Thrasher Elected Audubon Board Chair

A Connecticut business and conservation leader, whose efforts advanced the protection and restoration of the Long Island Sound and helped safeguard thousands of acres of critical habitats, has been elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Audubon Society.

B. Holt Thrasher served as founding member and chair of the board of Audubon Connecticut since June of 2001. He joined Audubon's national board in 2008. As Audubon's new chair, Thrasher succeeds former EPA Administrator Carol Browner, who resigned from the board to accept the newly created post of President Obama's assistant for energy and climate change.

Thrasher's leadership played a critical role in advancing Audubon's legislative, educational and conservation operations in Connecticut. Resulting efforts helped protect and restore Long Island Sound by focusing tens of millions of state and federal dollars on Connecticut clean water projects, and launched a successful Important Bird Area's program to identify and protect vital avian habitats as part of an international conservation initiative. Thrasher helped secure Audubon's place as Connecticut's leading environmental education organization. His work with the national Board's Planning and Finance Committee will continue to strengthen Audubon's effective use and management of its resources, ensuring the continuation of vital conservation efforts amid the growing challenges of a global recession.

"Audubon's unquestioned leadership in bird, habitat and environmental conservation is urgently needed as this time of unprecedented challenge and opportunity," said Thrasher. "Our programs and locally-based Chapters and Centers have unparalleled ability to connect people with nature and turn that concern into the kind action that will support the positive environmental agenda of the new administration along with many other conservation initiatives essential to ensuring a healthier future."

A Managing Director and the founder of Mooreland Partners, a global technology industry, investment banking and advisory firm, Thrasher has more than 25 years of banking, management and consulting experience. He and his family reside in Greenwich, Connecticut.