Susan Whiting, Whitney Hatch Join Board of The Trust For Public Land

Susan Whiting and Whitney Hatch have joined the national Board of Directors of The Trust for Public Land, a conservation organization and the nation’s leader in creating city parks and playgrounds, it was announced today.

Ms. Whiting is Vice Chair of Nielsen, a leading global provider of information and analytics into what consumers watch and buy.

Mr. Hatch is returning to The Trust for Public Land after serving as Vice President and New England Regional Director until 2010.

“We are looking forward to having Susan and Whitney on board,” said Page Knudsen Cowles, chair of The Trust for Public Land’s Board. “Each brings unique skills, leadership and experience which we need as we continue to accomplish our mission of protecting land for people across the nation.”

As Vice Chair of Nielson, Ms. Whiting has responsibility for global client relations, communications and marketing, public and government affairs, corporate social responsibility, and diversity initiatives. In her decades-long tenure at Nielsen, she has served as president chief operating officer of Nielsen’s television and advertising business in the U.S. and as Chairman and Executive Vice President of Nielsen’s media business globally.

Ms. Whiting is vice chair of the Corporate Fund Board of the Kennedy Center of Performing Arts. She is a board trustee of Chicago’s Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum and sits on the Board of Directors for MarkMonitor, the Ad Council, and the YMCA of Greater New York. She is a graduate of Denison University and is also currently on Denison’s Board of Trustees.

Mr. Hatch, of Ipswich, Mass., joined GTE Corporation and served in Washington, D.C., as the company’s Vice President for Regulatory Affairs, before joining The Trust for Public Land in Boston in 1998.

Mr. Hatch led a number of major successes at TPL. In 2007, the organization completed the protection of Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in New Gloucester, Maine, ensuring long-term protection for the world’s only remaining Shaker community. Also in Maine, TPL added Katahdin Lake to Baxter State Park, completing a goal first identified when the park was created in 1921.

Earlier, The Trust for Public Land protected 171,000 acres at the northern tip of New Hampshire, covering 3% of the state and the area around four lakes.

Mr. Hatch is a graduate of Harvard University and received a Master’s Degree from the Yale School of Management.

The Trust for Public Land conserves land for people to enjoy as parks, gardens, and other natural places. It is the nation’s leader in both creating urban parks in cities across the country and in creating local funding sources for conservation.