Maine Coast Heritage Trust, a statewide land conservation organization, has hired a new president.

Paul Gallay will take over as leader of the trust in mid July, replacing Jay Espy, who left the organization in November, the trust announced today.

Gallay was executive director of the Westchester Land Trust in Bedford Hills, N.Y., for eight years. Before that, he was special assistant to the commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, where he managed environmental cleanup projects and the closure of New York City’s largest landfill.

He is a graduate of Williams College, where he has taught as a visiting professor of environmental studies, and has a law degree from Columbia University.