Jane Alexander Joins National Audubon Society Board of Directors

Jane Alexander, star of stage and screen and advocate for the arts and the environment, has been named to the board of directors of the National Audubon Society. 

With more than 120 roles to her credit, Alexander is best known for “The Great White Hope” (Tony Award, Academy Award nomination), “Kramer vs. Kramer”, “All the President’s Men”, and “Testament” (Academy Award nominations), and on television for her portrayal of Eleanor Roosevelt in “Eleanor and Franklin”, “Warm Springs” and “Playing for Time” (Emmy Awards). She was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 1994.

Alexander has been active in wildlife conservation for decades, serving as a trustee of the Wildlife Conservation Society and a founding board member of the American Bird Conservancy. She is a New York State Parks commissioner for the Taconic Region. She currently serves on the conservation council of Panthera and the stewardship council of BirdLife International, and she is active in Audubon’s Women in Conservation Council. In 2012, she received the Indianapolis Prize’s inaugural Jane Alexander Global Wildlife Ambassador Award.

“Jane Alexander knows this role well,” said Audubon President and CEO David Yarnold. “She understands the beauty of birds, and conveys her passion with power and conviction. Compelling story-telling is vital to any mission, and we are privileged to have her eloquent voice join ours for birds, wildlife and the environment we all share.”

“I’m thrilled to expand my role with Audubon,” said Alexander. “Audubon is a powerful and effective voice for birds, and I want to help get their message out to even more people.”

With total revenues in 2012 of $89.9 million, Audubon is one of the nation’s largest conservation organizations. Headquartered in New York, N.Y., the organization has 22 state offices, 47 nature centers and 465 chapters across the country, reaching more than four million people annually and playing leading roles in local and national conservation policy decisions, from Alaska to the Gulf Coast.

 “I think that we’re in a critical time on our planet,” Alexander told Audubon magazine last year. “For a lot of species, we just don’t have a lot of time. But the wonderful thing is … you give nature half a chance – just half a chance – and it will come back in spades. But it has to be given that chance.”

Alexander chaired the National Endowment for the Arts under President Clinton. Her book chronicling those years, “Command Performance: An Actress in the Theatre of Politics,” was a New York Times Notable Book.

Alexander’s passion for birds began in childhood, when she tried to imitate their flight, and she has been an active birder for 40 years. She participates in Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count and the Breeding Bird Survey, and she volunteers as a Piping Plover guardian in Canada.

Read her interview with Audubon magazine.