Upstate Forever Seeks New Executive Director

Founder and Current Executive Director Brad Wyche Will Become Senior Advisor 

GREENVILLE, SC – Upstate Forever announced that founder and Executive Director Brad Wyche will retire this summer and that it has launched a national search for his successor. Wyche will remain actively involved with Upstate Forever in the newly created position of Founder and Senior Advisor.

In 1998, Wyche left a successful law practice in Greenville to launch Upstate Forever as a membership-based nonprofit organization.  During the first year he worked alone in his home with no funds and no staff.  Today Upstate Forever has 17 staff members in two offices (in Greenville and in Spartanburg), over 1,700 members, and many successes.  These include the Swamp Rabbit Trail (its very first project), 97 conservation agreements that protect over 18,000 acres of special places across the Upstate, the green renovation of its main office for which it received LEED Platinum certification (the highest possible), water quality improvements in the Reedy, Saluda and Twelve Mile Rivers and Lake Greenwood, the bikeshare program in Greenville, an eye-opening growth projection study for the region, and the enactment of numerous local ordinances and policies relating to land use, tree cover and development.

“I’m very pleased and proud of what we’ve accomplished,” said Wyche. “This is a huge team effort that includes a terrific Board of Directors, an extraordinary staff, generous members and donors, and many dedicated partners.”

Wyche said it is a good time for both him and the organization for the change.  He said, “We’re working on a new strategic plan that will guide our work from 2016 to 2020, so it makes sense to have the new Executive Director on board before the plan takes effect.”

Brice Hipp, Upstate Forever Board Chair, said, “We can never thank Brad enough for all that he has done for Upstate Forever.  He turned his idea into one of the most successful conservation nonprofits in the country.  The future looks very bright for Upstate Forever.  We have an amazing track record, we’re making great progress on our current projects, we’ll soon have a new strategic plan and a new leader, and Brad will remain actively involved as an advisor.  That’s a powerful combination of many good things.”