Mark P. Smith Bio | The Nature Conservancy

Get Involved:

Donate Now Renew Membership

Meet Our Experts

Freshwater: Mark P. Smith

Profile

Mark P. Smith, Deputy Director, North American Freshwater Program.

Mark P. Smith

Deputy Director, North American Freshwater Program

Contact Information

E-mail: mpsmith@tnc.org

Brief Biography

“I enjoy working on water issues because it provides the opportunity to look beyond just fixing the mistakes of the past and instead thinking about how we can collectively build ourselves and our children a sustainable future.”

Mark P. Smith is the deputy director of The Nature Conservancy’s North America Freshwater Program and Great Rivers Partnership. In this role, he works with Conservancy staff and partners from across North America to demonstrate how environmental sustainability can be integrated into the everyday decisions of water and land managers as they work to meet the needs of people and nature.

Mark’s career has focused on improving public policy and bringing applied science into public decision-making. In particular, he has worked with states throughout the Northeast to help them improve their water management programs by more systematically considering the need for environmental flows while continuing to provide adequate water for people. In addition, he has focused on the importance of floodplains and on maintaining key physical and ecological processes to support and improve freshwater systems.

Prior to joining the Conservancy, Mark spent six years as director of water policy at the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs. There he worked on a broad range of water issues, including the establishment of a statewide watershed management program. Before his career in state government, he spent six years with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Boston as project manager for the Casco Bay Estuary Project—part of the EPA’s National Estuary Program.

Mark earned a master’s degree in urban and environmental policy from Tufts University and a bachelor’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis. He and his family live just outside of Boston.