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About TLC's Staff: Jeff Masten
"Having Jeff is a double bonus for TLC; we get a new staff person, and he's Jeff," says Associate Director Kevin Brice. "He hit the ground running, and by now, he's taken the learning curve and just flattened it. With him here, we're able to do projects that would have taken us twice as long to do without him. He's dramatically increased TLC's capacity to work with landowners." Jeff started working at TLC in February after completing a degree in City and Regional Planning at UNC-Chapel Hill. Originally from New Hampshire, he spent five years as an Army officer and a few years working for BASF before he started looking for a career change. "I became very interested in motivation—I was looking specifically for my internal motivator," he says. He left his job to spend time taking care of his son and to explore his interests in the environment. After taking classes at Tufts University in Boston, he did a summer internship at the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. It was the step that ultimately led him to land trust work. "I'm a firm believer in having a natural, cultural and historical landscape for everyone. I don't want to watch those resources get developed. Land trusts are actively doing something to protect them, and I like that," he says. At TLC Jeff works directly with land owners to help them develop conservation plans for their land. A strategist at heart, he enjoys pulling together the different critical pieces—the financial, environmental and fundraising information—that make conservation plans work. He also likes working with conservation-minded people who understand the value their land holds for others, be it family or future generations. More than anything, Jeff enjoys working for TLC because it appeals to his altruistic sensibility. "Knowing that I've been an active participant in planning, preserving and protecting resources that are beneficial for all motivates me—it's critical," he says.
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