Ralph Wood of Glastonbury Is Elected As Connecticut Audubon Society’s New Chairman of the Board

Connecticut Audubon Society’s new chairman, Ralph Wood, right, and Communications Director Tom Andersen, unveil a framed montage of the covers of our seven Connecticut State of the Birds awards, which was presented to outgoing Chairman Stephen Oresman as a thank you for his years of leadership. Connecticut Audubon Society Photo by Claire Iwanowski.

September 2012 – Connecticut Audubon Society is pleased to announce that longtime Board member Ralph Wood, of Glastonbury, has been named Chairman our Board of Directors. Elected at our annual meeting on September 13, Ralph leads a board that includes a new Vice Chair, a new Secretary and one new Board member.

Ralph takes over for Stephen Oresman, of Darien, a long-time board member who served as Chairman for three years and now becomes Chairman Emeritus. Under Steve’s leadership, we strengthened and expanded our conservation advocacy and education programs, to help us better fulfill our role as Connecticut’s leading conservation organization and keep our focus on the state’s birds and their habitats. Ralph’s goal as chairman is to build on those achievements.

Deirdre Silberstein, of Stamford, was elected Vice Chair, and Christina Clayton, of Old Lyme, was named Secretary. Other executive committee members are President Robert Martinez of Southport, Treasurer Joseph Mallory of Greenwich and Assistant Secretary William Cotter, of Fairfield. Peter Kunkel, of Trumbull, was elected to the Board of Directors. For a complete list of our Board of Directors, click here.

Michael Aurelia of Greenwich and Andrew Dasinger of South Glastonbury completed their terms on the board. We thank them for their exemplary service.

More than 70 people attended the annual meeting, which featured a talk by Andrew Revkin, a former science and environment reporter for the Times and current senior fellow at Pace University’s Academy for Applied Environmental Studies.

Robert Martinez reviewed the year’s activities and achievements (for details, see our Annual Report, here).

He also presented the annual Dave Engelman Volunteer Benchmark Awards for Outstanding Volunteerism. This year’s recipients were Fred Schroeder, of Redding, and Carrie Shelton, of Fairfield.

We send our thanks to the staff of the Pequot Library for their hospitality in hosting our meeting.