Jad is the 40th president and chief executive officer of American Forests, centering the nation’s oldest forest conservation NGO on climate change and social equity and overseeing near ten-fold organizational growth since 2018. He has been a pathfinder on nature-based solutions, having co-founded the Forest-Climate Working Group in 2007 and established the first climate change program at The Trust for Public Land in 2010. In 2024, Jad was named to the TIME Climate 100 and Washingtonian 500 in recognition of his longstanding climate leadership.

Jad serves as Co-Chair for the U.S. Chapter of 1t.org and as a member of the U.S. Forest Service Forest Research Advisory Council. He has been a lead author and advocate on historic federal policy wins, including the federal REPLANT Act, forest provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, Highlands Conservation Act, and legislation establishing the U.S. Forest Service Community Forest Program.

Jad is a widely published writer, from peer-reviewed research on climate-smart forestry to opinion pieces in outlets such as TIME, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Hill, and more.

Jad has a B.A. from Brown University and a master’s degree in environmental law and policy from Vermont Law School awarded summa cum laude. In his spare time, he is a passionate endurance athlete, having represented the USA three times at the ITU World Duathlon (run-bike-run) Championships and twice finishing in the top 150 of the New York City Marathon.