Jennie Savage, a former Alabaman now hailing from California and Vermont, is passionate about the exploration, preservation, and documentation of the natural world. An avid hiker, scuba diver, kayaker, globetrotter, and yogini, her career has included stints at the Children’s Defense Fund, the US House of Representatives, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and Adobe, Inc. After leaving the paid labor force to raise a family, she served as the director of Speech and Debate at Palo Alto High School for 18 years, earning three NSDA diamonds and winning both the National Champion and State Champion titles. She continues her rewarding career of mentoring young people through high school, college, and into their careers.
Her community work includes serving as co-founder and board chair of the Silicon Valley Urban Debate League, volunteer at the Ecumenical Hunger Program, and secretary of The University of Virginia’s Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access Fund. Jennie loves spending time with her gloriously sprawling blended family, including her husband John Dawson, four kids who are in high-tech, nursing, and graduate school, and three grandkids. When not in Palo Alto, CA, Jennie is marveling at the abundance around her beloved family forests in Peacham, VT, and is an increasingly humble beginning tracker and forager who hasn’t given up her dream of one day stumbling across a wolverine in the Northeast Kingdom.
