Andover Native Named Interim Director of Appalachian Trail Conservancy

An Andover native is making strides hundreds of miles away.

Steve Paradis, former chief operating officer of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, has reportedly been selected to serve as interim executive director for that organization while the Board of Directors searches for a permanent replacement.

The board is expected to fill the position by the end of this year.

Paradis has served for the ATC for 10 years, initially as a member of the board and later a senior staff member.

He became involved with the Appalachian Trail when he hiked the Trail over the winter of 1992-1993. In an effort to give something back to the Trail after completing his thru-hike, Paradis volunteered with the Dartmouth Outing Club as a corridor monitor and ultimately as the club’s monitor coordinator. He has also served on the ATC board of managers, Finance Committee, and Stewardship Council as well as on the boards of both the Appalachian Trail Museum Society and the Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association.

In addition to his life membership in the ATC and an honorary life membership in the ALDHA, Paradis values his continued memberships in the Dartmouth Outing Club as well as the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, his local A.T. club.

Paradis was raised in Andover, and attended Central Catholic High School in Lawrence before studying mechanical engineering at M.I.T.

Founded in 1925, the ATC is a confederation of 31 local trail-maintaining clubs with assignments to maintain the Trail, as well as a membership organization with support from all 50 states and more than 15 foreign countries. The organization is Headquartered in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., the ATC has regional offices in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina.