Suzanne Dixon Named Vice President of the Mississippi Flyway at Audubon

WASHINGTON – The National Audubon Society welcomed Suzanne Dixon as vice president of the Mississippi Flyway. Dixon joins Audubon following her tenure as the first female president and CEO at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC), where she led efforts to protect thousands of new acres along the famed Appalachian Trail to benefit wildlife, trail visitors, and neighboring communities.

“I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to reconnect people to nature through shared love and appreciation for birds, one of our most spectacular – and accessible – of Nature’s creatures,” said Dixon. “Conserving climate-resilience habitat for birds benefits other wildlife species, and our communities.”

As vice president of the Mississippi Flyway, Dixon will drive Audubon’s strategic direction in the flyway as well as help develop and support a powerful grassroots network of state offices, local chapters, nature centers, volunteers and partners in the region. She will oversee Audubon Dakotas, Audubon Great Lakes, Audubon Minnesota, Audubon Nebraska, Audubon Texas, and the newly formed regional office, Audubon Delta (Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi). In this role, she will serve as a partner and manager to the state executive directors to increase coordination and communication across the national organization.

“From the coastal habitats of the Gulf of Mexico and the Great Lakes to the grasslands of the Dakotas and Nebraska, more than 325 bird species – like Whooping Cranes, Least Terns and Prothonotary Warblers – rely on a healthy Mississippi Flyway to migrate thousands of miles and breed each year,” said Rebeccah Sanders, senior vice president of state leadership at Audubon. “Suzanne’s proven record of regional strategic planning is the perfect fit to coalesce Audubon’s successful state-level efforts into the flyway-wide conservation plan needed to protect birds throughout their life cycle. We’re thrilled to have her expertise and leadership at Audubon.”

At the ATC, Dixon established a regional structure that boosted staff leadership potential and streamlined stakeholder, volunteer, and agency partner communications. She also worked with her team to launch the ATC’s Wild East campaign, increase visibility and impact with policy-makers, and grow private donations. Dixon and her team reshaped media narratives of the Appalachian Trail, transforming awareness, public engagement, and organizational funding around the trail as one of the last remaining contiguous open spaces in the Eastern United States. As an independent contractor, she also partnered with multiple conservation nonprofits to maximize revenue, relationships, and resources with attention to long-term strategic planning and real-time needs.

Dixon also played key roles at the National Parks Conservation Association advocating for the broader protection of the National Park System with accomplishments including the designation of San Antonio Missions National Historical Park as a World Heritage Site. Currently, she serves on the board of directors for the Waco Mammoth Foundation and the Lone Star Coastal Alliance, and on the Advisory Board of the East Coast Greenway.

A native of Ireland, Dixon holds degrees in sociology of sport from Inchicore College in Dublin, Ireland, and leisure management from the University of Leicester in Leicester, England

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About Audubon
The National Audubon Society protects birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow. Audubon works throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education, and on-the-ground conservation. State programs, nature centers, chapters, and partners give Audubon an unparalleled wingspan that reaches millions of people each year to inform, inspire, and unite diverse communities in conservation action. A nonprofit conservation organization since 1905, Audubon believes in a world in which people and wildlife thrive. Learn more at www.audubon.org and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @audubonsociety.

Media Contact: Chandler Lennon, chandler.lennon@audubon.org, 212.979.3063