The Outdoor Citizen: Get Out, Give Back, Get Active

John Judge is an internationally renowned advocate for connecting people with the outdoors, conservation stewardship, and advancing the outdoor economy. He is the founder of Next Ecology, which strives to create a new era of human-nature interdependence. Next Ecology works with partners to advance an outdoors open and accessible to all. From small parks to large conservation lands, they believe high quality user experience and engagement are key to improve living standards for humankind while fostering a new era of conservation stewardship. Judge served as president and chief executive officer of The Trustees of Reservations (The Trustees), the oldest statewide land trust in the United States, which cares for nearly twenty-seven thousand acres and welcomes more than two million people annually to its 123 reservations. Prior to his role with The Trustees, he served for ten years as president and chief executive officer of the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC), which was founded in 1876 and is the oldest outdoor recreation and conservation organization in the United States, with a community of hundreds of thousands of outdoor enthusiasts, program participants, conservation advocates, members, volunteers, and overnight guests. Judge has also served as the chief planning and economic development officer for Springfield, Massachusetts, executive director of Habitat for Humanity Greater Boston, and worked in a variety of nonprofit leadership roles. He is a graduate of Stonehill College and the Harvard Kennedy School, and lives in Greater Boston, MA.