Q&A With Candidates for the Central Flyway South Regional Director Election

Cynthia Pruett

Question 1   Regional directors serve as a vital link between the National Audubon Society and Audubon chapters. How would you approach communication with chapters in your region so that you could represent their interests and keep them informed?

In order to have effective communications, I would need to review the status of current communications and consult with chapters on their effectiveness.  Partnering with chapters, we can then build on the current platforms to enhance what, when, and how to meet chapter needs. The regional director is in a key position to facilitate this by helping to communicate information and ideas, challenges and successes, and impacts and opportunities both up and down the chain of the organization.

Question 2   Growing and strengthening the Audubon network is a foundational element of Audubon’s new strategic plan. From your perspective, what are three key elements would deepen the relationship between the National Audubon Society and the chapters in your region?

As regional director, I would like to see developed and help foster: a productive partnership of National and the chapters in implementing the strategic  plan, a closer relationship of staff and chapters, and a commitment to mutual goals by National and chapters in meeting the elements of the strategic plan.  

Question 3   Audubon is committed to increasing the diversity of our staff, board, volunteers, members, and supporters. How would you help Audubon build a more diverse and inclusive conservation community?

This is a question of great complexity with no pat and easy answers.  I do believe, however, we have to search for any models of success, within and outside of the organization, small or large, to see how they might be useful to us. Importantly, we also need to engage in dialog with those communities we seek to include in order to have meaningful progress.

Question 4   The Central-South Flyway regional director is elected by chapters in Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma. How has your experience with Audubon prepared you to represent this region?

Three key elements that qualify me for the position are experience, leadership and passion.

 A member of National Audubon for over 20 years, I have been active in two chapters, Fairfax Audubon (now Northern Virginia) and Tucson Audubon as a volunteer, board member and president.  Serving actively and initiating new and successful strategies and programs has been my forte.

In addition to Audubon, I have served in my communities on a library foundation board, as chair of a citizens committee for the ecological restoration of a closing U.S. Army base, president of a garden club, master gardener in both Virginia and Arizona, and volunteer at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum to mention just a few.  

During my business career, both as an engineering professional and as a corporate executive, I lead not only teams developing and supporting processes, but for IBM, as Corporate Director of Environmental Programs worldwide, set environmental policy and strategic direction for the business.  I did this again as the first director for IBM Employee Health and Safety worldwide.  This leadership carries over to my continued involvement with Audubon today.

Finally, as a birding enthusiast for much of my adult and a supporter of a vibrant and healthy environment,  I believe my position as regional director would not only utilize the skills and abilities that I have developed over my lifetime, it will provide me with a personally meaningful contribution to a cause and organization about which I am passionate.

Stephen Gast

Question 1   Regional directors serve as a vital link between the National Audubon Society and Audubon chapters. How would you approach communication with chapters in your region so that you could represent their interests and keep them informed?

Establishing a dialogue is the first priority. Chapters need to know that they have someone who will both listen and understand.

I suspect that there are chapters who have not realized much value in communicating their interests or needs to the national level. Why that could be so might have many answers, but commonalities should exist between various regions. I would seek to understand why such perspectives may persist in the South Central Flyway, and through interaction with other regional directors, identify what can be done to change these in a way that is profitable to the entire Audubon organization.

Understanding what each chapter needs and what they want to know for such a region as broad and diverse as the South Central Flyway region is maybe an impossible task, but I believe that a regional director needs to start with this intent.

As for the tools of communication, I currently use email as a principal communication tool, and would certainly want to use phone calls and teleconferences. I will however willing to explore the chapter leadership’s desire for other alternatives, such as Facebook or setting up a listserve. But ultimately, face-to-face encounters are the best method of communication. Making a proactive effort to visit with key leadership in the region would be a top goal in the initial year of my term.

Question 2   Growing and strengthening the Audubon network is a foundational element of Audubon’s new strategic plan. From your perspective, what are three key elements would deepen the relationship between the National Audubon Society and the chapters in your region?

The new strategic plans have not been revealed to me, nor from my limited perspective, do I feel knowledgeable enough to narrow this to three key elements representative of all the chapters collectively in the region.

However, regardless of specific chapter issues throughout the region, this subject lends itself to a way of strategic thinking using stakeholder analysis. Two key perspectives come from this way of thinking. These concern understanding the value equation from both the perspectives—that of National, "why are chapters valuable and how can they be made to be more valuable to National Audubon," and equally (and more importantly from the positon of regional director), "why is a national affiliation or membership of value to a chapter?"

In my recent personal experiences at the state and chapter level I have seen instances of both adding value adding and destroying value with respect to National interaction with chapters. Value destruction can occur easily through wrong assumptions or ignorance about a stakeholder, regardless of best of intentions. Value creation on the other hand usually occurs with full understanding of both sides of the equation. So one element is in understanding what makes win-win successes at all levels. This takes time. And the national organization needs to use and listen to its regional directors in this arena. It is far easier for a chapter to reach a conclusion about the value of National to themselves at any moment in time. But for national to understand the value in each individual chapter or the unforeseen risk to their assets with any particular action is a whole other animal. I think one of the regional director’s responsibilities should be to assist in such issues and opportunities.

This leads to a next key element or challenge: How does a South Central Flyway regional representative effectively understand what the values are among and between 47 individual chapters and the National organization? Can one individual effectively be the nexus of communication for value creation so many independent entities? During my career in industry I once had 23 direct reports to manage, most of them highly educated technical professionals. That was a difficult task with just this many, even as a full-time job. Just getting to know 47 chapters in a year seems pretty difficult.

Thus a key element to being at least moderately successful in such a venture will be to leverage whatever assets that collective state-centric leadership and national chapter services can provide. An effective regional director will need to take advantage of any larger chapter group convocations that occur in the region, and to encourage that such be attempted and undertaken.

And finally, Audubon can never do a good enough job at celebrating successes! We have so many successes in so many chapters, such incredible amounts of outreach and accomplishment, that it is hard to get your head around it all. I have been reviewing various websites of our chapters as part of this process of election and the amount of activities collectively and individually is mind boggling. We have some incredible things going on—this is an obvious value to all of us. How do we leverage these for increasing the benefit of all? The national convention is a great place to share these successes, but is that enough? Regional directors need to call attention to and celebrate the great things being done in their regions. I would propose regional level recognition events.  

Question 3   Audubon is committed to increasing the diversity of our staff, board, volunteers, members, and supporters. How would you help Audubon build a more diverse and inclusive conservation community?

This continues to be a vexing problem. It is one that we at Houston Audubon have struggled with for decades. It stems from difficulties in identifying leaders with an interest in the environment from within these broader communities, which in turn stems from the differences between the subcultures of these communities; that is to say, that the environment is not a primary subject of interest to many. The solution is one of relentless presence and educational outreach within these communities and of maintaining a consciousness within all Auduboners that we must float all boats with our message. Maintaining awareness and tapping into the local issues of concern that are both environmental in nature, and which can be approached through appreciation of birds should be a strategic objective, especially those issues of cross-cultural appeal.

During these issue-based opportunities, whether it is around a rare bird viewing, a community park development, or an industrial disaster, we must conscientiously seek out potential leaders to whom to extend invitations to become active in Audubon, to receive training and assistance through the Audubon experience to develop their potential. As an example, I myself came to birding through Boy Scouts. Do the Boy Scouts have a better handle on diversity? Have we done enough to provide avenues to attract young naturalists developed through various girls and boys scouting experiences? I will be forever grateful to the scoutmaster who introduced me to Audubon.

I am a moderately fluent speaker of Spanish, having had to conduct business in Peru largely in the Spanish language for 5 years. I would truly enjoy assisting any of our chapters in any way that I could in their local communities as well as participate in cross-border outreach and Latin American programs through Audubon’s international programs. In the South Central Region identifying Spanish speaking board members and volunteers should be an objective at local levels.

Unfortunately, I know that this issue is not one with a magic-bullet solution, but must be built one brick at a time.

Question 4   The Central-South Flyway regional director is elected by chapters in Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma. How has your experience with Audubon prepared you to represent this region?

I have been a member of Audubon since 1966, originally a member of the Three Rivers Audubon Society in southern Illinois. I was educated in Kansas where I birded the Konza Prairie and I annually enjoyed the springs listening to the booming of Greater Prairie Chickens. I have lived in what is now called the South Central Flyway region since 1974, having lived in Odessa, Texas (while working in the SE New Mexico oil and gas fields) where I was a member of the then-affiliated Midland Naturalists; spent three tours working in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, where I was a member of both Bartlesville and Tulsa Audubon Societies. But the majority of my adult life I have been in Houston Texas: from 1985-1996, 2002-2008, and 2011 to present.

During this history I have seen an Audubon chapter come and go, the value of affiliations tested, and been involved in bringing a chapter from active rejection of state and national involvement into a constructive and supportive relationship.

In addition to four terms in three separate capacities on Houston Audubon’s Board of Directors, I have served on nominating committees and have been directly involved in identifying and promoting board leadership as well board members. I have served in chairing search committees for Executive Directors at both state and chapter levels. I am currently serving a second term on the Texas Audubon Advisory Board having served also in the 1990s.

A current mission that I am working to support is Brian Trusty’s lead in a key strategy for the entire central flyway, and inclusive of northern Mexico. I am pleased that The Katy Prairie Conservancy, a land trust on whose board I also serve is pursuing accreditation under Audubon’s Bird-friendly Beef grasslands management initiative; and I have fostered discussions with others out of the state of Texas who have potential to join the program.

This lifetime of involvement in Audubon has been full of fun, surprises, occasional disappointments, but many more successes. I have been able to attend two national conventions and the recently restarted Texas State Chapter Assembly meetings. I have been able to attend three National Board meetings and three annual National Audubon Medal Award banquets (one honoring one of my personal heroes, E. O. Wilson). At the recent National Board meeting in Dallas this past year I lobbied for support for our Central Flyway grasslands strategy, as well as for support for our Texas chapters’ fight to protect the endangered Golden-cheeked Warbler. As a result David Yarnold wrote an excellent letter of support that appeared in several publications in Texas and which provided support for USFWS service’s decision in continuing its Endangered Species status.

Audubon has already provided to me a lifetime of challenges met, education received and opportunities for successful achievement in conservation of our natural resources. Each of these experiences has left me with a sense of awe and renewed enthusiasm for the Audubon mission and pride in our dedicated family. I would relish the opportunity, and believe that there is value in being enabled to share these as well as new experiences more broadly.