August 6, 2025 • 23 mins
Dr. Elizabeth Gray serves as Audubon’s Chief Executive Officer, leading the organization toward its vision of a future where birds thrive. A champion of science-based conservation and a renowned expert in global conservation and climate change, she joined Audubon in March 2021 as President and Chief Conservation Officer and was named CEO later that year—the first woman since Audubon’s founding in 1905 to hold the role. She leads more than 800 staff working across the Americas to alter the course of climate change and habitat loss. Since her arrival, she has led a landmark $826 million campaign, the groundbreaking release of the Migratory Bird Explorer, and the unifying Flight Plan strategy, reinforcing Audubon’s commitment to hemispheric conservation through the power of birds. Under Elizabeth’s leadership, Audubon has embraced a multicultural, multigenerational approach, ensuring its work reflects and engages all the communities connected to conservation across the Western Hemisphere.
Prior to Audubon, she most recently served as Global Managing Director of The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) Climate Change program, where she played a key role in securing a $100 million philanthropic gift—one of the largest in TNC’s history—and managed the natural climate solutions initiative it funded. A proven fundraiser, she has secured six-, seven-, and nine-figure gifts to advance conservation and climate solutions. Trained as an ornithologist, she has spent 30+ years as a conservationist, spending considerable time in the field nationally and abroad. She also led two of TNC’s most notable impact capital projects, the $130 million Cumberland Forest Impact Investment Fund, which supported sustainable forestry in the Appalachians, and a groundbreaking urban conservation program in Washington, D.C. She holds a PhD in ecology from the University of Washington and an AB with highest honors in psychology from Harvard University.
Prior to Audubon, she most recently served as Global Managing Director of The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) Climate Change program, where she played a key role in securing a $100 million philanthropic gift—one of the largest in TNC’s history—and managed the natural climate solutions initiative it funded. A proven fundraiser, she has secured six-, seven-, and nine-figure gifts to advance conservation and climate solutions. Trained as an ornithologist, she has spent 30+ years as a conservationist, spending considerable time in the field nationally and abroad. She also led two of TNC’s most notable impact capital projects, the $130 million Cumberland Forest Impact Investment Fund, which supported sustainable forestry in the Appalachians, and a groundbreaking urban conservation program in Washington, D.C. She holds a PhD in ecology from the University of Washington and an AB with highest honors in psychology from Harvard University.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
M and T Bank presents CEOs you Should Know, powered
by iHeartMedia Guy. Let's meet Elizabeth Gray. She is a
champion of science based conservation and renowned expert in global
conservation and climate change. She joined the National Autobon Society
in March of twenty twenty one as President and Chief
Conservation Officer and was named the CEO later that year,
(00:20):
the first woman since the Audubon's founding in nineteen oh
five to hold that role. The National Autobon Society is
an environmental nonprofit organization dedicated to conservation of birds and
their habitats throughout the Americas. Now, before we learn more
about the society, I first asked Elizabeth to talk a
little bit about herself, where she's from and her origin story.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
So I grew up in the DC area. I grew
up in Virginia right along the Potomac River, and I'm
a product of our local school systems. I had a
great education here in our public schools, met a lot
of wonderful lifelong friends that I still see, and really
got a great education. I ended up as bringing my
(01:02):
family actually back to this area about twelve years ago
because I really loved the DC area so much. I
think it's a great place to raise kids, and it's
a great place to learn about the world. But after
high school, I ended up studying psychology. I've been I
was a really curious kid. I was always wondering why
(01:23):
things behave the way they were were behaving, why people
did what they did, what motivated people, And then ultimately
that led me to be really curious about why animals
behave the way they are. So I ended up studying
psychology as an undergraduate in college and got really interested
in not just people behavior but bird behavior actually, and
(01:46):
we can talk about that in a minute. And then
ended up, after taking a year off to go study
down in Costa Rica and just take a year to
figure out what I wanted to do with my life,
decided to go get a PhD.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
At the University of Law Kington in Seattle.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
So I have spent a lot of time kind of
East Coast and the West Coast. Spent about half my
life living East Coast and half my life living West Coast,
and I've traveled and lived all over the world, and
I think it's just given me an incredible education, like
to consider myself a global citizen.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Well, thank you for sharing all that, And obviously we're
here to talk about the National Audubon Society almost four
and a half years now as CEO. But you were
doing conservation work and you were at a place for
seventeen years. And this is not unique to this series.
We've talked to a lot of people thought they were
going to be at this job, a great job for
the rest of their lives and then who knows what
road and doors open up, and it does. But can
(02:40):
you talk about that journey about being at a place
for about a decade and a half and then transitioning
to this new job. How did that all work out?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Yeah, I'm actually going to start that with your first question.
So when I was when I was an undergraduate, I
had to do a senior thesis and I got really
intrigued by homing pigeons. I had learned that they carried
in World War One, they carried messages on their legs
to the soldiers, and I was just so fascinated by that.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
I thought, how do they know where to go? How
do they know to come back again?
Speaker 2 (03:10):
And so I ended up studying how homing pigeons navigate,
and that really brought me to science that kind of
sparked my interest in becoming a scientist. Then when I
was out at the University of Washington doing my dissertation,
I started looking at the behavioral interaction between red wing
and yellowhead of blackbirds. And the first field season went really,
(03:34):
really well. But the second season, those yellow headed blackbirds
did not return to the marshes. And this was a
long term study. These birds I've been returning for decades,
and so I knew something was going on. I knew
something was wrong essentially with the planet, and so birds
brought me to conservation in that sense, and so I
(03:56):
ended up deciding to work for a non offit and
went to work for the Nature Conservancy. I was actually
there for twenty one years, and that was a way
for me to really develop my career and think about
how I wanted to contribute to making this planet a
better place.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
And so when I.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Got this call for a Natural automon Society, I thought, well,
this is incredible. This job I've become started my whole
journey in science and conservation and then ultimately actually in
climate change as well, looking at birds, studying birds.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
How they behave.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
And then now I have the opportunity to come full
circle and lend my personal love of birds, my real
passion for conservation at an organization that is a hemispheric
conservation organization that.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Works through the power of birds. So it just really
felt like coming full.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Circle for me, if you could indulge myself in the
listeners just for a second, because I want to reference
being in a place once again for a very long
time and then going to a new challenge. And a
lot of people can very very comfortable. Life is good,
money is good, it's great for your family. Everything kind
of fits. But we get these challenges in life sometimes
and it's not always about money. It's about passion. And
(05:13):
you're obviously a very passionate person about what you do.
But that transition about being in a place for a
long time and then some of it's a little scary,
some of it's exciting, and I realized that the journey
is personal to you. But what was that transition like
for you?
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Well, that transition was so interesting.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
I thought I was going to kind of start and
end my official career at the Nature Conservancy, and it
was COVID actually during the global pandemic that I got
a call, So there was I had to do a
lot of soul searching. Do I leave a job that
I love?
Speaker 3 (05:46):
I loved my job.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
I wasn't looking for a new position. Do I leave
that and pursue something that again kind of blended my
personal passion and my love of conservation. Was it was
a tough decision starting at Coviden. You know, when you've
been at something for twenty one years, you know you
know a lot of people, you have a great professional network,
(06:08):
you understand how the organization runs. And stepping into a
new organization, especially when everything's virtual, was a real challenge. Frankly,
I couldn't be anybody in person for at least a year.
I really had to do everything virtually as a new
CEO to an organization. I was trying to learn the
systems of processes and of people. So it was it
(06:29):
was a big lift. I'm really glad I did it.
I've grown more in this physician than I've ever grown
in any other and it's been a lot of fun too,
But it was it was challenging to make to make
that leap of.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
It was a leap of faith.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Yeah, and we hear that a lot in this series,
and no doubt, and also your passion for it, so
We're going to talk about mission and vision and exactly
what you do. But I think we need to educate
myself and our listeners about the history of the National
autiba On Society. How did it start, why did it start,
and how long is been around for I love.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Our origin story.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
So we're actually celebrating our one hundred and twentieth anniversary
this year, and so we have one hundred and twenty
years of conservation success under our belt that I'm really
proud of. But the story of how Audubon started is
so interesting. It started in the early nineteen hundreds. Nineteen
oh five is when the National Audubon Society was founded.
At that time, it was really fashionable for women to
(07:27):
wear hats with the feathers of birds on them. We
call these the plumebirds, the egrets to Heron's, things like this,
And so a group of women banded together and decided
because these plume to birds were becoming very threatened and
were on the brink of extinction. So there was a
group of women. These were not scientists. These were women
(07:50):
who were teachers, They were local you know, they were homemakers.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
They were women who.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Cared though about this passion they cared about birds, and
they banded together and started to advocate for the fashion
industry to change and to take feathers out of women's hats.
And that was our founding that led to founding of
a number of local Autibon societies that ultimately in nineteen
oh five came together.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
And formed the National Autubon.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Society because they felt that by bringing all those local
societies together, they could be stronger, too, stronger as a
national group.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
All right, before we get into exactly what you do,
what's the mission and the vision of the society.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
So the mission of National Autubon Society is to protect
birds and the places they need today and tomorrow. And
we have our vision is to bend the bird curve.
And so why don't I explain what that means to
people who don't work at Autumbon. So one of the
most amazing things I learned and us when I started
(08:55):
at the National Autumn Society was that we have lost
three billion and verd since I was born. So that's
billion with a B, and that's one of three birds
that used to be in our skies when I was
a kid, now gone vanish. You know you're not going
to hear those songs anymore, We're not going to see
those colors anymore.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
And strikingly as well, two thirds of.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
The verds that remain are actually threatened by climate impacts.
And so what's happened is the number of birds has
declined significantly.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
It's on this downward spiral.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
And so we say that our vision is to bend
the bird curve, meaning to halt and ultimately the reverse
the decline of.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Birds across the Americas. All right, and that's a long game.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Yeah, no, I get that. So you're kind of alluding
to this. But if you were to give a thirty
thousand foot view to myself and our listeners about exactly
what the society does, what would you tell them that
you do.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Yeah. So we have an amazing strategic plan.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
We call it flight plan because we are the national
a lot of on society and that is focused on
bending the bird curve. So we do that several different ways.
First of all, we protect habitat. Our goal is to
create a connected climate resilient corridor across the Americas from
the tip of the Arctic down to the tip of
(10:19):
Chile and Argentina. So building a connected area of protected
areas across the Americas that birds need and also the
planet needs, frankly to be healthy. We also back very
smart and strategic policy to make this planet a better
place to help both birds, people and the planet. We
(10:40):
tackle climate change because of what I mentioned earlier, of
the impacts of how that's magnifying a lot of the
threats that bird space, habitat, loss, fragmentation, pollution, and other things.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
And then finally, we build community.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
So I like to think of Audubon, and I refer
to Audubon as a movement of people who.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Care about birds on the planet.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
And more importantly, I think we're a movement of people
of ordinary people who are doing extraordinary things. And so
we have about one point nine million supporters at autumn, and.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
All of those, all of us are working out protecting habitat.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Accelerating clean energy, sequestering and storing carbon and natural systems,
tackling important smart policies to make this planet a better place,
and then ultimately building a community that is inclusive and
is welcoming to every type of person out there.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Well, Elizabeth, this is a good segue. How are you funded?
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Ah, So we are funded. We have a number of
different funding streams. We are very grateful for the generous
charitable contributions that we receive. A big chunk of our
funding is received by folks that are kind enough to
contribute and.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Donate to our organization.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
We also receive some public funding as well, but mostly
it's private donations. It's sharitable contributions as well as and
that includes membership. Our members are paying members, and so
we are just we're just so grateful for the people
that choose to spend their hard earned money so fororting
that work what we do to create a planet that
(12:25):
basically thrives, not just for for ours book, also for people.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
And we will give the website at the end with
social media channels and platforms and everything else at the end.
And you can miss that big fat donate button when
you go to the website, so we'll make sure to
highlight at the end. Elizabeth, I did want to talk
a little bit more about data, and I won't hold
you specifically to any numbers, but you know, we're always
so many we're so proud in the United States about
how we're leaders in certain areas and others were not
(12:50):
when it comes to conservation and birds, and of course
the whole world is dealing with climate change right now,
where we rank as far as how the rest of
the world is doing when it comes to saving birds
out there?
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Well, as I mentioned, birds are declined, not just in
North America with the three billion birds that we were
part of a report that came out several years ago
about that, but birds are declining. There's a report called
the State of the Birds Report. Birds are declining across
the globe. And again, I think this is because of
impacts that we've induced, impacts that we have, and that's
(13:26):
affecting their food sources, it's affecting their stopover sites. I mean,
one of the most amazing things about birds is they travel.
Some species travel literally thousands of miles every year to
move between where they spend the winters and where they
spend the time where they breed and produce chicks and
pats our eggs produce chicks, and so these birds are
(13:50):
moving across the landscape. And one of the things I
like to emphasize this is not exactly what you asked me, Dennis,
but I'm going to go on a tangent second. I
think it's important that people that people understand this. You know, birds. Sure, birds,
I'm talking about why birds are magical. They fly, they
have incredible colors, they sing these amazing songs. They're certainly that,
(14:15):
but they are also huge unifiers.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Birds transverb.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
They go across the America's many birds travel across the Americas.
They take these thousands, as I said, thousands of mile
journey every year between their wintering and breeding sites. They
don't see politics, they don't see geographic borders.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
They are not They're away there.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
They transcend all the things that we often can use
as human beings.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
To divide us.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
And I think right now, as we are living in
a world that, in my mind, is becoming increasingly polarized,
birds are a way that we can unify people. We
often at Audubon use for to start a conversation with
people who may not typically engage with conservation organizations. So
(15:08):
we will use shared values. We will use a love
of birds to bring people to the table. Ranchers, farmers,
tribal leaders, elected officials, local community leaders, industry leaders. We
can use birds to unify people to get down to
sit at a table and to craft solutions that they
(15:31):
can all support. And that is I think one of
the things that really differentiates Autumn. Frankly, it's one of
the things is that we can convene all these diverse
groups in the pursuit of a healthier planet again for birds, people,
and of course ultimately the planet that we rely on
(15:51):
for food and for clean water and for healthy food systems.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Elizabeth, one of the things I wanted to talk to
you about today is advtting. And I know that in
this series we talked to so many for profit and nonprofits.
Depending on what they do, it's either a Capitol hill
or it's the people that are part of their membership.
But advocation is a real big deal. So you've been
with them now as CEO for for almost four and
a half years now. When it comes to advocation, whether
(16:17):
it is you know, talking to government officials or state
officials or people around the United States, around the world,
what does it look like when you're advocating for the
Audubon Society.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Sure, well, we're we're advocating for the Autobon Society. We're
advocating for a healthier future and a healthier planet for
birds and for people. So that's the top thing. We
have local chapters all around the country. We have state
and regional programs all around the United States, and increasingly
now we've been expanding, we've been following the Birds across
(16:50):
the Western hemisphere.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
So we're actually actively working in eleven.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Different countries across the America's right now, and so we
will will bring in either are a selection of our
one point nine million members who are very active in
terms of advocating for really important policies. We have a
Healthy Birds, Healthy Planet and policy agenda. So we're very strategic.
(17:15):
We're very focused on what we work on again in
pursuit of protecting habitat, accelerating clean energy, responsibly building community.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Okay, well, one of the things I want to talk
about in this series, and if you don't mind me
indulging you, is about leadership. And we talk to a
lot of people and I realized, once again, your journey
is very specific to yours. But it's obvious the communication
that you have with people, not only domestically but internationally.
And with that said, we've heard about team and culture
(17:45):
and communication, all those buzzwords that are very important. And
you do have a very fluid job, a lot of
moving parts and climate changes every day, and there's just
a lot of things going on. So when I use
the word leadership specific in your role and all the
people that you talk to, all the different agencies, including
these ranchers and farmers and people that follow birds, and
(18:07):
people domestically and around the world, what does the leadership
look like to you?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
To me, leaders are only leaders and people choose to follow.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
So to me, leadership looks.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Like setting an ambitious and bold vision that can inspire
and motivate people towards the future. It looks like creating
a culture that is supportive and enable staff to thrive
and bring their best selves to work. It involves being
(18:41):
really clear on what you're trying to accomplish. So one
of the things I talk about a lot is what's
the outcome we're trying to achieve here. Now we know
what that is. The outcome is to bend the bird
curve to halt and ultimately reverse the decline of birds
across the Americas. But being really clear on not only
spreading that outcome, Dennis, but also creating metrics so you
(19:01):
can you can monitor your progress along the way.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
And I'll give you a great example.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
When we created our strategic plan flight Plan, we set
a goal to protect three hundred million acres across the Americas.
And not only do we want core areas where birds
could stop to breed and to winter, but we talked
about protecting what we call the hotels and restaurants that
the birds need, the stopover sites that they need along
(19:29):
their journey. And by doing this, because birds are sentinels,
because they're symbols of environmental health. Typically, when bird populations
are thriving, the environment and the ecosystems are doing well.
In places that are being degraded, birds are often one
of the first species to leave that area. So we
(19:49):
set a goal with three hundred million acres of protected
habitat across the Americas. Over the last few years, we've
actually conserved one hundred million of those acres, and so
we have two hundred more to go. But the point
being we've we've set a world vision, we've set clear metrics,
and we're working on continually improving the culture so that
(20:12):
staff again can bring their best sells to work, can.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
Thrive in their positions.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Because everyone that works at Audubon is very passionate about
our mission. I mean, the mission is really what we
say is a mission brings people to Audubon.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
The people keep people at.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
All on I like that. That's great. Well, let's do this, Elizabeth.
Before we give the website and a few other notes
for our listeners, I'd like to get some final thoughts
from you. I really enjoyed this conversation, but I'd like
to recap what we've talked about and just kind of
kind of round things up for us if we could possibly. So,
let's get some final thoughts from you. And the floor
is yours.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Great, Thank you so much. Des Here are my final thoughts.
Birds are more than just atiful. They are the symbols
and the sentinels of our planets well being. And birds
need the same thing that people do. They need clean air,
they need clean water, they need healthy food systems, and
they need a stable climate. And so what I would
(21:09):
encourage people to do is learn more about the birds
in your backyard and take some kind of action. It
could look like planting native species in your backyard. It
could look like backing out smart policies that protect wildlife.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
It might be to go to a local autobon center.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
We have brick and mortar centers all across the United
States and increasingly in Latin America as well, where you
can learn about birds and conservation and then or become
a member of Audubon. Go to audubon dot org sign
up for a membership, Support us, donate to our call
so that we can continue to create a healthy planet
for birds and for people. There's so many things that
(21:50):
people can do, but again, this proverbial canary in.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
The coal mine.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Birds are the proverbial canary in the coal mine. They're
telling us our systems right now are out of whack.
But Autumn is listening to them, and these birds are
pointing us to solutions for what we can do to
make this planet a more livable place for everybody.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Very well said. And it's a gorgeous website folks, and
easy to navigate on. There're lots of information, beautiful pictures
as you can imagine, and you should check it out. Elizabeth.
One of the things in this series that I get
to take away is to talk to really cool people
like you, And the takeaway that I have the site,
what you do, which is just fantastic, is your passion
for this. And every time we talk to leaders and
(22:32):
CEOs and entrepreneurs, that's usually leads the whole conversations. The
passion and you certainly have it, so I can't thank
you enough for your valuable time. Thank you so much,
and I'm really glad we could feature you on CEOs
You Should Know continued success.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Thank you so much, Dennis, it's a pleasure to speak
with you today.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Our community partner, M and T Bank supports CEOs You
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As a Bank for Communities, M and T believes in
dedicating time, talent, and resources to help local businesses thrive
because when businesses succeed, our communities succeed.
M and T Bank presents CEOs you Should Know, powered
by iHeartMedia Guy. Let's meet Elizabeth Gray. She is a
champion of science based conservation and renowned expert in global
conservation and climate change. She joined the National Autobon Society
in March of twenty twenty one as President and Chief
Conservation Officer and was named the CEO later that year,
(00:20):
the first woman since the Audubon's founding in nineteen oh
five to hold that role. The National Autobon Society is
an environmental nonprofit organization dedicated to conservation of birds and
their habitats throughout the Americas. Now, before we learn more
about the society, I first asked Elizabeth to talk a
little bit about herself, where she's from and her origin story.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
So I grew up in the DC area. I grew
up in Virginia right along the Potomac River, and I'm
a product of our local school systems. I had a
great education here in our public schools, met a lot
of wonderful lifelong friends that I still see, and really
got a great education. I ended up as bringing my
(01:02):
family actually back to this area about twelve years ago
because I really loved the DC area so much. I
think it's a great place to raise kids, and it's
a great place to learn about the world. But after
high school, I ended up studying psychology. I've been I
was a really curious kid. I was always wondering why
(01:23):
things behave the way they were were behaving, why people
did what they did, what motivated people, And then ultimately
that led me to be really curious about why animals
behave the way they are. So I ended up studying
psychology as an undergraduate in college and got really interested
in not just people behavior but bird behavior actually, and
(01:46):
we can talk about that in a minute. And then
ended up, after taking a year off to go study
down in Costa Rica and just take a year to
figure out what I wanted to do with my life,
decided to go get a PhD.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
At the University of Law Kington in Seattle.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
So I have spent a lot of time kind of
East Coast and the West Coast. Spent about half my
life living East Coast and half my life living West Coast,
and I've traveled and lived all over the world, and
I think it's just given me an incredible education, like
to consider myself a global citizen.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Well, thank you for sharing all that, And obviously we're
here to talk about the National Audubon Society almost four
and a half years now as CEO. But you were
doing conservation work and you were at a place for
seventeen years. And this is not unique to this series.
We've talked to a lot of people thought they were
going to be at this job, a great job for
the rest of their lives and then who knows what
road and doors open up, and it does. But can
(02:40):
you talk about that journey about being at a place
for about a decade and a half and then transitioning
to this new job. How did that all work out?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Yeah, I'm actually going to start that with your first question.
So when I was when I was an undergraduate, I
had to do a senior thesis and I got really
intrigued by homing pigeons. I had learned that they carried
in World War One, they carried messages on their legs
to the soldiers, and I was just so fascinated by that.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
I thought, how do they know where to go? How
do they know to come back again?
Speaker 2 (03:10):
And so I ended up studying how homing pigeons navigate,
and that really brought me to science that kind of
sparked my interest in becoming a scientist. Then when I
was out at the University of Washington doing my dissertation,
I started looking at the behavioral interaction between red wing
and yellowhead of blackbirds. And the first field season went really,
(03:34):
really well. But the second season, those yellow headed blackbirds
did not return to the marshes. And this was a
long term study. These birds I've been returning for decades,
and so I knew something was going on. I knew
something was wrong essentially with the planet, and so birds
brought me to conservation in that sense, and so I
(03:56):
ended up deciding to work for a non offit and
went to work for the Nature Conservancy. I was actually
there for twenty one years, and that was a way
for me to really develop my career and think about
how I wanted to contribute to making this planet a
better place.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
And so when I.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Got this call for a Natural automon Society, I thought, well,
this is incredible. This job I've become started my whole
journey in science and conservation and then ultimately actually in
climate change as well, looking at birds, studying birds.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
How they behave.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
And then now I have the opportunity to come full
circle and lend my personal love of birds, my real
passion for conservation at an organization that is a hemispheric
conservation organization that.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Works through the power of birds. So it just really
felt like coming full.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Circle for me, if you could indulge myself in the
listeners just for a second, because I want to reference
being in a place once again for a very long
time and then going to a new challenge. And a
lot of people can very very comfortable. Life is good,
money is good, it's great for your family. Everything kind
of fits. But we get these challenges in life sometimes
and it's not always about money. It's about passion. And
(05:13):
you're obviously a very passionate person about what you do.
But that transition about being in a place for a
long time and then some of it's a little scary,
some of it's exciting, and I realized that the journey
is personal to you. But what was that transition like
for you?
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Well, that transition was so interesting.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
I thought I was going to kind of start and
end my official career at the Nature Conservancy, and it
was COVID actually during the global pandemic that I got
a call, So there was I had to do a
lot of soul searching. Do I leave a job that
I love?
Speaker 3 (05:46):
I loved my job.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
I wasn't looking for a new position. Do I leave
that and pursue something that again kind of blended my
personal passion and my love of conservation. Was it was
a tough decision starting at Coviden. You know, when you've
been at something for twenty one years, you know you
know a lot of people, you have a great professional network,
(06:08):
you understand how the organization runs. And stepping into a
new organization, especially when everything's virtual, was a real challenge. Frankly,
I couldn't be anybody in person for at least a year.
I really had to do everything virtually as a new
CEO to an organization. I was trying to learn the
systems of processes and of people. So it was it
(06:29):
was a big lift. I'm really glad I did it.
I've grown more in this physician than I've ever grown
in any other and it's been a lot of fun too,
But it was it was challenging to make to make
that leap of.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
It was a leap of faith.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Yeah, and we hear that a lot in this series,
and no doubt, and also your passion for it, so
We're going to talk about mission and vision and exactly
what you do. But I think we need to educate
myself and our listeners about the history of the National
autiba On Society. How did it start, why did it start,
and how long is been around for I love.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Our origin story.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
So we're actually celebrating our one hundred and twentieth anniversary
this year, and so we have one hundred and twenty
years of conservation success under our belt that I'm really
proud of. But the story of how Audubon started is
so interesting. It started in the early nineteen hundreds. Nineteen
oh five is when the National Audubon Society was founded.
At that time, it was really fashionable for women to
(07:27):
wear hats with the feathers of birds on them. We
call these the plumebirds, the egrets to Heron's, things like this,
And so a group of women banded together and decided
because these plume to birds were becoming very threatened and
were on the brink of extinction. So there was a
group of women. These were not scientists. These were women
(07:50):
who were teachers, They were local you know, they were homemakers.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
They were women who.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Cared though about this passion they cared about birds, and
they banded together and started to advocate for the fashion
industry to change and to take feathers out of women's hats.
And that was our founding that led to founding of
a number of local Autibon societies that ultimately in nineteen
oh five came together.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
And formed the National Autubon.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Society because they felt that by bringing all those local
societies together, they could be stronger, too, stronger as a
national group.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
All right, before we get into exactly what you do,
what's the mission and the vision of the society.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
So the mission of National Autubon Society is to protect
birds and the places they need today and tomorrow. And
we have our vision is to bend the bird curve.
And so why don't I explain what that means to
people who don't work at Autumbon. So one of the
most amazing things I learned and us when I started
(08:55):
at the National Autumn Society was that we have lost
three billion and verd since I was born. So that's
billion with a B, and that's one of three birds
that used to be in our skies when I was
a kid, now gone vanish. You know you're not going
to hear those songs anymore, We're not going to see
those colors anymore.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
And strikingly as well, two thirds of.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
The verds that remain are actually threatened by climate impacts.
And so what's happened is the number of birds has
declined significantly.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
It's on this downward spiral.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
And so we say that our vision is to bend
the bird curve, meaning to halt and ultimately the reverse
the decline of.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Birds across the Americas. All right, and that's a long game.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Yeah, no, I get that. So you're kind of alluding
to this. But if you were to give a thirty
thousand foot view to myself and our listeners about exactly
what the society does, what would you tell them that
you do.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Yeah. So we have an amazing strategic plan.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
We call it flight plan because we are the national
a lot of on society and that is focused on
bending the bird curve. So we do that several different ways.
First of all, we protect habitat. Our goal is to
create a connected climate resilient corridor across the Americas from
the tip of the Arctic down to the tip of
(10:19):
Chile and Argentina. So building a connected area of protected
areas across the Americas that birds need and also the
planet needs, frankly to be healthy. We also back very
smart and strategic policy to make this planet a better
place to help both birds, people and the planet. We
(10:40):
tackle climate change because of what I mentioned earlier, of
the impacts of how that's magnifying a lot of the
threats that bird space, habitat, loss, fragmentation, pollution, and other things.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
And then finally, we build community.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
So I like to think of Audubon, and I refer
to Audubon as a movement of people who.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Care about birds on the planet.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
And more importantly, I think we're a movement of people
of ordinary people who are doing extraordinary things. And so
we have about one point nine million supporters at autumn, and.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
All of those, all of us are working out protecting habitat.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Accelerating clean energy, sequestering and storing carbon and natural systems,
tackling important smart policies to make this planet a better place,
and then ultimately building a community that is inclusive and
is welcoming to every type of person out there.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Well, Elizabeth, this is a good segue. How are you funded?
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Ah, So we are funded. We have a number of
different funding streams. We are very grateful for the generous
charitable contributions that we receive. A big chunk of our
funding is received by folks that are kind enough to
contribute and.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Donate to our organization.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
We also receive some public funding as well, but mostly
it's private donations. It's sharitable contributions as well as and
that includes membership. Our members are paying members, and so
we are just we're just so grateful for the people
that choose to spend their hard earned money so fororting
that work what we do to create a planet that
(12:25):
basically thrives, not just for for ours book, also for people.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
And we will give the website at the end with
social media channels and platforms and everything else at the end.
And you can miss that big fat donate button when
you go to the website, so we'll make sure to
highlight at the end. Elizabeth, I did want to talk
a little bit more about data, and I won't hold
you specifically to any numbers, but you know, we're always
so many we're so proud in the United States about
how we're leaders in certain areas and others were not
(12:50):
when it comes to conservation and birds, and of course
the whole world is dealing with climate change right now,
where we rank as far as how the rest of
the world is doing when it comes to saving birds
out there?
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Well, as I mentioned, birds are declined, not just in
North America with the three billion birds that we were
part of a report that came out several years ago
about that, but birds are declining. There's a report called
the State of the Birds Report. Birds are declining across
the globe. And again, I think this is because of
impacts that we've induced, impacts that we have, and that's
(13:26):
affecting their food sources, it's affecting their stopover sites. I mean,
one of the most amazing things about birds is they travel.
Some species travel literally thousands of miles every year to
move between where they spend the winters and where they
spend the time where they breed and produce chicks and
pats our eggs produce chicks, and so these birds are
(13:50):
moving across the landscape. And one of the things I
like to emphasize this is not exactly what you asked me, Dennis,
but I'm going to go on a tangent second. I
think it's important that people that people understand this. You know, birds. Sure, birds,
I'm talking about why birds are magical. They fly, they
have incredible colors, they sing these amazing songs. They're certainly that,
(14:15):
but they are also huge unifiers.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Birds transverb.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
They go across the America's many birds travel across the Americas.
They take these thousands, as I said, thousands of mile
journey every year between their wintering and breeding sites. They
don't see politics, they don't see geographic borders.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
They are not They're away there.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
They transcend all the things that we often can use
as human beings.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
To divide us.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
And I think right now, as we are living in
a world that, in my mind, is becoming increasingly polarized,
birds are a way that we can unify people. We
often at Audubon use for to start a conversation with
people who may not typically engage with conservation organizations. So
(15:08):
we will use shared values. We will use a love
of birds to bring people to the table. Ranchers, farmers,
tribal leaders, elected officials, local community leaders, industry leaders. We
can use birds to unify people to get down to
sit at a table and to craft solutions that they
(15:31):
can all support. And that is I think one of
the things that really differentiates Autumn. Frankly, it's one of
the things is that we can convene all these diverse
groups in the pursuit of a healthier planet again for birds, people,
and of course ultimately the planet that we rely on
(15:51):
for food and for clean water and for healthy food systems.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Elizabeth, one of the things I wanted to talk to
you about today is advtting. And I know that in
this series we talked to so many for profit and nonprofits.
Depending on what they do, it's either a Capitol hill
or it's the people that are part of their membership.
But advocation is a real big deal. So you've been
with them now as CEO for for almost four and
a half years now. When it comes to advocation, whether
(16:17):
it is you know, talking to government officials or state
officials or people around the United States, around the world,
what does it look like when you're advocating for the
Audubon Society.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Sure, well, we're we're advocating for the Autobon Society. We're
advocating for a healthier future and a healthier planet for
birds and for people. So that's the top thing. We
have local chapters all around the country. We have state
and regional programs all around the United States, and increasingly
now we've been expanding, we've been following the Birds across
(16:50):
the Western hemisphere.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
So we're actually actively working in eleven.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Different countries across the America's right now, and so we
will will bring in either are a selection of our
one point nine million members who are very active in
terms of advocating for really important policies. We have a
Healthy Birds, Healthy Planet and policy agenda. So we're very strategic.
(17:15):
We're very focused on what we work on again in
pursuit of protecting habitat, accelerating clean energy, responsibly building community.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Okay, well, one of the things I want to talk
about in this series, and if you don't mind me
indulging you, is about leadership. And we talk to a
lot of people and I realized, once again, your journey
is very specific to yours. But it's obvious the communication
that you have with people, not only domestically but internationally.
And with that said, we've heard about team and culture
(17:45):
and communication, all those buzzwords that are very important. And
you do have a very fluid job, a lot of
moving parts and climate changes every day, and there's just
a lot of things going on. So when I use
the word leadership specific in your role and all the
people that you talk to, all the different agencies, including
these ranchers and farmers and people that follow birds, and
(18:07):
people domestically and around the world, what does the leadership
look like to you?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
To me, leaders are only leaders and people choose to follow.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
So to me, leadership looks.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Like setting an ambitious and bold vision that can inspire
and motivate people towards the future. It looks like creating
a culture that is supportive and enable staff to thrive
and bring their best selves to work. It involves being
(18:41):
really clear on what you're trying to accomplish. So one
of the things I talk about a lot is what's
the outcome we're trying to achieve here. Now we know
what that is. The outcome is to bend the bird
curve to halt and ultimately reverse the decline of birds
across the Americas. But being really clear on not only
spreading that outcome, Dennis, but also creating metrics so you
(19:01):
can you can monitor your progress along the way.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
And I'll give you a great example.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
When we created our strategic plan flight Plan, we set
a goal to protect three hundred million acres across the Americas.
And not only do we want core areas where birds
could stop to breed and to winter, but we talked
about protecting what we call the hotels and restaurants that
the birds need, the stopover sites that they need along
(19:29):
their journey. And by doing this, because birds are sentinels,
because they're symbols of environmental health. Typically, when bird populations
are thriving, the environment and the ecosystems are doing well.
In places that are being degraded, birds are often one
of the first species to leave that area. So we
(19:49):
set a goal with three hundred million acres of protected
habitat across the Americas. Over the last few years, we've
actually conserved one hundred million of those acres, and so
we have two hundred more to go. But the point
being we've we've set a world vision, we've set clear metrics,
and we're working on continually improving the culture so that
(20:12):
staff again can bring their best sells to work, can.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
Thrive in their positions.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Because everyone that works at Audubon is very passionate about
our mission. I mean, the mission is really what we
say is a mission brings people to Audubon.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
The people keep people at.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
All on I like that. That's great. Well, let's do this, Elizabeth.
Before we give the website and a few other notes
for our listeners, I'd like to get some final thoughts
from you. I really enjoyed this conversation, but I'd like
to recap what we've talked about and just kind of
kind of round things up for us if we could possibly. So,
let's get some final thoughts from you. And the floor
is yours.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Great, Thank you so much. Des Here are my final thoughts.
Birds are more than just atiful. They are the symbols
and the sentinels of our planets well being. And birds
need the same thing that people do. They need clean air,
they need clean water, they need healthy food systems, and
they need a stable climate. And so what I would
(21:09):
encourage people to do is learn more about the birds
in your backyard and take some kind of action. It
could look like planting native species in your backyard. It
could look like backing out smart policies that protect wildlife.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
It might be to go to a local autobon center.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
We have brick and mortar centers all across the United
States and increasingly in Latin America as well, where you
can learn about birds and conservation and then or become
a member of Audubon. Go to audubon dot org sign
up for a membership, Support us, donate to our call
so that we can continue to create a healthy planet
for birds and for people. There's so many things that
(21:50):
people can do, but again, this proverbial canary in.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
The coal mine.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Birds are the proverbial canary in the coal mine. They're
telling us our systems right now are out of whack.
But Autumn is listening to them, and these birds are
pointing us to solutions for what we can do to
make this planet a more livable place for everybody.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Very well said. And it's a gorgeous website folks, and
easy to navigate on. There're lots of information, beautiful pictures
as you can imagine, and you should check it out. Elizabeth.
One of the things in this series that I get
to take away is to talk to really cool people
like you, And the takeaway that I have the site,
what you do, which is just fantastic, is your passion
for this. And every time we talk to leaders and
(22:32):
CEOs and entrepreneurs, that's usually leads the whole conversations. The
passion and you certainly have it, so I can't thank
you enough for your valuable time. Thank you so much,
and I'm really glad we could feature you on CEOs
You Should Know continued success.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Thank you so much, Dennis, it's a pleasure to speak
with you today.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Our community partner, M and T Bank supports CEOs You
Should Know is part of their ongoing commitment to building
strong communities, and that starts by backing the businesses within them.
As a Bank for Communities, M and T believes in
dedicating time, talent, and resources to help local businesses thrive
because when businesses succeed, our communities succeed.
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