Khann Chov will join Keep Knoxville Beautiful as executive director on January 14.
Chov is an East Tennessee native with roots in Chattanooga. She moved to Knoxville to attend the University of Tennessee in 1999. Since then, she has been a part of Knoxville’s environmental community through work with the Knoxville-Knox County Community Action Committee, AmeriCorps, CAC Beardsley Community Farm and UT.
She holds a master’s degree in environmental education from Lesley University.
Her most recent work was leading the University’s recycling and zero waste operations. From zero-waste game days to zero-waste picnics to managing campus’s recycling efforts, she prides herself in teamwork and mentoring student workers and AmeriCorps service members. She also prides herself in her ability to motivate others around her.
As an AmeriCorps worker, she served with Knox County Schools from 2004-06 with recycling, composting, school gardens and water quality initiatives.
Most know her for her accomplishments at CAC Beardsley Community Farm, where she served as farm manager and eventually their director of urban agriculture. Her work at CAC Beardsley Community Farm allowed her to form dozens of partnerships that focused on food security and sustainable agriculture. There, she wore many hats as the organization blossomed over the years. She has a wealth of experiences with volunteer management, education programs, event planning, grant writing and fundraising.
She enjoys cooking, gardening, home projects and spending time with her husband, Ian, and daughter, Annie.
Keep Knoxville Beautiful was founded in 1978 to help clean up prior to the 1982 World’s Fair. The late Mary Lou Horner was a long-time board member and activist.
During 2020-21, the group:
- Facilitated or supported 400 litter pickups
- Collected 105,879 pounds of litter
- Managed 6 beautification projects
- Reached 3,169 kids with presentations
- Worked with 3,460 volunteers
- Facilitated 8,255 volunteer hours
Amanda Seale, director of programs for Keep Knoxville Beautiful, provided information for this report.