As Executive Director, Robert leads the Saratoga PLAN team in assisting communities to create plans that balance growth with conservation, ensuring the Saratoga region remains a great place to live, work, visit, and farm. “I guide the staff and provide the priorities, goals, and strategies to achieve the organization’s mission – then try not to get in the way of our excellent staff, who work hard every day to accomplish those goals.”
Before joining Saratoga PLAN in May 2022, Robert served as a senior attorney in the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) Office of General Counsel. In 2001, he became the Director of the DEC’s Division of Lands and Forests and State Forester, where he was responsible for managing approximately 5 million acres, including 3 million acres of Adirondack and Catskill Forest Preserve land, 850,000 acres of state forest land, and 1 million acres of “working forest” conservation easements.
In his free time, Rob enjoys anything outdoors – fishing, kayaking, camping, hunting, gardening – and being a handyman to keep his 1850 farmhouse running smoothly.
“I love working for an organization that epitomizes one of my favorite mottos in life: Think Globally, Act Locally!”
Email: robertd@saratogaplan.org