Forest Society Elects Two New Trustees to Board

October 16, 2011

Forest Society Elects Two New Trustees to Board

The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests recently announced the election of two new members to its Board of Trustees:

William H. Smith is an environmental consultant and adjunct faculty member at Granite State College and Hesser College. Now retired from full-time employment, he formerly taught forest biology and environmental studies at Yale University, from which he also received his master’s degree. A certified senior ecologist, forester, and arborist, he is currently the president of Bees and Trees Environmental Consulting. He has served on the Forest Society’s Policy Committee for several years and also volunteers with the New Hampshire Lakes Association, the Lakes Region Conservation Trust, and the US Forest Service in the White Mountain National Forest. A resident of Moultonborough, Smith has been a member of the Forest Society since 2006.

William W. McCarten is Chairman of DiamondRock Hospitality Company (NYSE:DRH). He also served as Chief Executive Officer of DiamondRock Hospitality Company as well as President and Chief Executive Officer of HMS Host Corporation. Over the course of his career, he enjoyed 18 years with Marriott International in a variety of executive level positions. Today, Bill is a director of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. and has agreed to serve on the Board of Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation when its spin-off from Marriott International is completed later this year. He has also served on the Jefferson Scholars Foundation National Selection Committee and the McIntire School of Commerce Advisory Board at the University of Virginia. A Forest Society member since 1999, he serves on the organization’s Finance Committee and last year donated to the Forest Society a conservation easement on 117 acres in Lancaster near his home. McCarten is an alumnus of McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia.

The new trustees join current board members Carolyn Benthien of Goffstown, Malin Clyde of Durham, John Dawson of Deering, Hunt Dowse of Hancock, Midge Eliassen of Sunapee, Katharine Eneguess of Jaffrey, Stephens Fowler of Hanover, Pam Hall of Portsmouth, Deanna Howard of Etna, Amy Meyers of Jaffrey, Jack Middleton of Freedom, Howard Moffett of Canterbury, Hank Swan of Lyme, Stephen Taylor of Plainfield, Bill Tucker of Goffstown, Patricia Vasbinder of Concord, William Webb of Holderness, and past chair Donald Wharton of Landaff.

Founded in 1901, the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests is the state’s oldest and largest non-profit land conservation organization. Supported by 10,000 families and businesses, the Forest Society’s mission is to perpetuate the state’s forests by promoting land conservation and sustainable forestry. For more information, visit www.forestsociety.org.