Who We AreOrigins of the Trust

David Butterfield, President and founder of the Trust for Sustainable Development, has had an impressive and varied career in the real estate development industry. As Executive Director of South Island Development Corporation, Mr. Butterfield established a reputation for community-oriented, responsible development. The successful development of social housing projects, a specialization of South Island in its early years, let Mr. Butterfield and his development company undertake a range of diverse and socially progressive real estate projects. Commercial/ retail centers, office buildings, hotels, waterfront and mixed use residential developments are among the many types of projects successfully completed.

In 1989, with the help of several environmental activists and an engaged group of community participants, Mr. Butterfield began to research, design and develop Bamberton, North America's most advanced sustainable community. Over the following seven years, Mr. Butterfield and his team emerged as world experts in "sustainable community" technology.

In 1995 Mr. Butterfield founded the Trust for Sustainable Development, a not-for-profit corporation devoted to the principles of ecologically, socially and economically sustainable development. Since then, the Trust has initiated sustainable communities (such as the Community of Civano in Tucson, Arizona, Shoal Point in Victoria, British Columbia and The Villages of Loreto Bay in Baja California Sur, Mexico) and promoted sustainable development principles throughout North America.