Aaron Morehouse, Ph.D.

As Hale’s fifth executive director, Aaron leads efforts to expand and enrich educational programs for children, families, and adults across Greater Boston and eastern Massachusetts. Through strategic planning, program development, and stakeholder engagement, he aims to advance Hale’s mission to empower community members through transformative learning, a passion he developed in his formative years as a wilderness guide in the Blue Ridge Mountains that has continued throughout his career.

Aaron has extensive experience working with nonprofits and a variety of organizations on social and environmental impact. He drives change through innovative program design: Most recently, he served as executive director of The Climate Safe Lending Network, where he led a global collaborative of climate finance experts to accelerate climate action in both decarbonization of the finance industry and investment in solutions to the climate crisis. Previously, at World Learning and the Experiment in International Living, Aaron directed award-winning global education programs centered on racial equity, sustainability, climate resiliency, and conservation. At the Columbia Gorge Ecology Institute, Aaron led efforts to incorporate community engagement and equitable access to place-based education opportunities that advanced conservation and the continued preservation of the Columbia River Gorge.

Having preserved mountain landscapes and restored streams in the Catoctin Mountains, and balanced conservation, education, and recreation on Catalina Island’s 42,000-acre preserve, Aaron is now leveraging support from Hale’s historic Campaign for Kids, Conservation, and Community to ensure its 1,200+ acres are protected and accessible for generations to come.

In his spare time, you’ll find Aaron in the outdoors hiking mountain ridges, paddling rivers, hunting mushrooms, and immersing himself in all the natural world has to offer. Aaron earned a B.A. in Philosophy from McDaniel College and a Ph.D. in Sustainability & Education from Prescott College.

The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.