Photo courtesy of The Trustees of Reservations
This story originally appeared in Northshore magazine in March 2022.
John Judge expected to work in investment banking. At Stonehill College he studied economics, and when graduation approached, he interviewed for a position with a major asset management firm.
Then he got a call from the Boy Scouts of America. The organization wanted to know if Judge, who was an Eagle Scout and had worked at a scouting summer camp, would be interested in a job. He accepted, figuring he’d spend a year or two giving back by working in the nonprofit world before returning to the investment field. That future, however, didn’t work out quite as he planned.
“I quickly realized that mission is what really motivates me,” Judge says.
That was nearly 30 years ago. Judge never did return to the financial world but has instead spent his career working for a series of mission-driven nonprofits, including Goodwill Industries, Habitat for Humanity Greater Boston, and the Appalachian Mountain Club, which he headed up for 10 years. In January, he took on his latest role as president and chief executive at the Trustees of Reservations, replacing the organization’s longtime leader, Barbara Erickson, who died in 2021.
The Trustees is a statewide conservation group dedicated to protecting sites of natural and cultural importance and developing programs to engage and educate the public about these places. Its portfolio contains 123 properties including working farms, an acclaimed art museum, historic homes, gardens big and small, and trails through fields, forests, and marshes.
Judge comes to the position at a particularly powerful moment for the Trustees’ mission…
Visit Northshore magazine to read the complete story.
Sarah Shemkus 