Watts new director of CTIC

The Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC) has named Chad Watts its new Executive Director.

Watts joined CTIC in 2012 as Project Director, leading a range of highly successful conservation programs including the Indian Creek Watershed Project, the Great Lakes Cover Crop Initiative and the influential National Cover Crop Survey, which has been cited in Congressional testimony. CTIC, based in West Lafayette, Indiana, is national public-private partnership that champions, promotes and provides information on farming systems that conserve and enhance soil, water, air and wildlife resources. For more than 30 years, CTIC has provided a forum for farmers, regulators, researchers, agribusiness leaders and conservation advocates to share ideas, collaborate on research and demonstration projects, and promote systems that help farmers become more economically and environmentally sustainable. “Chad’s deep commitment to conservation agriculture and his experience with agricultural conservation systems, local capacity building, and bringing a wide range of interests together to develop programs that help farmers and the environment make him an outstanding choice for CTIC’s executive director,” says Lara Moody, senior director of stewardship and sustainability programs at The Fertilizer Institute and chair of CTIC’s board of directors. “Chad’s organizational skills and leadership will help CTIC implement its new strategic plan.” Watts, an Indiana native, began his career in conservation with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources soon after graduating from Purdue University in 1994. He then moved to The Nature Conservancy, where he launched the 1.2 million acre Tippecanoe River Watershed Project, which he managed for 12 years before joining CTIC. Watts lives with his family near Winamac, Indiana, and is very active in his local community.