WHAT WE DO
The Eddy is a conservation organization with a mission to protect and restore wildlife habitat and reconnect humans with wild nature. Through nurturing relationships between organizations, land stewardship, ecological restoration, artist residencies, and educational experiences, The Eddy protects open space and wildlife corridors and connects communities.
FOUNDER, Executive Director
FOUNDER, Executive Director
Jamie Phillips
He is the Founder and Executive Director of the Eddy Foundation, where he has spent decades working to protect and restore wild landscapes. His path into conservation began with a profound experience when he first visited an old-growth forest—an experience that revealed what would be a lifelong passion.
Before focusing his life on conservation, Jamie built a successful career as an advertising photographer in New York City. He segued from that, focusing more and more attention on protecting and restoring wild nature. His first major conservation deal came when he sold his 180-acre legacy property in West Virginia to the National Park Service to become part of the New River Gorge National Park. Proceeds from that, along with a significant endowment from his mother, Elizabeth Eddy, went into the founding of the Eddy Foundation.
Today, Jamie continues to pursue photography as an artist. He’s a fan of the eco-friendly pleasures of surfing, sailing, hiking, mountain climbing, etc., as well as art, music, and meditation. He is passionate about exploring consciousness, the study of Eastern philosophy, and the deep meaning of reconnecting the human spirit with wild nature.
For the last nearly 30 years he has enjoyed the dedication and commitment of an inspired Eddy board of directors, all rallying around a shared vision to protect, rewild, and regenerate landscapes, and to encourage others in that deeply meaningful pursuit.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
John Davis
He has served on the Eddy Foundation board since soon after its founding by Jamie Phillips and Jamie's late mother, Elizabeth Eddy. John continues to serve as a volunteer land steward for Eddy lands in Split Rock Wildway--a key wildlife corridor in Adirondack Park linking Lake Champlain with the Adirondack High Peaks to the west, and a focal area of Eddy work.
John now serves as rewilding advocate for the Adirondack Council, whose mission is to protect the wild character and ecological integrity of New York's great Adirondack Park. John is also a director of The Rewilding Institute.
John was a co-founder, more than three decades ago, of The Wildlands Project (now Wildlands Network). He also served as editor of the conservation quarterly of Wild Earth.
John likes to learn the areas he is defending on the ground. He has done many local and regional scale wildways explorations; and twice he has made continental treks. His traverse of the proposed Atlantic/Appalachian/Adirondack Wildway is the subject of his book BIG, WILD, AND CONNECTED: Scouting an Eastern Wildway from Florida to Quebec. His traverse of the proposed Spine of the Continent or Rocky Mountain Wildway is the subject of Ed George and Kelly Burke's film BORN TO REWILD. John also wrote a book on wildlife of Split Rock Wildway called SPLIT ROCK WILDWAY: Scouting Adirondack Park's Most Diverse Wildlife Corridor.
John's side-hustle is gravedigging. He is among the proud gravediggers of Spirit Sanctuary, a conservation burial ground in Split Rock Wildway, where he has, literally and figuratively, already dug his own grave.
Chris Maron
Retired executive director and a founder of Champlain Area Trails (CATS) where since its start in 2009, he worked with volunteers and staff to create and maintain 100 miles of trails, promote hiking, skiing, and tourism in the Champlain Valley, increase outdoor education, and conserve nine properties totaling about 1600 acres.
Before starting CATS, he worked for twenty-five years with the Nature Conservancy—the first seventeen in Indiana and then in the Adirondacks as the Champlain Valley Program Director.
He holds a Bachelor's degree from DePauw University and a Master’s Degree in Environmental Science from Indiana University. Chris lives in Westport, NY with his wife, Michelle.
Jennifer Esser
She is an advocate for wild nature and a community volunteer, mother, and eater of local foods. She is currently chair of the Conservation Commission in the town of Huntington, Vermont, where she lives in a stone house along a brook.
She has worked to educate people about the importance of protecting biodiversity and wild places ever since moving to Vermont in 1997 and serendipitously getting an editorial position at the former Wild Earth magazine. As managing editor at Wild Earth, she was honored to work with many passionate writers, scientists, and activists, and it was through the journal that she met John Davis and Jamie Phillips.
Jennifer has also worked in communications at Northeast Wilderness Trust and the Children's Literacy Foundation. Most recently she enjoyed working as a librarian at a local public library.
Thanks to support from the Eddy, she is certified as a Mindful Outdoor Guide through Kripalu's School of Mindful Outdoor Leadership. Jennifer has been on the Eddy Foundation board since 2013, and loves being a part of this team that cares so deeply about the land and the future of nature and people.
Jean Brennan
Artist and educator Jean Brennan is interested in site-specific opportunities for experiential learning and being in place—with plants, atmospheric forces, and ecological phenomena.
As a tenured adjunct Professor in the Graduate Communications Design Department at Pratt Institute, Jean has developed curricula on ecological thinking in design, including core studios “Cross-Disciplinary: Symbiotic Futures” and “Sustainability and Design.”
She finds joy in creating experiences for her students and community that foster connection with the natural world. Jean was introduced to The Eddy in 2020 and, inspired by conversations with the board about an arts initiative, founded Split Rock Arts in 2022.
She joined The Eddy board in 2023.
Carly Summers, Ph.D.
Carly Summers brings a contagious passion for conservation and biodiversity to our Board of Directors. With over six years at the Eddy Foundation, she has gained extensive knowledge of wildlife corridors and their role in ecosystem preservation. Her commitment to land conservation is matched by a desire to engage the public, particularly through trail creation that fosters appreciation for nature.
As the previous Agricultural Lead for CCE Essex, Carly promoted sustainable farming practices while advocating for wildlife-friendly approaches. She balances family life as a proud mother to Raven Claire Summers. She is actively involved at Juniper Hill Farm with partner Adam Hainer, engaging in community initiatives like native plant gardens and tree plantings.
Carly holds a PhD in Plant-Microbe Biology from Cornell University. She has experience with the Peace Corps in El Salvador, following a degree in Biochemistry from New College of Florida. Growing up in Myakka, Florida, she witnessed the effects of unchecked development, fueling her commitment to conservation.
With deep respect for fellow conservationists, Carly is excited to contribute to The Eddy’s ongoing expansion.
West Coast Regional Director
Kerry Shaw
Raised in Ontario, Canada, surrounded by rivers, lakes and a family of farmers and naturalists, Kerry developed a deep bond with nature—water, land, and wildlife. After losing who she calls her “water brother,” at a young age, this affinity fueled a lifelong passion for interconnection. Since moving to California 11 years ago, she became an avid surfer.
With over 25 years as a visual artist, commercial photographer, and director, Kerry brings broad leadership—uniting vision, collaboration, and direction.
As West Coast Regional Director at The Eddy, she channels her creative leadership in service of conservation and as a steward of the natural world, reconnecting communities with the wild.
ORIGIN STORY
An eddy is a quiet turning within a larger current — a place where life gathers, circulates, and is held.
The Eddy Foundation began as an idea shared by Jamie Phillips and his mother, Elizabeth Eddy, as a way to do something meaningful with resources from the family estate. At first, the foundation focused on investing in conscious businesses and donating profits to conservation groups. But as Jamie’s passion for direct conservation work grew, The Eddy began protecting wildlands itself, beginning with land acquisition in the Adirondack Park and expanding into landscape connectivity, wildlife corridors, and partnerships with organizations such as the Wildlands Project.
The name “Eddy” began as a tribute to Elizabeth Eddy and the family lineage, but over time it took on a deeper meaning. In nature, an eddy is a circular current — a spiral movement within water or air that gathers energy, creates flow, and connects one movement to another. As The Eddy evolved, that spiral became a fitting symbol for the organization’s work: connecting land, people, wildlife, artists, scientists, and communities within the larger living systems of the Earth.