Kate Hackett

Executive Director, Delaware Wild Lands
Odessa, DE
USA


Biographical Sketch:
Kate Hackett, Executive Director, Delaware Wild Lands Ms. Hackett has twenty years of experience in land and water conservation and management. Her work in the environmental arena is diverse and includes working with land acquisition, protection of water resources, public policy, government relations, fundraising and constituency building. She has a demonstrated commitment to protecting the integrity of natural and working landscapes and a successful record of securing private and public investments in environmental programs. She is a leader who thrives in working individuals, partnerships, organizations, and agencies to foster and advance the most effective protection of critical land and water resources. In the course of twenty years, Ms. Hackett has worked for and with various public agencies and private organizations to develop and implement strategic initiatives that enhance the effectiveness and economic efficiency of natural resources management policies and programs. She has a particular interest in optimizing ecosystems services and economic investment in natural resource management initiatives, and is experienced in tailoring region-wide priorities and strategies to local needs and conditions. Ms. Hackett has collaborated on these issues with residents; landowners; advisory boards; non-profit entities; local, regional, state, and Federal governments; and environmental organizations in the Mid-Atlantic, northern front of the Rocky Mountains, Great Lakes region, Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, and northeastern Africa (Nairobi, Kenya and Asmara, Eritrea). Prior to Delaware Wild Lands, Ms. Hackett worked for County government, UNICEF, the Eritrean Ministry of Water Works, USDA Forest Service, and The Nature Conservancy. She received two bachelors’ degrees from Yale University, one in Political Science and one in Environmental Studies, and completed her Master’s of Public Policy at the University of Michigan Ford School of Public Policy. Ms. Hackett resides in Delaware with her husband, Dr. Kent Messer, Associate Professor of Food and Resource Economics at the University of Delaware, and their two daughters.

Papers:
155 Turning Profit into Reforestation: Delaware Wild Lands’ Atlantic White Cedar Restoration