MountainTrue Welcomes Two New Hires
Holly Demuth joins as Development Director;
Susan Bean hired as Community Engagement Manager
Asheville, N.C. — Western North Carolina-based conservation organization MountainTrue is proud to announce two new hires. Holly Demuth will join as the organization’s Development Director and Susan Bean takes the newly-created role of Community Engagement Manager.
Holly Demuth comes to the organization from Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where she served as North Carolina regional director. Previously she was executive director of WaysSouth, development director of the Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy and development and program associate for the Community Foundation of Henderson County. Prior to that, Holly was a park ranger for the National Park Service leading interpretive programs at the Carl Sandburg National Historic Site and Muir Woods. Holly has long been acquainted with the work of MountainTrue through its predecessors. She was a water quality volunteer with Environmental Conservation Organization (ECO), and chair of the Buncombe County Chapter of Western North Carolina Alliance (WNCA). “When the WNCA joined forces with ECO in Henderson County and the Jackson-Macon Conservation Alliance, it was clear that MountainTrue was going to be a strong advocate for all of Western North Carolina,” explains Holly, “As a region, we need an organization that stands for our values and works to maintain our ecological heritage.”
Susan Bean has taken on the role of community engagement manager with MountainTrue where she will expand volunteer and member programming. For the last four years, Susan has been the program director of Leadership Asheville, a community leadership development program designed to develop, connect and mobilize citizens from across the community, including business, nonprofit, education and government. “MountainTrue does so much for the region and our environment,” Susan Bean explains. “I was really inspired by their recent victories – helping to secure the retirement of Asheville’s coal-fired power plant and defeating the proposed transmission lines that would have cut through Henderson, Buncombe and Polk counties. I’m thrilled to join such an effective team.” Previously, Susan worked for the National Outdoor Leadership School leading whitewater paddling trips in Utah, Colorado and Idaho. She returned to the Southeast to earn her Masters in Public Administration from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where she continued training wilderness trip leaders as a graduate assistant for the University’s outdoor program. She is actively involved in the community serving as a Co-Chair of the Building Bridges Board and a regular volunteer for the Western North Carolina AIDS Project (WNCAP). Download full-size photo of Holly Demuth.Download full-size photo of Susan Bean.
