“I’ve always worked on behalf of science institutions because science is the way we discover truth,” says Nik Charov, chairman of the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve and president of its nonprofit partner, the Laudholm Trust. “Truth is what we need right now; it’s also what we can’t afford to ignore.” By his own standards, truth has directed the course of Charov’s life and that of his organization. Previously employed in science and environmental nonprofits in New York, he continues to raise funds, awareness, and understanding of educational, research, and conservation opportunities at the Wells Reserve at Laudholm. The reserve studies how changes in climate and land use transform salt marshes, fisheries, watersheds, and coastal communities. “Coasts are amazingly diverse and dynamic because they’re where land and sea meet,” Charov says. “I feel the same way about ideas—the more opposites we can mix together, the more solutions we can make.” Since joining Wells Reserve in 2012, Charov has worked with the federal government to make the research center Maine’s first entirely solar powered nonprofit organization. This year he inaugurates the Summer of Art and Science, an event series that includes a sculpture exhibition and sale, workshops, festivals, and concerts. Charov says both art and science are “two complementary ways of approaching the natural world, and they both require attention.” As the Laudholm Trust grows, he hopes it will develop new strategies for diversifying revenues and programs. “I’m proud to put whatever talents I have to work for a better future for my kids,” he adds. “To do otherwise would be the pinnacle of negligence.”