Sam Stokes, Board Treasurer
CAhaba River watershed

Sam specializes in data analysis as a Geographer/IT Specialist at Ginnie Mae, the social enterprise corporation within the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He has spent over seven years in the GIS industry, performing roles in enterprise administration, software development, and database architecture. Previously, Sam functioned as the Systems Administrator and Senior GIS Analyst at private-consulting firm Geographic Technologies Group, where he completed projects for over fifty government agencies within various hierarchical levels – cities, counties, states, tribal nations, and Canadian provinces. He also has experience working from within local government; he managed the address and parcel datasets for Charleston County, an organization that supports sixteen incorporated municipalities.

 

 

Earlier in his career, Sam served an AmeriCorps term doing ecological longleaf-pine prescribed burns at the Georgia DNR, and also learned to save endangered sea turtles as a museum educator with the Outer Banks’ Wildlife Center. His spark for sustainable farming started with the Wake County SWCD, where he dove into programs designed to fuse conservation with commercial food production. These experiences helped form his hobbies that he continues today.

 

 

Sam has always enjoyed spending time outside in Alabama, where he grew up. He achieved his Eagle Scout Award with Hoover’s Boy Scout Troop 226, and for his service project constructed Moss Rock Preserve’s first interpretive sign trail. He later returned after college to intern at the Alabama Environmental Council, Alabama Rivers Alliance, and the Southern Environmental Law Center. Sam’s academic background includes a Bachelors of Arts from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, where he double-majored in Mathematics and Economics.