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Once I stepped into my function at Audubon in March, I turned the primary lady to carry the title of president in Audubon’s 116-year historical past. Two months later I used to be requested to turn out to be its first lady interim CEO. So it feels applicable that the primary subject of Audubon journal printed after my arrival can also be the inaugural yr of the Feminine Hen Prize within the Audubon Pictures Awards. (The successful picture additionally occurred to be taken by a lady photographer.) I’m thrilled to turn out to be a part of the Audubon community and have the possibility to work alongside each certainly one of you.
I wished to take this area to briefly introduce myself and share why I joined Audubon on this management function. In a really actual sense, I’ve returned to my roots. I started my profession with birds, first finding out homing pigeon navigation as an undergraduate, after which spending time in jap Washington State finding out Purple-winged and Yellow-headed Blackbirds for my doctoral thesis work. I discovered early on that calamity can strike swiftly: Throughout my first area season, each species of blackbird stuffed the panorama with their distinctive songs. However the second yr, the Yellow-headed Blackbirds didn’t return to their breeding marshes. This second was my private wake-up name. I knew one thing wasn’t proper. And I made a decision to dedicate my profession to conservation. After I completed my Ph.D., I labored in academia and in authorities and—for the majority of my profession—in conservation organizations, most not too long ago heading up The Nature Conservancy’s international local weather technique.
What drove my curiosity in becoming a member of Audubon is all of you and your devoted advocacy on behalf of birds and the communities we share—the ability you must affect conservation outcomes and deal with local weather change is unmatched. Numerous that might not have occurred with out the management and imaginative and prescient of David Yarnold, Audubon’s most up-to-date president and CEO. I need take a second to thank David for serving to refocus Audubon and make it into the powerhouse conservation group it’s at the moment.
As we map the longer term for this subsequent chapter of Audubon’s historical past, I sit up for constructing the following era of Audubon, the place we domesticate new audiences and the place variations are revered, valued, and important to mission success. I am profoundly lucky that my begin at Audubon coincided with that of Jamaal Nelson, Audubon’s new chief fairness, variety, and inclusion officer. I sit up for the various issues we are able to accomplish collectively—on the member, chapter, organizational, and hemispheric stage—to make Audubon and the world a greater, safer, and extra simply place for individuals and birds.
This piece initially ran within the Summer time 2021 subject as “New Member of the Flock.” To obtain our print journal, turn out to be a member by making a donation at the moment.
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