Reed Merrill

Reed Merrill is a successful manager of complex sustainable landscapes initiatives, particularly in Indonesia, Southeast Asia and South Asia. His 20-year career includes increasingly complex management and technical roles where he has demonstrated leadership in program design and management, building meaningful commitment to complex strategic visions, development partner coordination, and achieving significant results in climate change adaptation and mitigation, biodiversity conservation, natural resource management (NRM) and environmental services delivery. For the past 8 years, Reed has led USAID/Indonesia’s flagship projects for sustainable landscapes and forest conservation, turning around the $40 million IFACS project from 2012 through 2015, and then leading the $47 million LESTARI project from 2015 through 2020 to meet and surpass ambitious targets in GHG emissions reduction, livelihoods development, and leveraging of funds to amplify and sustain impact. From 2010 to 2012, Reed led the IPAC project in Bangladesh, resulting in a forest and wetland protected areas network based on principles of collaborative management. Prior to this, from the mid-90s to 2010, Reed was actively involved in forest, protected areas and watershed management work during Indonesia’s complex transition to decentralization. Management experience includes leading design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of large and complex NRM programs to achieve meaningful and sustainable impact. Reed is committed to a management approach grounded in Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA), and regularly applies Theory of Change and Political Economy Analysis in his work. He excels at crystalizing a clear and coherent strategic vision, and then building ownership and commitment among relevant stakeholders. He is an excellent communicator with strong written and oral presentation skills. Technical experience includes climate change mitigation and adaptation (focusing on the forest and land-use sectors on a landscapes level), sustainable forest management, watershed management and water resource conservation, terrestrial and marine conservation management, decentralized governance, collaborative management, and the integration of public health and environmental issues. Reed thrives with challenges to integrate various technical requirements into a common vision and approach. Reed lived and worked in Indonesia from 1993 through 2010 and returned again in 2012. He speaks, reads, and writes fluent Indonesian. He has exceptional knowledge of and networks in Indonesia’s sustainable landscapes communities at the national and sub-national levels. Reed holds a Master’s degree in International Agricultural Development from the University of California, Davis. He started his international career as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sierra Leone, West Africa.