Emmy Nominated Actress and Award-Winning Artist Elected to Conservation Organization’s Board; Audubon Minnesota and Institutional Giving Branch Get New Leads
Press Release – NEW YORK (June 29, 2016) — The National Audubon Society today announced the appointment of A. Cary Brown and Lili Taylor to its board of directors, Kevin Duffy as vice president of development and Molly Pederson as vice president and executive director of Audubon Minnesota. All appointed are charged to broaden the legacy conservation organization’s efficiency and reach across the Western Hemisphere.
A. Cary Brown is an artist and social entrepreneur, and presides over her family’s foundation, the Fiddlehead Fund. A native of Louisville, Kentucky, she is the granddaughter of environmentalist Sara “Sally” Shallenberger Brown, who taught her to draw birds early on, where today she records species with a paintbrush or a camera. Brown is a fifth-generation shareholder of Brown-Forman, her family’s international spirits and wine company, and serves as director of the company’s DendriFund, the Brown family sustainability foundation. She also serves as a trustee of BOMB Magazine, the Kentucky College of Art + Design, the W.L. Lyons Brown Foundation, The Lighthouse Works, and on the advisory boards of the Fralin Museum of Art and the Arts Council at the University of Virginia, and the Amazon Biodiversity Center.
Lili Taylor is a stage and screen actress who has appeared in such films as Mystic Pizza, I Shot Andy Warhol, and The Conjuring. Most recently she can be seen in ABC’s American Crime. She appeared in HBO’s Six Feet Under and Fox’s The X-Files, both of which garnered her Emmy nominations. She is also developing a TV show called Wild in the City with Richard Crossley, author of the Crossley ID guides. She currently serves on the board of the American Birding Association.
“Cary and Lili are both original talents and have the passion for birds that Audubon represents. They’ll bring creativity and energy to a Board that, more than ever, is attracting high profile leaders from the arts, finance, conservation and education,” said Audubon President and CEO David Yarnold (@david_yarnold).
Molly Pederson will serve as vice president and executive director of Audubon Minnesota, the state program of the National Audubon Society. She comes equipped with 15 years of public policy experience. Most recently she served for Governor Mark Dayton as a senior policy advisor, where she covered environment, energy and agriculture. Prior to her time in the statehouse, Molly spent nine years as the Government Affairs Director for Conservation Minnesota, where she oversaw the organization’s public policy and lobbying efforts. Her efforts contributed to the Clean Water Legacy Act, Great Lakes Compact, stable funding for transportation and transit.
“Molly’s outstanding leadership has advanced water quality and better environmental stewardship throughout the state of Minnesota. Her vision will take on our most pressing conservation challenges throughout the Mississippi Flyway,” said Yarnold.
Kevin Duffy is the new vice president of development, with a focus on institutional giving from foundations, corporations and government grants. Duffy joins Audubon from City Harvest, where he led their fundraising efforts and was responsible for raising more than $23 million a year. During his tenure, Duffy successfully led the organization’s first ever multi-year fundraising initiative, a $30 million campaign, which raised the money needed to fund the organization’s strategic plan. Prior to joining City Harvest, he taught English overseas and served as a case manager for families impacted by 9/11. He also serves on the Board of the Pelham Children’s Center.
“Audubon is experiencing a catalytic moment, facing the kind of major turnaround that legacy non-profits don’t generally attempt,” said Yarnold. “Kevin understands the investments needed so that we can truly execute our potential.”
With total revenues in 2014 of $92 million (up from $82.3 million in 2009), Audubon is one of the nation’s largest conservation organizations, comprising 23 state offices, 41 nature centers and 23 wildlife sanctuaries and representing 463 local chapters. Audubon – which focuses on the protection of birds and their habitats throughout the Americas – has been “transformed” in recent years, according to Crain’s New York Business, through a sharpened conservation focus and operational overhaul that has increased revenue and decreased overhead expenses.
As written in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, that strategic and operational transformation has attracted new funders and broadened the organization’s reach to younger and more diverse audiences as Audubon expands its international work and achieves conservation victories. For the first time in nearly two decades, Audubon has also earned Charity Navigator’s highest ranking of four stars.
Audubon’s main Facebook page has over 855,000 followers and reaches approximately 2.7 million people each week as the organization’s supporters share and interact with Audubon’s posts. And the organization’s 2014 birds and climate change campaign, which earned more than 2 billion media impressions, recently won a Diamond SABRE award from public relations industry leaders.
To learn more about Audubon and its new strategic direction, please visit here.
The National Audubon Society saves birds and their habitats 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.
