Leaders in International Entrepreneurship, Statewide Tourism Join National Board of Directors at Audubon

NEW YORK – In January 2019, the National Audubon Society welcomed Doug Chang, president of Red Rock Audubon Society, and Joe Watts, president of Birmingham Audubon, to its national board of directors. With decades of dedication to the environment, the newest board members add invaluable experience in the entrepreneurial and tourism sectors, internationally and regionally, to the leading conservation nonprofit organization. 

“The environment around us and threats to birds are ever-evolving and constantly require fresh regional and global perspectives from business and conservation sectors alike,” said David Yarnold (@david_yarnold), president and CEO of the National Audubon Society. “As Audubon expands conservation initiatives across the country, the unique expertise and acumen the newest members offer will help in our efforts to preserve the natural world for birds and people.”

Doug Chang is the president of Red Rock Audubon Society in Las Vegas, Nevada. Now retired, he held a 32-year career with The Procter & Gamble Co. that spanned across the U.S., Europe, Asia and Latin America, where he led the start-ups of new businesses, organizations, products, plants and supply-chain systems. He and his wife are passionate explorers of the natural world who have made it their life mission to lead and support conservation work.

Joe Watts is the president of Birmingham Audubon, who spent his childhood exploring the woods of rural southwest Alabama, leading to his interest in conservation. Since 1999, he has worked on state legislation that created the scenic byways program of Alabama to protect the scenic viewshed as well as statewide tourism projects, including the Alabama Birding Trails. Watts was an editor at Southern Progress Corporation – home to magazines like Southern Living and Cooking Light – writing about birding and developing recipes. 

About Audubon

With century-long history, Audubon is recognized as one of the world’s oldest, largest conservation organizations and is comprised of an unparalleled wingspan of 22 state offices, 41 nature centers, more than 450 local chapters and 23 wildlife sanctuaries. Beyond a network of 1.4 million members, Audubon boasts a reach of 1.75 million followers on its main social media account and hundreds of thousands of additional supporters through state and regional Audubon pages and accounts. 

Throughout 2018, Audubon worked tirelessly to safeguard birds with policy initiatives on local, state and federal levels. The organization enlisted its politically diverse network nationwide to defend America’s most important and successful bird-protection law, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and pass at least 52 Year of the Bird proclamations at the state and local levels all across the country. Nationally, Audubon and partners in conservation filed National Audubon Society v. Department of the Interior, a federal lawsuit defending the MBTA.

Audubon state offices and chapters led the charge to secure clean water and protect at-risk habitat for birds and people, including the approval of California’s Proposition 68, a $4 billion bond measure that will fund programs for safe parks, clean water, natural resources, climate change preparedness, and relief for the Salton Sea. 

On the East & Gulf Coasts, Audubon secured one of the most important wins for America's Everglades in a decade with the approval of the Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir project. Audubon’s advocacy efforts also influenced Congress to protect an additional 17,000 coastal acres in storm-prone states, including North and South Carolina, Delaware and Florida that provide important habitats and strengthen the nation’s natural infrastructure for birds and coastal communities. 

To learn more about Audubon’s highlights and wins from 2018, find the press release here. For more information on the organization’s 2016 - 2020 strategic direction, please visit here.

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About the National Audubon Society

The National Audubon Society protects birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow, throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education and on-the-ground conservation. Audubon’s state programs, nature centers, chapters and partners have an unparalleled wingspan that reaches millions of people each year to inform, inspire and unite diverse communities in conservation action. Since 1905, Audubon’s vision has been a world in which people and wildlife thrive. Audubon is a nonprofit conservation organization. Learn more at www.audubon.org and @audubonsociety.

Media Contact: Chandler Lennon, clennon@audubon.org, (212) 979-3063