Affiliate Steering Committee Chair Election

It's that time of year! Time to elect a new chair for the Affiliate Steering Committee. The Affiliate Steering Committee facilitates the day-to-day operations of the Affiliate Network. The Affiliate Network's mission is to promote environmental education and support the work of environmental educators through strengthening the capacity of state, territorial, regional and provincial environmental education associations. Our primary goals are:

Promote Communications/Networking
Foster Organizational and Leadership Development
Provide Recognition and Support
Promote Effective Interaction with NAAEE

The chair of the Affiliate Steering Committee serves a four year term in the following roles: Chair-elect (one year), Chair (two years) and Past-chair (one year). The chair is responsible for ensuring that the Network operates in accordance to our Operating Procedures, as well as provide guidance and oversight to all committees, and serves as the liaison between the Network and NAAEE.

We have two amazing candidates. Each affiliate organization is allowed one vote. Please read more about the candidates below and vote for one individual by October 5th.

Question Title

* 1. What state, province or regional affiliate do you represent? (Please spell out.)

Question Title

* 2. Please select one candidate for Affiliate Chair.

ADRIAN AYSON

Soon after becoming a park ranger in New York City, Adrian discovered a unique kind of fulfillment that comes from being of service to the field of EE. Being asked to join the board of directors of the NYC Environmental Education Council was the first of many roles with EE associations: the Massachusetts EE Society (as president and treasurer), and the New England EE Alliance (as executive director, president, treasurer, and managing editor of the New England Journal of EE). Currently he serves as Special Projects Manager for the Maine EE Association. He is also continually delighted to contribute to the Affiliate Network Steering Committee as the chair of the Professional Development Committee. In 2016 Adrian was tickled to receive NAAEE’s Outstanding Service to EE Individual Award at the Regional Level.

As for actual paying jobs, Adrian served for many years in senior leadership roles with Massachusetts Audubon (Director of Education), Center for Whole Communities (Director of Operations) and NAAEE (Senior Technology Programs Manager). As a consultant under the banner of “eeMatters,” he has lead teams that develop strategic plans, master interpretive plans, exhibits, and learning materials for EE organizations, nature centers, parks, and museums.

For many years now, “better together” has been Adrian’s motivation and guiding principle for his work with EE associations and affiliates. We get better together when affiliates continue our recent arc of engaging at greater depth and frequently than ever before. We become better together when we create opportunities to help each other – finding our way to paths that lead to robust finances, stronger cultures of engagement, and bold strategic directions that advance our vision for EE.

Adrian enjoys learning about and adopting new communications technologies that help affiliates advance their missions. But somehow, he hardly ever updates his Facebook page.

Eileen Everett

Eileen Everett is a wildlife biologist turned environmental educator, having had the honor of teaching over 25,000 New Mexican students across the state through mostly multi-day, outdoor programs. She has worked as an environmental educator for Audubon New Mexico and the Santa Fe Watershed Association, ran her own consulting firm “Down to Earth Education”, and as a climate change educator for the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.

In early 2016, Eileen stepped into the role of Executive Director of the Environmental Education Association of New Mexico (EEANM) and later that year became one of New Mexico’s first Certified Environmental Educators. Eileen has served on Affiliate Network Steering Committee since late 2016 and is still celebrating that EEANM was named 2017 Outstanding Affiliate Organization by the North American Association for Environmental Education! Eileen currently leads the Messaging/Communications Committee of the Affiliate Network Steering Committee along with serving on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Affiliate Group.

She deeply values an abundance mindset, work/life balance, education designed for all students, and a more equitable and inclusive world. In her spare time, Eileen can be found tending to her dog pack and goat herd

Thank you for adding your voice to the Affiliate Steering Committee Chair Election!

If you have any questions or concerns please contact Katie Navin, current affiliate steering committee chair, at 303-273-9527 or director@caee.org.