Q&A with Interim Executive Director Todd Garth

The NRCM Board has hired Pemaquid resident Todd Garth to serve as Interim Executive Director with a focus on helping lead the organization into the future  

Todd comes to the Natural Resources Council of Maine  as a seasoned mission-focused leader with close to thirty years of national and international experience in non-profit management, advocacy, and fundraising, with groups that include Habitat for Humanity International, GoodWeave International, and World Vision US, and with deep connections to Maine.  

NRCM’s Strategic Communications Director Colin Durrant sat down with Todd recently to learn more about why he’s so excited about the opportunity to help build an NRCM for the future.  

Todd, welcome to NRCM! We’d like to get started by asking what motivated your interest in working here? 

My wife and I met here in Maine 33 years ago [at the Carpenters Boat Shop]. And it feels like our entire journey since that time has been around, “How do we get back to Maine?” We managed that for some long stretches, but we’ve been away recently. And so it’s a great opportunity to be back in Maine. It’s a great opportunity to be serving one of the aspects of Maine I truly love, which is the beautiful natural environment, and to be a part of an important nonprofit in the state of Maine.  

I’ve worked for some smaller nonprofits, and for some larger ones. Nonprofits that have a good, strong history like NRCM has can make a real difference at scale, something that works for an entire state. That’s something I want to be a part of.  

Let’s just follow-up on that a little. What are some of those unique things that you think NRCM really has to offer to Maine? 

NRCM has a really long history of working across the entire state, across several different aspects of environmental concerns and opportunities, but also working with folks from both sides of the aisle and in the middle. It’s about trying to do what’s best for the state of Maine, listening to Mainers and trying to bring that vision for all of us forward in a way that supports a state that is keeping its uniqueness, like its clean waters. 

I’m a fly fisherman, and I was fishing in Michigan recently where people mentioned they’d love to go brook trout fishing in Maine sometime because of its clean waters and excellent brook trout fishing. So those kinds of things are special to me and to so many others.  

What I’ve found is everybody who is here is passionate about Maine and they care deeply about keeping the things that they think are special about it. NRCM helps with that. 

You’ve only been here a few weeks but what are some of the things that have excited you about this work?  

It is exciting to see an organization that has such incredibly talented staff and dedicated board. Everywhere I go in the state to meet up with old friends, when I tell them I’m at NRCM the response is universally “that’s a really good organization, they make a difference.” And you know, I’m excited by that.  

I’m also excited by this ability to create a big tent for the environment. We all enjoy Maine. We might do it in different ways, but how do we all get together behind the important issues that need to be taken care of in the state? Not do it in some precious way that protects the interest of one particular niche, but for everybody.  

I wonder if you could share another moment or story about Maine that holds a particularly powerful memory for you. 

So, a few years ago I had cancer. About five years ago, and when I was done with the treatment, I wanted to do something that I had always wanted to do but had never done, which was to climb Katahdin. 

I was really excited to do it, and I put in a lot of work training, just personally trying to prepare so that it would be an enjoyable experience. I had two buddies—one who I’ve grown up with since I was nine months old and the other who I went to college with—join me on the climb. For me, it was a moment where I’d gotten past cancer, and I wanted to go and do this big hike and get on with my life by doing something important to me. 

I was ready for Katahdin, and it absolutely is a memory for the three of us. I will ever be remembered for making them go on what they called the death march, but every time we meet up we talk about the incredible beauty of that weekend 

It strikes me that your story is one so many of us can relate to. It’s about being with friends and enjoying this place or exploring this place that we all love.  

You have a long professional history of mission-oriented work. Could you tell us a little bit about how that evolved for you? What drives you to do that work? 

When I first arrived at the Carpenter’s Boat Shop, I was continuing a thought process developed in college along the lines of community and how do we live together? The boat shop was actually founded by Bobby Ives, a pastor who was also interested in this idea of community and how we interact with each other.  

Bobby said, “You know, Todd, if you’re thinking about anything like that, you need to see how the rest of the world lives.” And I happened to be reading a book from Millard Fuller, the founder of Habitat for Humanity. I wrote him a letter and Millard, shockingly, wrote me back. Long story short, I ended up volunteering to go to Pakistan and then later on to Honduras to do work for them. I don’t know that I saw it as a career move at the time, but it really was. It was the beginning of my nonprofit career and seeing that I could make a difference that way. I want to make a practical difference in the world, and so I’ve worked in nonprofits ever since. 

Well, I just want to wrap up by recognizing that the world and our nation is in this moment of change. We’ve got a consequential election coming up and climate change is posing this existential threat to our communities. Given all this, I’d love to hear what gives you hope for the future? 

Well, oddly, because so many times it’s people that are the problem, it’s also people that are the solution. 

People can be nasty and short-sighted, but the other side of it is everywhere you go there are always some people willing to step up, make personal sacrifice, and bring their skills to bear. You know, we probably all have some dear friends who maybe are on the other side of some issue in our lives. And we probably also know times when those friends or family members lifted us up or gave a helping hand, or gave us a word of encouragement. 

Hands down, the thing that gives me the most joy is working with a great team of people who want to work together to make a difference. I get to work with really smart people, really dedicated people making a real difference every day. There’s just really nothing else I can imagine being any better.