Jeff Wright hired as Trout Unlimited Southeast volunteer coordinator

Trout Unlimited is happy to announce that we’ve hired Jeff Wright to serve as our new Southeast volunteer coordinator.

Jeff will work with TU Volunteer Operations staff and regional conservation staff to engage, inform and empower TU’s volunteers to advance coldwater conservation in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee.

Jeff’s passion for conservation and the outdoors stems from a childhood hunting, fishing, and generally running around exploring wild places. This upbringing led him to pursue a masters degree in biology, after which he spent the a decade working and volunteering in education, leadership development, and nonprofit management.

Most recently, he has served as the president of the Overmountain Chapter of Trout Unlimited in Tennessee, assisting the board of directors in re-energizing the membership and building community connections to help carry out the TU mission locally.

When asked what excites him about his new role he said, “Being able to help chapters and councils in the Southeast increase capacity to benefit local, on-the-ground conservation is really a dream opportunity for me.”

The Southeast volunteer coordinator position is modeled after a similar pilot launched in the Pacific Northwest three years ago. TU has been able to hire these regional volunteer coordinators thanks to the support of two foundations, individual donors, and the generosity of TU members, chapters and councils in the respective regions.

Our goals for these positions are to improve coordination between chapters, councils and staff to better strategically align our work; provide relevant conservation, citizen science, advocacy or community engagement programs for chapter leaders to adopt; and help chapters and councils strengthen their organizational capacity and ability to do more local work.

If you are interested in exploring the possibility of a regional volunteer coordinator in your region, email Beverly Smith, vice president for Volunteer Operations for more information.