Josh Hastings

Executive Director

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410-251-5268 (m)

Josh grew up on a poultry farm and Maryland’s very first certified organic farm, in Wicomico County, MD. Prior to joining Forever Maryland, Josh spent 12+ years working in land use policy and conservation -- including a few years serving as the Deputy Director of the Lower Shore Land Trust, seven years as the Policy Manager at Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, and two years as the Legislative Assistant to the Chair of the Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs Committee in the Maryland State Senate.

Josh Hastings was the 2023 Maryland Sustainable Growth “Leadership & Service” Award winner. He is the past Chairman of the Delmarva Land and Litter Collaborative, a member of the Salisbury/Wicomico Metropolitan Planning Organization, and serves on the Boards of the Harry R. Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology and Wicomico Natural Resources Conservation Advisory Committee.

Additionally, in 2019, Josh was appointed by Gov. Hogan to serve on the Chesapeake Bay Executive Council’s Local Government Advisory Committee and was also appointed to serve on Maryland’s Rural Legacy Advisory Committee. He is a 2016 Institute for Policy Studies – New Economy Fellow, and a LEAD Maryland alumnus.

He is also an elected official -- having been elected in November 2018 and re-elected in 2022, to the Wicomico County Council.

Mr. Hastings earned two Bachelor’s degrees from Salisbury University, in business and in political science, and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the University of Maryland Baltimore County. He and his wife, Alyssa, live in Salisbury, MD.