Nigel Savage

Nigel Savage, originally from Manchester, England, founded Hazon (Hebrew for "vision") in 2000. 

Hazon works to create a healthier and more sustainable Jewish community and a healthier and more sustainable world for all. 

In 2000 Nigel led Hazon's first major project, a 3000-mile Cross-USA Jewish Environmental Bike Ride, in which participants cycled from Seattle, WA to Washington, DC, teaching and speaking along the way. They ended at the White House where they received a national award from the EPA.

Hazon now produces a series of bike rides and hikes, in the US and Israel. In 2009 Hazon will launch JBike, a new portal to connect Jewish cyclists in the US and Israel and to enable the Jewish community to support transportation alternatives. In 2004, Hazon launched the first Community-Supported Agriculture project in the American Jewish community, called Tuv Ha'Aretz. By spring 2009 Tuv Ha'Aretz will be launched in 28 locations nationally from Berkeley to Long Island and from St. Paul to Atlanta, as well as in Canada. Hazon's food work also includes an annual food conference, a food curriculum (written by Nigel and Anna Stevenson) the award-winning blog, "The Jew & The Carrot."

Nigel has taught in a variety of settings, including the General Assembly of the United Jewish Communities, the Wexner Heritage Conference, the UJA Young Leadership Conference, the leadership retreat of the Dorot Fellows in Israel and the World Union of Jewish Students. His articles have appeared in various publications including The Forward and the Jerusalem Report.

Before founding Hazon Nigel was a professional fund manager in the English equivalent of Wall Street, where he worked for the Rothschilds and was co-head of UK Equities at John Govett & Co. He has an MA in American Jewish History from Georgetown, and learned at Pardes, Yakar, Hebrew University and Jerusalem Fellows. 

He serves on the board of the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, is a founder and advisory board member of Limmud NY, and a member of the international Limmud board. In 2008 Hazon was recognized by the Sierra Club as one of 50 leading faith-based environmental organizations; Hazon was in the Slingshot 50 for the fourth consecutive year; and Nigel was named a member of the Forward 50 - together with Rahm Emanuel, Jon Stewart and Sarah Silverman, among others :-)

Nigel is infamous in the UK for his cameo appearance in the cult Anglo-Jewish comic movie, Leon The Pig Farmer, and was the Executive Producer of the British independent movies Solitaire For 2 and Stiff Upper Lips. He is also believed to be the first English Jew to have cycled across South Dakota on a recumbent bike.

nigel@hazon.org