, a project that she has worked on with the Town of Topsham since the start of her tenure at BTLT.
It is fitting that as we congratulate Angela on her 10th year as the executive director, we also prepare to celebrate the Grand Opening of the Park.
Angela has earned a reputation as a leader in the conservation world at both the state and national level. She has led the organization in ways we could only imagine 10 years ago. So Happy 10th Anniversary, Angela!
