TennGreen Adds Emily Maier, Chris Manhard, and Kristy Offitt to Board of Directors

This fall, TennGreen bids farewell to two longstanding Board members while adding Emily Maier, Chris Manhard, and Kristy Offitt to the Board of Directors.

Nashville, Tennessee (October 1, 2026) – TennGreen Land Conservancy is thrilled to add three exceptional Tennesseans to our Board of Directors. Congruently, the organization extends its deepest gratitude to outgoing Board members John Fenderson and Jim Garges for their years of dedicated service and leadership.

John Fenderson joined the Board in 2017 and has served on both the Conservation and Finance & Investment Committees, where his extensive knowledge and expertise in conservation have been a vital asset to TennGreen. He currently serves as managing partner with Hatchie River Co., LLC, based in Tennessee. Previously, he was a Specialty Asset Manager for the Timberland Investment Group at U.S. Trust, following his prior service as a financial adviser at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

John brought over 25 years of experience in forest stewardship and the environmental arena to TennGreen. We are grateful for his time, wisdom, and dedication, and for him continuing to serve the organization as a member of the Finance & Investment Committee moving forward.

Since joining the Board in 2020, Jim Garges has been an invaluable member and leader of the Conservation Committee, serving as its Chair since 2022 and helping guide dozens of conservation projects to completion. He also served on the Executive Committee, bringing thoughtful leadership and a deep commitment to protecting Tennessee’s special places.

Jim remains a powerful advocate for land protection and public access to outdoor spaces. He’s the former Park and Recreation Director for Mecklenburg County, where he oversaw parks, recreation, nature preserves, senior learning centers, and greenways in Charlotte, North Carolina. He also served as Director of the Parks departments in Kettering, Ohio, and Delaware, Ohio, and as Deputy Director in Topeka, Kansas. Jim’s efforts have been widely celebrated; under his leadership, the National Recreation and Park Association awarded its National Gold Medal to both Kettering and Mecklenburg County.

“I had a wonderful experience with TennGreen, its board members, and staff. The dedication by everyone and the opportunity to be involved in conserving so many special places has been an honor.”

– Jim Garges

Welcome TennGreen’s Newest Board Members:

Emily Maier

Emily Maier is a Senior Advisory Associate at Frazier & Deeter, an accounting and professional services firm based in Nashville. In her role, she supports companies with SOX and SOC compliance and contributes to outsourced accounting projects. Originally from Central Indiana, Emily has called Nashville, Tennessee home for over a decade. She holds a master’s degree in accounting from Belmont University and is actively pursuing CPA licensure.

Her passion for the outdoors began in rural Indiana, where she spent time gardening, exploring nature, and learning about local flora, fauna, and farming. Today, she continues to further her passion for native plant gardening and ecosystem restoration, promoting biodiversity and habitat support for local wildlife. Emily is also a graduate of the Young Leaders Council, where she served as an intern on TennGreen’s Board before she was officially elected in fall 2026.

Chris Manhard

Chris Manhard retired from the industrial software industry following a career as Director, Architect and Software Developer for AVEVA, where he built real-time data software for critical infrastructure applications. Chris is an enthusiastic bicycle tourer and has completed several long-distance journeys around the country. Passionate about expanding outdoor access, he has supported several regional rail-trail initiatives and is an advocate for creating more trail opportunities in Tennessee. His additional hobbies include water sports, snow skiing, banjo, woodworking, traveling, and grandparenting. Chris and his wife live on Watauga Lake in Northeast Tennessee, where they love hosting family and friends.

Kristy Offitt

Kristy Offitt is a Partner at Fisher & Phillips LLP, where she focuses on labor and employment litigation and multi-state compliance. She is dual-licensed to practice law in Tennessee and Georgia and previously served as General Counsel Labor and Employment for a Fortune Global 500 Company, giving her both outside-counsel and in-house perspective, on the legal and operational challenges facing organizations. Kristy holds a Rule 31 mediation certification and is currently pursuing an LLM in Alternative Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine’s Straus Institute — training she brings to bear in building collaborative, resolution-focused approaches to complex problems.

An active community volunteer, Kristy serves on the board of The Nashville Food Project. She is based in Nashville, Tennessee, and is glad to bring her legal, negotiation, and governance experience to TennGreen Land Conservancy’s mission of conserving land where people and nature can thrive.

We are thrilled to bring the expertise of these three exemplary Tennesseans to our Board of Directors, and look forward to enhancing our mission alongside each.

To view our full Board of Directors, click here.

TennGreen Land Conservancy 

is a 501(c)(3) environmental nonprofit and the oldest accredited statewide land conservancy in Tennessee. TennGreen’s mission is to conserve land where people and nature can thrive. Through sound science and partnerships, TennGreen identifies and conserves land across Tennessee for wildlife corridors, critical habitat, and public benefit. TennGreen protects, cares for, and connects people with Tennessee’s natural world by providing meaningful outdoor experiences, establishing conservation easements, supporting restoration efforts, and acquiring (or assisting in the acquisition of) privately held land.