Prior to joining American Farmland Trust, Piotti served as President and CEO of Maine Farmland Trust for 10 years. Under Piotti’s leadership, Maine Farmland Trust became an award-winning statewide nonprofit organization, helping over 400 Maine farms remain viable while permanently protecting over 35,000 acres of Maine’s best farmland. Before serving as President and CEO, Piotti helped found Maine Farmland Trust in 1999 and served on its board of directors. In 2013, Piotti was named to Maine Magazine’s inaugural list of the 50 people who have done the most for Maine.
Until 2006, Piotti managed all the farm programs for Coastal Enterprises, Inc., or CEI, Maine’s premier community development organization. He has also served as chair of the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, or NESAWG, and a director of the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture.
In 2005, Piotti was one of only eight Americans awarded a prestigious Eisenhower Fellowship. He spent time in Sweden and Brussels, Belgium, exploring European models for using agriculture as a vehicle to advance sustainable community development.
From 2002 until termed out in 2010, Piotti served in Maine’s state legislature, representing eight rural communities and serving as House Majority Leader, Chair of the Committee on Taxation and Chair of the Committee on Agriculture, Conservation, & Forestry. As a legislator, Piotti gained a reputation as a nonpartisan problem-solver, leading successful efforts to stabilize Maine’s dairy industry and provide new state funding to protect working waterfront and preserve natural lands.
Piotti holds three degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in engineering, public policy, and management. He and his wife Susan have two children, Anna and John.
