Shelby Semmes

Shelby Semmes serves as vice president for New England, leading teams and delivering on TPL’s mission across Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont—a region with densely populated and rapidly growing cities, small rural communities, and vast wilderness within reach of 10 million residents. She’s an optimist who believes in the power of urban parks and land conservation. And seeing is believing: Semmes has observed firsthand how public green spaces play a critical role in building a livable future for all, not only as climate solutions but also as agents of social change. During her tenure at Trust for Public Land, she managed conservation projects in California totaling over 16,000 acres before building the first integrated regional strategy in New England to leverage parks, schoolyards, community forests, and iconic public lands. She aims to conserve over 50,000 acres and bring a park within a 10-minute walk of 30,000 New Englanders by 2025.  She lives in Warren, Vermont, with her husband and two sons. Consistent with her optimism, she actually loves New England winters.