Mary Anne Piacentini, President and Chief Executive Officer, Katy Prairie Conservancy, coordinates the Conservancy’s land protection programs and conservation assistance to private landowners, establishes community partnerships and relationships with diverse stakeholders, and oversees the agency’s operations and programs. She expanded the land protection program from 1,300 acres in 1999 to nearly 23,000 acres today; implemented a conservation buyer program to support additional conservation; and formed joint venture partnerships to restore habitat while also increasing earned income using stream and wetlands mitigation projects.
She received a Master of City Planning from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of New Hampshire. In 2014, Ms. Piacentini was one of four women to receive the inaugural Terry Hershey Texas Women in Conservation award. In 2005 she received the Army and Sarah Emmott Conservation Award from the Citizens’ Environmental Coalition and in 2018 she received the Terry Hershey Bayou Stewardship Award from the Bayou Preservation Association. She serves on the Natural Resources Advisory Committee, the Coalition for Environment, Equity and Resilience, Waller County Strategic Planning Steering Committee, Waller County Mobility Study, Land Trust Accreditation Commission’s Accreditation Advisory Group, and Texas Land Trust Council’s Advocacy Committee. She served on the Harris County Flood Control District’s Cypress Creek Overflow Committee and is the past Chair of the Board of Directors of the Texas Land Trust Council and past President of the Municipal Arts Federation.
(Fall 2019)