About Scott Sacco
I combine expertise as a writer and marketing strategist with extensive experience in corporate strategic planning and operational business management.
Prior to launching Maquan I was a founding principal and vice president of business operations with Forest Systems, LLC, an institutional forest investment firm. My partners and I self-funded the company and over a ten-year period we helped acquire and operate 1.7 million acres of timberland in 12 states on behalf of institutional investors and private equity investment managers. As a member of the firm’s four-person senior management team, I oversaw Forest Systems’ business platform – directing administration, SEC compliance, information systems, human resources, strategic planning, marketing and public affairs. I also managed our conservation outreach and monetization efforts, which permanently protected more than 50,000 acres of private forestland and generated more than $23 million in revenue for our clients.
Prior to helping found Forest Systems, I was responsible for communications and strategic planning at the Hancock Timber Resource Group, the world’s largest timberland investment firm. In that capacity, I led an 11-person team that oversaw external relations and supported the firm’s marketing and environmental stewardship efforts. This included working with more than 100 foresters who were responsible for managing nearly 3.0 million acres in the Northeast, Southeast, Pacific Northwest and British Columbia. Prior to that assignment, I was director of marketing strategy and communications in John Hancock’s Investment Management Division. That role entailed leading a six-person team that oversaw the marketing and branding efforts of John Hancock’s alternative investment units, which provided private equity, venture capital, energy project finance, timberland, farmland and commercial real estate services to more than 100 large pension funds, foundations and endowments. These internal groups and external subsidiaries managed more than $12 billion in assets, making John Hancock one of the world’s leading alternative investment managers. My team also supported John Hancock’s defined benefit and defined contribution product groups and provided executive communications services to the company’s senior management.
Earlier in my career, I was a consultant with Schofield & Company, a boutique public relations firm that served institutional investment managers. In that capacity I worked with journalists from financial news outlets around the world on behalf of the executive management teams of State Street Global Advisors, State Street Corporation, Alliance Capital Management, MacKay-Shields, Greystone Properties and Rhumbline Advisors.
I began my business career in the corporate communications department of Bank of Boston after covering politics with a large daily newspaper in Massachusetts and serving as a campaign staffer to late U.S. Senator Paul E. Tsongas.
I hold a BA in English with concentrations in journalism and political science from the University of Massachusetts. I am currently working toward an MA in history and international relations at Harvard University – a lifelong ambition that also is enriching my capacity to advise clients on international business matters.