Tom Martin

Tom Martin is President and CEO of the American Forest Foundation. Formerly, he served as the Chair of the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) senior management groups, crafting their agendas and building an effective management team; as President and Member of the Board of Directors of Earth Force, Inc., the nation’s largest young people’s environmental and citizenship education and action group; and as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the National Audubon Society, where he managed day-to-day operations, including line supervision for all management units including 320 staff and a $42 million annual budget. As Director of the National Audubon Society’s Everglades System Restoration Campaign, he directed the multi-disciplinary team effort to restore the Everglades’ ecosystem. As a partner with Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer & Weiss, P.C., Tom co-chaired the firm’s environmental practice area representing clients on a broad range of issues including permitting, environmental remediation, lender liability and related issues. As Deputy Director of Policy, Budget and Administration, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Tom served as a member of the Department’s senior management team, directed the Department’s budgetary management and represented the Department throughout the legislative appropriation process. As the Founding Director, Michigan Offices of the Great Lakes and Water Resources, State Water Administrator, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, he acted as chief advocate on these issues for Michigan before Congress, international and regional bodies. Tom is currently a member of the Northland College Board of Trustees. He has served as Board Chair of the Natural Resources Council of America; Chair and Founding Member of the Great Lakes Protection Fund, a $100M public endowment to fund Great Lakes research and demonstration projects; Chair of the Great Lakes Commission, an 8 state, regional government organization; as a member of the Governor’s Commission on a Sustainable South Florida; and as Vice President of the Council of Great Lakes Governors. Other honors include being invited to The White House Forum on History, Civics and Service; a National Invitee to the Presidents’ Summit on America’s Future; and a National Finalist for the Hesselbein Management Fellowship. Tom holds a B.S. from The American University, Washington DC, a Juris Doctor from the UCLA School of Law, and was admitted to the Michigan Bar in 1979. He and his family own an American Tree Farm System certified Tree Farm in Wisconsin.