Board of Directors

Following is a list of NAS Directors, including city of residence and years in which terms expire. If you have questions about the NAS Board, please send them in an email.

The Board of Directors meets three times a year in locations throughout the country in order to build our network of state offices, nature centers and local chapters. Meetings are open to the public; view the schedule here.

The National Audubon Society's Board of Directors has nine Regional Directors -- members elected by chapters. If you have any questions about Audubon that cannot be answered by your local chapter or your state office, or if you do not have a local chapter or state office, please contact your regional Board member.

Leigh Altadonna
Jon Anda
A. Peter Cannon, Jr.
Mary McDermott Cook
Alan R. Dolan
Joseph Ellis
Margot Ernst
David B. Ford
Frank Gill
David B. Hartwell
Joy Hester
Allen J. Model
Jane-Kerin Moffat
Peggy Montaño
Hector E. Morales, Jr. 
Jess Morton
Kristi Patterson
Terry L. Root
David Roux
Lloyd Semple
Hugh Simmons
Marina Skumanich
Michael Stolper
B. Holt Thrasher (Chair)
Douglas Varley
Victor D. Vidales, III
Alan Wilson
Alexander E. Zagoreos 

Board member biographies:

Class of 2013

Jon Anda of Wilton, Connecticut joined UBS Securities in September 2010 to start a new Environmental Markets Group within Global Capital Markets. The new group will work with cleantech, utility, and industrial companies on the application of environmental policy analytics to financial decision making. Jon began fulltime environmental markets work in 2007 at the Environmental Defense Fund and as a Visiting Fellow at the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy at Duke University. Prior to that time, he spent 20 years at Morgan Stanley were he ran a number of business units including Global Capital Markets, Corporate Finance, Equity Capital Markets, Investment Banking & Equities in Asia, and served as a Vice Chairman of Institutional Securities. Jon has an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a B.S. from the University of Illinois. He is a trustee of the Asia Society, where he founded the U.S. – China Cooperation on Energy & Climate.

A. Peter Cannon, Jr. of Madison, Wisconsin is the regional director for National Audubon Society’s Central Region. Mr. Cannon is the Program Chair of the Madison Audubon Society and Acting Secretary of the Wisconsin Audubon Council. He is a retired legislative analyst with Wisconsin’s Legislative Reference Bureau and is Secretary of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. 

Mary McDermott Cook of Dallas, Texas, is President of the Eugene McDermott Foundation. She is a Founding Member of the Trinity River Audubon Center, Chair of the Trinity Trust Board for the overall Trinity River Project (of which the Trinity River Audubon Center is the cornerstone), Vice Chair of the Dallas Museum of Art Board, and on the Executive Committee of the Dallas Zoological Society. She enjoys spending her time with her many dogs and at her ranch in North Texas.

David B. Ford of New York, New York is currently the President of DBF Associates, a private investment firm, and Senior Advisor to Gatemore Capital Management, LLC, a private wealth and institutional investment management firm.  David was previously with the Goldman Sachs Group, where he was a Managing Director and co-head of Global Asset Management.  He serves as a Trustee and Vice Chairman of the Board of the New School University, a Trustee of Florida State University and is on the Board of Overseers of the Wharton School. David is a member of the Board and Director of the National Audubon Society, The Global Heritage Fund, The Redwood Library and The Preservation Society of Newport County.  David received his B.S. from Florida State University and an M.B.A. from The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

Frank Gill of Rushland, Pennsylvania is the retired Chief Scientist of National Audubon Society. He is former Vice President of the Academy of Natural Sciences and past President of the American Ornithologists’ Union. He is the author of Ornithology, 3e.

Jane-Kerin Moffat of Greenwich, Connecticut is the regional director for National Audubon Society's Northeast Region. She is a member of the Audubon Connecticut Advisory Board, Chair of its Chapters and Members' Services Committee, and a lifetime honorary member of Audubon Greenwich Advisory Board. Previously she served as grassroots coordinator of Audubon's "Listen to the Sound" (Long Island Sound) campaign and the Sound-wide coalition of environmental groups to which it gave rise. For many years, she also served as a leader of the former Audubon Council of Connecticut and of the former Greenwich Audubon Society. She is a retired school teacher.

Jess Morton of San Pedro, California is the regional director for National Audubon Society's Western Region. He is Treasurer, past Newsletter Editor, and founding President of the Palos Verdes/South Bay Audubon Society and founder of the Audubon YES! (Youth Environmental Services) Program. Jess is a natural history writer and photographer, poet, tax preparer, board member of several environmental and cultural organizations, and a recipient of National Audubon Society's 1996 Charles H. Callison Award.

Kristi Patterson of Portola Valley, California is a member of the Audubon California Advisory Board and serves as its Marketing Committee Chair. Previously she managed the Western region product implementation group of Kana Communications, a software startup company. She also created and led the education and training division for Kana’s training of employees, customers, and partners since 1998. Prior to Kana, Ms. Patterson worked at Bain Consulting and then Netscape Communications. She enjoys exploring Northern California, Western Colorado and Montana with her husband, Tom, and their two children.

Lloyd Semple of Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan is Vice Chair of National Audubon Society’s Board and Chair of the Audit and Ethics Committees. Mr. Semple is Dean at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and Chairman Emeritus of Dykema Gossett PLLC, a Detroit-based law firm. He is an officer and director of the Detroit Zoological Society and is Chairman of the Michigan chapter of The Nature Conservancy.

Michael Stolper of Berwyn, Pennsylvania is a general partner of Veritable, LP, a privately-held registered investment advisor. He was the co-managing director of Hawthorn, a PNC Company, and was President of Stolper & Co. He has over 30 years experience as an investment advisor and financial consultant.

Victor D. Vidales, III of Phoenix, Arizona, is Chair of Audubon Arizona's Nina Mason Pulliam Rio Salado Audubon Center Stewardship and Education Committee. Mr. Vidales is Owner and Founder of RE/MAX New Heights Realty and South Downtown Properties, a Phoenix-based real estate and development company. He is currently serving as a board member for Arizona State University's College of Public Programs. Mr. Vidales is the former Executive Director of the National Football League's Youth Education Town, a K-12 charter school, and President and CEO of Arizona Quest For Kids, a college preparation program for low-income youth.

Alan Wilson of Manchester, Massachusetts is a Vice Chair of National Audubon Society and Chair of its Conservation and Outreach Committee. Mr. Wilson is an environmental lawyer and retired Vice President of the Conservation Law Foundation. Mr. Wilson serves on the board of the Jackson Ski Touring Foundation and the Montserrat College of Art, and was formerly Chair of Massachusetts Audubon Society. He is the elected Town Moderator in Manchester.

Class of 2014

Leigh Altadonna of Wyncote, Pennsylvania is the regional director nominee for National Audubon Society’s Eastern Region. He is Assistant Superintendent of School in the Abington School District in Abington, Pennsylvania, where he has been employed in various positions for 41 years. Leigh is past President of the Audubon Council of Pennsylvania and Vice Chairman of Audubon Pennsylvania. He is currently Chair of the Stewardship Board of the John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove and a board member of the Wyncote Audubon Society where he is Chair of the Crosswicks Sanctuary Committee. Leigh also serves on the boards of the Abington Educational Foundation, Abington Community Taskforce, Montgomery County Advisory Board for History and Cultural Arts, and is Co-chair of the Abington Human Relations Advisory Council.

Joseph Ellis of Cornwall, Connecticut, is a former Partner and Advisory Director at Goldman, Sachs & Co., where he served as the firm's principal liaison and consultant with retailers around the world. Mr. Ellis has served as Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of The New York State Nature Conservancy. He is on the Board of Trustees of RARE (a non-profit organization specializing in environmental conservation and sustainable economic development in developing countries), the Governing Council of the Wilderness Society, and on the President’s Council of World Wildlife Fund. Mr. Ellis has also served on the boards of directors of Coach, Inc. and Waterworks, Inc. Mr. Ellis is author of Ahead of the Curve: A Commonsense Guide to Forecasting Business and Market Cycles, published in October 2005 by Harvard Business School Press, as well as Birds in Wood and Paint: American Miniature Bird Carvings and Their Carvers, 1900-1970, published in October 2009 by University Press of New England.

Margot Ernst of New York, New York is Secretary of National Audubon, Chair of the Development Committee, and also serves on the Education, Chapters and Centers Committee. She is a retired Curator and Associate Director of the Japan Society Gallery. She writes and lectures on Japanese art and cuisine and has edited several books on Japanese culture. Ms. Ernst is Co-Chair of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in New York, New York. She is an honorary trustee of the Adirondack Museum and serves on several environmental and cultural boards in the Adirondacks where she owns an inn with her husband and lives part-time. She is a member of the Audubon New York Advisory Board focusing on development issues.

Joy Hester of Houston, Texas is the regional director nominee for National Audubon Society’s Southwest Region. She is a past President of Houston Audubon Society and currently serves on its Board of Directors as a member of the Executive Committee. She has also served on the Board of Directors of Audubon Texas (2006-2009) and on the boards of Texas Land Trust Council and Galveston Bay Foundation. She is a retired attorney with a former practice in land transactions and contract issues.

Peggy Montaño of Denver, Colorado is a partner at Trout, Raley, Montaño, Witwer & Freeman, P.C. She served as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Colorado, a Special Assistant to the Attorney General for the State of New Mexico and as an advisor to the University of Colorado Natural Resource Law Center. Ms. Montaño is the former Chair of the Colorado State Parks Board and a former member of the Audubon Colorado Advisory Board.

Hector E. Morales Jr. of Washington DC is Vice Chairman of Global Strategic Associates LLC which provides strategic consulting and investment advisory services to clients in the US, Asia, and Latin America.  He is also Of Counsel at Baker McKenzie LLP.  He served as the US Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States and was the lead negotiator for Presidents Bush and Obama in preparations for the Fifth Summit of the Americas. Prior to that, he served as US Executive Director at the Inter-American Development Bank and as a member of the board of the Inter-American Foundation.

Terry L. Root of Stanford, California is a Senior Fellow in Woods Institute for the Environment and Professor by Courtesy in Biology at Stanford University. She was a Lead Author, focusing on biological impacts, on the third and fourth assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change, the latter of which shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 with Vice President Gore. She is a Review Editor for the fifth assessment report. Her research, beginning with her pioneering large-scale research examining continent-wide ranges and densities of wintering North American birds using National Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count Data, focuses on large-scale ecological consequences of climate disruption. Dr. Root is on the board of PRBO Conservation Science and the scientific advisory board of Defenders of Wildlife.

B. Holt Thrasher of Greenwich, Connecticut is Managing Director and founder of Mooreland Partners and Chair of the Board of National Audubon Society. Holt has 25 years of investment banking, operating management and consulting experience specializing in the Technology and Communications Industries. Holt previously served as Chair of the Audubon Connecticut Advisory Board since 2001 and is on the Board of the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters. He also serves on the Advisory Board of Jefferson Partners Capital, a Toronto-based technology venture capital firm.

Douglas Varley of Washington, D.C. is a member of Caplin & Drysdale. Doug’s legal practice focuses primarily on advising national non-profit organizations, in particular environmental groups, and large private foundations. He has provided advice on some of the largest conservation transactions in North America, including the Great Bear Rain Forest protected area in British Columbia and the Cargill Salt Pond restoration in San Francisco Bay. Working out of the firm’s Washington office he advises non-profit groups on their efforts to influence public policy. He also teaches at the Georgetown University School of Law. He is fascinated by birds.

Class of 2015

Alan R. Dolan of Massillon, Ohio is the regional candidate for National Audubon Society's Central Great Lakes Region. He is President, Membership Database Chair and Newsletter Editor of the Canton Audubon Society and former Treasurer of the Council of Ohio Audubon Chapters. Mr. Dolan is the former First Vice President and Secretary of the Canton Audubon Society and former President and Vice President of the Council of Ohio Audubon Chapters.

David Hartwell of Minneapolis, Minnesota has been President of Bellcomb Technologies since founding the company in 1989. The company designs and produces structural, lightweight panels and panel systems for non aerospace. He has served on many non-profit boards including Belwin Conservancy, Conservation Minnesota, Land Trust Alliance, Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minnesota Audubon and the Mississippi River Fund. In 2001 he began to build a coalition of conservation groups that culminated in 2008 with the passage by the voters in Minnesota of a constitutional amendment that will raise an estimated $6 billion dollars for conservation in the next 25 years. He also serves on numerous for-profit and foundation boards. He and his wife enjoy travel to distant places and have 4 children and 4 grandchildren. He is an avid birdwatcher and gardener.

Allen J. Model of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is Treasurer of National Audubon Society and Chair of its Planning and Finance Committee. Mr. Model is the co-founder and Managing Director of Overseas Strategic Consulting, Ltd. He serves on the boards of the Wildlife Trust, Middlesex School, Jerusalem Foundation, Women's Way and Bach Festival of Philadelphia. Mr. Model is Chair of the Leo Model Foundation.

David Roux of Upperville, VA is co-founder and Chairman of Silver Lake. He was formerly Chairman and CEO of Liberate Technologies, Executive Vice President at Oracle Corporation and Senior Vice President at Lotus Development.  Mr. Roux began his technology career as co-founder and CEO of Datext, Inc., the first commercial CD-ROM publishing company.  He is currently a member of the Avaya and Intelsat boards.  Previously, Mr. Roux was a board member of Business Objects S.A., Gartner, Inc., Serena Software, Symantec, Thomson, UGS Corp., and was the Chairman of the Board of Seagate Technology.  He is also on the board of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, a member of the DuBois Institute's National Advisory Board, a trustee at The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, and an advisor to the Positive Coaching Alliance.  Mr. Roux holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and an M. Phil. from King’s College, Cambridge University.  He is a graduate of Harvard College.

Hugh Simmons of Phoenix, Maryland is the regional director for National Audubon Society's Mid-Atlantic Region. He is Senior Administrator of the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Hugh serves as Vice President of the Chesapeake Audubon Society; Chapter Relations Committee Chair of the Audubon Maryland-DC State Board; and board member of the Pickering Creek Audubon Center. He is the former President and Treasurer of the Chesapeake Audubon Society and former chapter representative and Secretary of the Audubon Maryland-DC State Board.

Marina Skumanich of Seattle, Washington is the regional director for National Audubon Society's Northwest Region. She has served as Interim Director, Conservation Chair, and President of the Board of Seattle Audubon Society, and has been active in the Audubon community for many years. She has also served on various other non-profit boards in both environmental and social justice arenas. She is a former senior research scientist specializing in pollution prevention at the Battelle Seattle Research Center, and is currently self-employed as an environmental policy consultant.

Alexander E. Zagoreos of New York, New York is a recently retired partner of Lazard LLC and a senior advisor to its asset management business. He is the Treasurer and a member of the Development Committee of Audubon New York, and a Trustee of the Brooklyn Bridge Conservancy. Mr. Zagoreos is a former President of Scenic Hudson, Inc, a former Trustee of Scenic Hudson Land Trust and a former Trustee of Hudson Riverkeeper, Inc.