Jess Mayes

Executive Director/ Regenerative Systems

Jess Mayes is a regenerative systems strategist and community weaver dedicated to building practical systems that support life and create abundance across socioeconomic, cultural, and geographic boundaries.

At his core, Jess is motivated by a deep respect for water, land, and the people who depend on them. He works alongside organizations, landowners, artists, communities, builders, donors, institutions, policymakers, and businesses throughout Texas and Mexico, helping restore watersheds, rebuild soils, and strengthen local resilience. Trained under Scott Pittman and Richard Perkins, fascinated by ancient indigenous resource management practices, and inspired by the philosophies/ life work of J. David Bamberger, Brad Lancaster, Alejandro Carrillo, Jairo Restrepo, Gabe Brown, Mark Shepard, and Ricardo Romero, his work blends hands-on land stewardship and agricultural production with watershed-scale systems thinking rooted in care and responsibility.

As Executive Director, his work centers on community weaving, groundwater recharge, erosion control, soil and land regeneration, and the thoughtful incubation of projects designed to endure and inspire across generations.

He believes lasting abundance is created when people choose to support life, steward land with humility, and invest in systems that regenerate more than they extract.