November Member Spotlight: Charlie Brady

We are excited to feature the outgoing and personable Charlie Brady as this month’s member spotlight! Charlie has been the Executive Director at Blue Ridge Conservancy (BRC) for just over a year. Before working at BRC, Charlie practiced law for nearly 30 years. Towards the later years of his law career, he did legal work for land conservancies, land acquisitions, and other resource conservation groups. Charlie grew up immersed in land conservation as his family was very passionate about clean water resources. This exposure at a young age has stuck with him to where he is today.

Charlie became a member last spring and is very active in the BRWIA community. He attends as many events as he can, and he particularly enjoyed the past farm tour and food hub open house. Charlie attends the events because he wants BRC and himself to support BRWIA’s work. He appreciates the mutual support between the nonprofits.

Charlie sees a connection between Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture and Blue Ridge Conservancy's work. Part of BRC’s mission is to work with willing landowners to protect land and water quality; agricultural resources are apart of that land protection emphasis. BRC has protected a lot of farmland with conservation easements which are designed to protect the conservation value to keep the land as a farm. This helps preserves the land as family farms and as scenic farmland viewsheds.

​Charlie’s experience with BRWIA has encouraged him to get more involved with in the local food system. He passionately encourages others to become members of Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture. Charlie says "the work BRWIA is doing is very relevant and important to a broad spectrum of the people in our community".