Armenia Tree Project Announces Leadership Change
Yerevan, Armenia
Jeanmarie Papelian, longtime Executive Director of Armenia Tree Project, will retire effective December 31, 2025. Joining the organization in her place is Ara Barsam, who will lead ATP from its offices in Yerevan beginning July 1, 2025.
Established by Boston-based activist Carolyn Mugar and her husband, John O’Connor, in 1994, ATP has grown into a leading environmental organization for Armenia over the past 30 years. ATP has planted 9 million trees, established more than 1,600 hectares of new forests, greened 1,900 community sites, provided environmental education to tens of thousands of students both in Armenia and the United States, created income opportunities for rural villagers, assisted families from Artsakh, and is undertaking a variety of new projects.
In Armenia, ATP has 80 year round employees. It operates four nurseries, two environmental education centers, and a central office in Yerevan. Until now, the position of Executive Director has been based in the Boston area. Besides the Executive Director, ATP has a staff of six in the US who manage outreach and development to the organization’s diasporan supporters.
Papelian joined ATP in 2015. She left a long career as a lawyer in private practice to pursue a calling to help both Armenia and the global environment. She recalls joining the organization shortly after its 20th anniversary celebrations. “With two decades of learning and growth, ATP was ready for its next phase: taking the lead. There were enormous challenges and opportunities. We wanted to play a meaningful role in Armenia’s efforts to double its forest cover by 2050 (a commitment the government made under the Paris Accords in 2015), and we needed to shift more resources and ultimately leadership to work in Armenia. We’ve made a lot of changes over the past 10 years, and today we are a leader in forestry in Armenia. We are now planting one million trees in new forests each year, nearly five times the amount we were planting in 2015 and with survival rates above world standards.”
Papelian credits this success to the experts on ATP’s team, as well as the investments in infrastructure and technology made possible with the support of generous donors. Since 2015, ATP has added a fourth nursery, built six greenhouses and two grafting facilities, and acquired seed testing equipment. Plans are also underway to build a state of the art seed testing and storage facility at the Mirak Family Reforestation Nursery in Margahovit to support ATP’s large scale forestry planting program and ensure continued high survival rates.
Carolyn Mugar has expressed praise for the valuable contributions that Jeanmarie Papelian has made in her ten years as Executive Director. “We are grateful for the commitment and devotion that Jeanmarie brought to her work at ATP both in Armenia and the diaspora. Reaching out and connecting experts to deepen the work of greening Armenia, leading staff throughout the organization, and aligning supporters to our mission with trips enabling them to have a deeper connection with Armenia . . . these are just some of what she has given to all of us who benefit from her leadership at ATP. ATP welcomes her ongoing support as she continues her association with us.”
The decision to bring the Executive Director position to Armenia was the result of discussions which took place during the pandemic. Tom Garabedian, ATP board chair and former Managing Director, reflected on the aftermath of the successful 2019 Global Forest Summit in Armenia which ATP co-sponsored with the American University of Armenia. “It was clear that ATP’s future would be very different from its past. Jeanmarie suggested that it was time for leadership of this organization to be in Armenia where the majority of our work is done and where our experts are located. We agreed to begin working on a transition of resources from the US to Armenia, which included building up our team of specialists in forestry and related areas. This transition continues with the appointment of Ara Barsam as Executive Director. US staff will continue its work of outreach and fundraising with the Boston area office serving as the center of US operations.”
A native of Massachusetts, Ara Barsam is a leader in sustainable development, with over 20 years of experience designing and managing high impact programs across more than 25 countries. He comes to ATP motivated by its mission and its importance to Armenia’s future—as a cornerstone of climate resilience, community well-being, and protection of Armenia’s unique heritage to be preserved for future generations.
Previously, Ara served as Global Executive Director of the Children of Armenia Fund (COAF), where he led rural economic and youth development efforts across Armenia. He was also Assistant Dean at Arizona State University and Founding Director of its Center for Advanced Studies in Global Education. As a leader at the Kenan Foundation Asia, Ara directed the $30 million Thailand Partnership Initiative, a major public-private partnership to accelerate the country’s development. Earlier in his career, Ara worked with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Armenia from 2004-2008, where he was honored with two Meritorious Honor Awards and a Benjamin Franklin Award.
A Marshall Scholar and Fulbright Fellow, Ara holds a BA summa cum laude from Tufts University and both an M. St. (Honors) and Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Oxford. He is based in Yerevan with his wife, three children, and a dog who is living her best life in Armenia.
