The South Alabama Land Trust has named James “Jamie” Marshall as its executive director, succeeding Jane Herndon, who has retired.
Marshall brings more than 25 years of experience across law, real estate, business, organizational leadership and nonprofit service to the Fairhope-based organization.
An Unusual Fit for a Land Trust
The combination of law and real estate is not incidental to the job. SALT says Marshall’s background in both gives him a particular perspective on the challenges and opportunities involved in its mission of protecting land for future generations.
Land conservation is, at the operational level, a real estate and legal enterprise. Land trusts acquire property, negotiate conservation easements, draft and monitor the legal instruments that restrict future development, and defend those instruments over decades. A conservation easement is a permanent encumbrance on a deed, and it has to be written to survive changes in ownership, in law and in circumstance.
An executive director who has practiced law and worked in real estate arrives already fluent in the mechanics.
What the Role Involves
Marshall will help lead fundraising efforts and capital campaigns while working closely with SALT’s board, staff, supporters, landowners and community partners.
That list describes the actual work of running a land trust. Conservation depends on landowners choosing to place restrictions on their own property, which requires relationships built over years, and on donors funding acquisitions that generate no revenue.
SALT noted that Marshall’s experience serving on nonprofit boards has given him an appreciation for the importance of strong community partnerships and sustainable fundraising.
The organization describes his career as one spent building organizations, leading teams, developing relationships and helping businesses and nonprofits grow.
Following a Retirement
Marshall succeeds Jane Herndon, who retired from the position.
Leadership transitions at land trusts carry a particular weight because the organizations’ commitments outlast the people who make them. A conservation easement recorded today binds land in perpetuity, which means the institution has to remain capable of enforcing it long after everyone involved in the original transaction is gone.
SALT is headquartered in Fairhope.