The Harpswell Heritage Land Trust has hired Matt Newberg, a Harpswell resident, to fill the vacant post of executive director at the nonprofit conservation organization.
Newberg currently serves as head of school at the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences, the state’s first public charter high school. He has been in the position for five years. Previously, he was a teacher and administrator at Hyde School in Bath for 14 years.
As head of school at the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences, Newberg has overseen the renewal of the school’s state charter and managed a budget of almost $3 million.
The Land Trust announced the hire in an email on Tuesday, Oct. 29.
“Matt demonstrated proven leadership skills in our discussions with him,” Lew Hinman, a member of the search committee, said in the announcement. “He inherits an exceptional team at HHLT, and we are excited for the organization going forward.”
Newberg has a bachelor’s degree in environmental education from the University of Vermont and a graduate certificate in leadership studies from the University of Southern Maine. He grew up in Harpswell and moved back four years ago.
“I am honored and excited to serve the Harpswell community in which I live and grew up; it is a truly special place,” Newberg said in the announcement.
Newberg will continue in his current post through November, work part time for both organizations in December, then start his full-time role at the Land Trust on Jan. 2, according to Tim McCreight, president of the trust’s board of directors.
The Land Trust said it worked with Starboard Leadership Consulting, of Bangor, to fill the post.
Newberg becomes the fourth executive director in the Land Trust’s history, after Spike Haible, 2001-2005; Reed Coles, 2005-2022; and Julia McLeod, 2022-2024.
McLeod left the Land Trust in July to pursue a career in education. She was executive director for almost two years at the end of a nearly 12-year run with the organization. She previously served as outreach coordinator, outreach director, and acting executive director.
The Land Trust’s mission is to “preserve and protect Harpswell’s natural resources, cultural heritage, and access to the outdoors now and forever through conservation, stewardship, and education.”
