John Preyer is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Restoration Systems. He oversees all company operations including land acquisition, site design and construction, as well as serving on the senior management team responsible for all financials.
John’s work in environmental restoration and environmental policy goes back to 1992 when he served as Legislative Director for U.S. Senator Lauch Faircloth of North Carolina. As Legislative Director John had responsibility for all of the Senator’s committee assignments including Armed Services, Banking, and Environment & Public Works. In this capacity he regularly dealt with numerous federal regulatory agencies including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service as well as all corresponding state agencies.
He also dealt with all service branches of the military regarding facilities and funding and was the designated security officer for the office and held a Department of Defense Top Secret security clearance.
In 1998 he joined with former Senate colleague George Howard in founding Restoration Systems. Starting with just the two the company quickly grew to a staff of a dozen professionals with a strong skillset and expertise in environmental restoration and compensatory mitigation.
In 2002 John was instrumental in securing the site which provided all of the off-site compensatory mitigation for the Federal Express Cargo Hub expansion of the Piedmont Triad Airport in Greensboro, NC. At the time this was the largest economic development project in the state with a projected value of $1.8 billion in economic growth and job creation.
From 2002-2006 John served on the board of the N.C. Coastal Federation a widely respected non-profit environmental group advocating for coastal rivers, creeks, and wetlands. Before joining the board he had worked closely with the NCCF’s executive director on obtaining the land for their North River Farms restoration site. This project would become a marquee example for large scale coastal wetland restoration efforts and has been featured prominently by Restore America’s Estuaries in all of its conferences for the past ten years.
John currently serves on the board of the N.C. Wildlife Habitat Foundation which is dedicated to preserving wildlife habitat through acquisition, protection, and management of land which provides wildlife benefit.
A graduate of the University of North Carolina, John lives in Chapel Hill with his wife and two children.
Facta, Non Verba
