Following six years as Director and then Co-Director, since January 2024, Emily Caruso supports, advises and mentors the management team and GDF team members. She currently leads the Conservation and Communities Fellowship and GDF Mentoring programmes, contributes to event management and facilitation and helps grow new programme areas. 

Social and environmental justice are at the heart of her work, and she has collaborated with non-profits in these fields for over twenty years. She is passionate about reweaving and maintaining healthy, loving and life-affirming relationships between humans and our planetary home. She lives in rural Central Italy with her family, with whom she grows food and medicinal plants and is training as a community herbalist. She is active in local community-building, educational and environmental initiatives.