For immediate release
January 20, 2021
Contact: Jessica Dacey, Director of Communications
Phone: 760-820-2275Email: jessica@mdlt.org

Joshua Tree, CA – Abdel Reid, a leading real estate investment executive for Southern California, with a stellar background in business development and private equity management, has been appointed to the board of directors of the Mojave Desert Land Trust.

Mr. Reid is a Co-founder and Managing Partner at Jacobs and Reid LLC, a Los Angeles-based real estate investment, management, and development firm that focuses on multi-family properties across Southern California.

He was previously Managing Director and Head of Value Creation at Fifth Wall, a real estate tech venture capital firm with over $1 billion in assets under management, and has served as Vice President of Operations at Taymax, one of the largest franchisees of Planet Fitness gyms in the world.

Mr. Reid spent six years working in Operations for the international MDB Family organization. He started his career in investment banking at Goldman Sachs before joining 3i's private equity practice.

He is from Georgetown, Guyana, and currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife and son. He graduated from Harvard University, where he received his B.A. in Economics and Italian, and served as Treasurer of the Aspiring Minority Business Leaders group and Treasurer of the Black Men’s Forum.

Mr. Reid joins the Mojave Desert Land Trust at a time when the organization is realizing new conservation achievements. The organization celebrates its 15-year anniversary in 2021 and has acquired nearly 90,000 acres across the California desert. It has conveyed more tracts of land to the National Park Service than any other nonprofit since 2006.His appointment builds on an already accomplished board of directors. The board members are Gwen Barker, business owner and marketing professional, Peter Brooks, Iraq veteran and water expert and executive, Terrysa Guerra, National Political Director at United for Respect, Robyn Helmlinger, law partner at Orrick, Kelly Herbinson, biologist and desert tortoise conservation researcher, Ron Radziner, renowned architect, John Simpson, real estate executive, and Brad Wilson, President and Co-Partner of Ace Hotel Group and Atelier Ace.

“The Mojave Desert Land Trust is honored to have Abdel Reid join our board of directors. His economic knowledge and real estate expertise will be valuable assets in our work to preserve and protect the Mojave Desert’s natural, cultural and scenic resources values,” said Geary Hund, Executive Director of the Mojave Desert Land Trust.

The Mojave Desert Land Trust (MDLT) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with the mission to protect and care for lands with natural, scenic, and cultural value within the Mojave Desert. Since its founding in 2006 the land trust has conserved nearly 90,000 acres, conveying more tracts of land to the National Park Service in the last decade than any other organization. In addition to acquiring land, the land trust established a seed bank to ensure the preservation of native species. MDLT operates an onsite nursery at its Joshua Tree headquarters which propagates native species for ecosystem restoration. MDLT educates and advocates for the conservation of the desert, involving hundreds of volunteers in our work. For more information, visit mdlt.org.