Joe Smith is a senior partnership leader focused on bringing communities and organizations together to tackle complex conservation and resilience challenges. He specializes in building strategic collaborations that create lasting impact for people and the planet.

Joe launched BlueTerra Partners in 2025, where he supports mission-driven organizations in designing and strengthening cross-sector partnerships.

Before starting BlueTerra, Joe spent 15 years with the U.S. Forest Service. Most recently, as Deputy Director of the National Partnership Office, he led national partnership teams focused on building partnership capacity across the agency and advancing carbon and conservation finance programs. He also worked on agreements with corporate and nonprofit partners to advance major federal investments in ecosystem resilience. He previously worked in several other roles with the agency, including as Acting Senior Advisor for the agency’s Wildfire Crisis Strategy. In this role, he developed a framework to invest approximately $500 million from historic federal climate legislation in high-risk firesheds across the country.

Joe began his career as a TV meteorologist and environmental reporter, leading on-air coverage during landfalling hurricanes and other extreme weather events. That background still shapes how he approaches communication and stakeholder engagement today.

Joe has a Bachelors in meteorology from Florida State University and an MPA from Florida Atlantic University.

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