Dennis Markatos-Soriano has served as executive director of the East Coast Greenway since 2009. He and a staff of 16 work alongside volunteers, partners and elected officials to complete the 3,000-mile Greenway and promote its use.
Under his watch, the Greenway has grown from 18 to 36 percent complete, adding more than 500 new miles of Greenway. Markatos-Soriano has quadrupled the organization's funding through his cultivation of foundations, corporations and individual donors. And he has conceived and led ambitious programming for the Alliance, from regional conferences that gather and energize thought leaders to the recent East Coast River Relay, a two-month series of public events that marked the organization's 25th anniversary while also strengthening its partnerships, Maine to Florida.
Markatos-Soriano holds a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead and Byrd Scholar, and a master’s in public affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton University, where he received the 2008 Bradford Prize for Academic & Civic Achievement in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy. Prior to joining the Alliance, he served as executive director of two nonprofit organizations he co-founded: Students United for a Responsible Global Environment (SURGE) and Sustainable Energy Transition.
A native of rural Chatham County near the town of Pittsboro, N.C., he now lives in Durham, N.C. He enjoys basketball, riding his bike and time outdoors with his wife, kids, extended family and friends.
Read about Dennis' 10th anniversary of leading the Greenway on 9/1/19
